What I meant by average was “representative along certain dimensions”.
I believe the “averages RM user, as @Cretus mentioned, is likelier to be flaky, or even themselves duplicitous (I have heard about constant scam calls too and freeloaders looking to trick you into a free sex phone talk).
I simply wouldn’t fault us for not willing to send a deposit when the population of clients itself *also* contains some duplicitous, anti-social (the psychological definition ), and criminal individuals. We don’t know who we are interacting with.
Maybe it’s frustrating to providers who *are* actually honest, but we can’t tell if you’re a deceitful person or not in the first interaction.
combined with not wanting to leave paper trails, not wanting to have your money stolen by someone who you can’t verify is sufficient reason to not give deposits for most situations.
The market will eventually decide, and you can feel free to keep asking for deposits, just as many of us will feel free to say no.