When I first started out hobbying with pornstars, like most newbies not schooled in the art of finding PSEs, I used agencies... the big ones were Adult Star Fantasies and Exotica-2000. Body Miracle was around but specialized in mega-boobed PSEs like Minka and Kayla Kleevage. The big UTR agencies were Nici's Girls and Centerfolds International, who dealt primarily in long-format dates from evenings to weekends... they had little or no interest in booking hourly dates and they were more invested in Playmates and Centerfolds than pornstars.
Now, there are those here that say they never use agencies. There's certainly nothing wrong with that philosophy, but I feel that agencies DO serve a purpose in this hobby.
Without agencies, there are a lot of cities that would never see a pornstar. Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta and many others would be PSE barren... no offense to some of the PSEs out there, but many of them just don't have the business sense or are capable of scheduling advertising, booking flights and hotels and setting up appointments on their own.
Also, there are some PSEs who ONLY work through an agency for various reasons; verification, advertising, etc., not to mention UTRs who for obvious reasons primarily book through an agency. And for the services they provide to the girls these agencies are entitled to make a profit.
There is a reason why agencies and independent PSEs can and do co-exist. Granted, booking directly usually means a dollar savings, but booking through an agency gives you access to girls you otherwise wouldn't be able to see.
It boils down to a matter of priorities. If keeping the price down is the most important one to you, than booking directly is the way to go... but if you want to see an ATF like Briana Banks or Any Reid or such, then that's your priority and money becomes, at least to an extent, secondary.
TER members make up a relatively small segment of the hobbying community. Our discussions about contact info and direct bookings don't really affect the agencies as much as one might think, especially the UTR agencies. Believe it or not, many of the PSEs I know who DO book directly tell me that a large percentage of their clients have never heard of TER. And keep in mind that many hobbyists, particularly the high-rollers who use the UTR agencies, aren't necessarily looking for a specific girl; they're looking for a specific TYPE of girl. They're well-off businessmen traveling to a city and they call the agecny and tell them "I'd like to see a tall blond with big boobs". They don't have time to research and track down a certain escort, and many don't like the idea of 20 different girls having their personal info, so it's just more convenient for them to use an agency.
Where the agencies ARE suffering in this resession isn't in the price they charge per hour, it's the guys who used to book evenings and overnights who are now booking one or two hours instead... if they're going to discount their rates, it's going to be for the long dates, not the short ones.
So don't assume it's just a matter of time before the agencies go out of business or "see the light" and reduce their hourly rates. I'm not saying that it won't eventually happen, but it's not going to be as soon as many think.
