Bargin Basement Rates (Unofficial Version)

Huey · December 27, 2002

I have been really shocked this past week by the rates that escorts are quoting me. They have been between 200. - 250.hr with the disclaimer that these fees are negotiable. At first I was like OK escort A is having a slow week ... though 5 of 7 were acting like this was priceline.com .

Four of the five who accepted my counter offer of 150.-175.hr are well known escorts on this site. I've hired 3 of them so far and each performed exceptionally well. I don't care anymore about all the clients and escorts who say it's offensive to negotiate, especially since it's the escort himself who is holding the sale!

I don't know if this is a trend or simply happenstance yet I sure like it .

December 27, 2002

Well, how about sharing your find so we can also take advantage of the sale?

bigguyinpasadena · December 27, 2002

I for one find these rates,while less than normal,far from bagain basement.Rather they are what was being charged by" escorts" before the dot con bubble bust.I still find them excessive in most cases(I have to see some good reason to hire "escorts"who charge more than my doctor or lawyer per hour.

It is simple,those that still have large amounts of truly dispossible income are waiting for the tougher times ahead,when they swoop down with their cash and cement their fortunes with others misfortunes.

December 27, 2002

Escort rates have been discussed on these forums for years. This thread probably will elicit dozens of posts. Some will justify the "outrageous" fees requested by escorts while others will simply say they are not warrented. It all boils down to what one is willing to pay to get laid. In the end, it's a very personal thing. However, as long as someone is willing to pay $$$, some escort will charge it. When business slows down, the prices will go down...sort of like "after Christmas sales".;-)

December 27, 2002

Remember, that a good escort can only see one, perhaps two clients a day and provide a quality service. In this regard he differs from a doctor, lawyer etc or even a female prostitute. If he is trying to make his living as an escort, he must charge enough to live on. When he cannot charge enough to live on he obviously must find other employment, perhaps continuing as an escort part time. But, the supply vs demand analysis is limited by the need to make a living.

bigguyinpasadena · December 27, 2002

$150 a day,and in most cases tax free,seems more than adequate for "some one to live on".And most young men should be able to entertain more than 1 client a night if they are in shape and not full of speed-ecstacy-coke-whatever.

December 27, 2002

One escort favorite of mine claims he sees 6-8 clients at any given day, he's 24 and is hooked on Viagra. Guess it was doing him wonders to "keep it up". I was in the other room one time when he entertained one client and I heard everything that is going on the "other side". He need not brag, I have heard everything and I believe him. This is his way to help his family in Brazil and that is too endearing for me, that is the reason he's one of my favorites.

December 28, 2002

Remember though that most escorts don't actually have a client everyday. some may get 1 or 2 a week or sometimes if it is slow 1 or 2 a month.

So $150 an hour doesn't seem to be that much to live on (if you can even live on being an escort alone...most need another job).

As for me I agree that rates reflect the market so if clients are not willing to pay the amount then the rates will start to decline. So if as a client you feel $300/hr is too much simply don't pay it.

There are so many great escorts out there you can find a great one at the rate that you are willing to pay!

And you can have so much fun searching...

FrancoDiSantisxxx · December 28, 2002

The Non-Client Perspective

Rates vary by escorts, by market and by other variables. I always counsel the Twinks and everyone else about having fire-sales to pay the rent. Nearly all of them gross in one month more than I usually do. Yet, at the end of the month, they have problems paying their bills.

San Francisco is still going through a lot of economic turmoil and, in environments such as that, where it can also be easy to get sex, albeit not with someone you may enjoy as much as say Escort A, prices have to be more fluid.

I offer negotiated rates to my regulars, who frequently hire me for more than one hour. Any person contacting me would be welcome to make me an offer, but I am not going to negotiate for a one hour session. But then, I personally do not want to work every single day and it's exceedingly rare for me to do more than one client a day. But this is largely a result of weekends such as this past one where I spent 5 hours on Friday with one client, 2.5 on Saturday with another and 4 hours on Monday with a third, thus I have no worked on the other days....

VaHawk · December 28, 2002

Hey guys, don't you just love this new guy!!!! What a great attitude! I think I definitely want to meet this one! :-) :(

VaHawk · December 28, 2002

Sorry BenAJ those were supposed to smiles not frowns, but it seems that lately this place does not put up the emoticons I click on. You are super great!

VaHawk · December 28, 2002

RE: The Non-Client Perspective

I love that .5 stuff. Almost as bad as my job where I have to post by .10 (e.g. I spent 1.525 hrs on this). LOL! when are you visiting the East Coast?

December 28, 2002

RE: The Non-Client Perspective

Thanks VaHawk....my cheeks are blushing (and not the ones on my face - check my pic and you will see the ones I mean).

Always nice to hear a compliment these days. :-)

VaHawk · December 28, 2002

RE: The Non-Client Perspective

No thanks are necessary! I just know you are super sweet and nice! Best of all life has to offer in the coming New Year! :-)

+ *Charlie* · December 28, 2002

$150 a day is "more than adequate" for an escort to live on? Assuming that our young man manages to score a client every day, five days a week, fifty weeks a year (only two weeks vacation, no sick days), that is still only $37,500 per annum. Try living on that in NYC or SF! If you assume that he doesn't pay taxes, then he can't deduct for business expenses (lubricants, condoms, toiletries, sex toys, special outfits, laundry, advertising, cell phone, computer, etc.). He also MUST have good medical insurance, which he will pay for at an exorbitant individual rate, and he will have to save on his own for early retirement (his Social Security payout will also be minimal--how many clients are meticulous about making SS payments for their housecleaners, much less for their kept boys?).

This makes escorting sound like a pretty grim career choice.

N.N. · December 28, 2002

> [...] He also

>MUST have good medical insurance, which he will pay for at an

>exorbitant individual rate, and he will have to save on his

>own for early retirement (his Social Security payout will also

>be minimal--how many clients are meticulous about making SS

>payments for their housecleaners, much less for their kept

>boys?).

SS payments are part of self-employment tax in this case;

it's not the client's responsibility but rather the escort's.

LovesYng · December 28, 2002

}( Cool let the rates drop:7 . The lower they go the more guys I can see then:+

Boston Guy · December 28, 2002

For a long time now I've stuck to a policy of not paying more than $200 per hour, with very few exceptions. If escorts charged more than that, I simply explained that I don't pay more than $200 per hour. Some have said "OK" and we went our own way. Many, however, have suggested either going with that rate or would suggest "instead of one hour for $300, how about two hours for $400."

It seems obvious that, for an hourly appointment, a significant amount of time overhead is incurred by the escort. Cleaning up, getting ready and traveling to the client could easily add up to a couple of hours or more. So a one-hour appointment could involve three hours, bringing $300 per hour down to $100 per hour from the escort's point of view. From that perspective, $400 for a two-hour appointment works out to the same rate: two hours with the client plus two hours of preparation and travel = four hours, or $100 per hour.

Recently, however, I have been seeing escorts be very quick indeed to offer reduced rates. For example, two days ago, two guys in Boston (both early 20's, both in great shape and hot) were asking $300 for the both of them for an hour. After just a few minutes of discussion, they offered $250 for the two of them for the hour -- without any discussion of rates on my part.

Similarly, guys in LA seem to be dropping their rates below $200 and, in many cases, below $175 in order to attract business. On a trip to LA a couple of weeks ago, several guys online -- two of whom have good reviews here -- were asking $150 for an hour and one guy suggested $125 for an afternoon appointment.

I don't know how to put this in any perspective other than simply report what I've seen. But my gut feeling is that the economy stinks and is getting worse, lots of people are looking for work and many others are feeling like they should be significantly more careful with their money. (I just heard of one Boston-area high tech firm that had 10 job openings; they received 1500 applications, most from highly-qualified or even over-qualified applicants.)

I tend to think of escorts as being in a recession-proof business, because I think clients will hire escorts just to cheer themselves up. But, even if the business itself is recession-proof, perhaps the high prices charged during the last couple of years are not.

Finally, many kids who graduated from college last Spring are still having trouble finding work. It wouldn't be surprising if some of them are entering the escort market on a part-time basis and charging relatively lower prices. I do know that I've started to see a fair number of escorts online on AOL whose screen names I don't recognize.

BG

+ *glutes* · December 28, 2002

>Remember though that most escorts don't actually have a

>client everyday. some may get 1 or 2 a week or sometimes if

>it is slow 1 or 2 a month.

>

If they are only getting 1 or 2 a week (let alone 1 or 2 a month), they are in the wrong business!!!

December 28, 2002

Not necessarily...some escorts do it part-time and not full-time so it can be worth it. Besides you can't force clients to hire you. Sometimes it is slow and sometimes your very busy.

There are so many factors involved but the bottomline is most part-timers do it to supplement their income and whether you get 1 or 10 clients it is still supplementing your income. You have money that you otherwise wouldn't have.

Just make sure you enjoy it otherwise it is time to retire!

Huey · December 28, 2002

BG I feel you did put the situation in some prespective. My post was based only on my recent experience as earlier in the year I found rates in LA to be going through the roof. In fact, I had posted about that situation as well and it stimulated quite a bit of conversation.

I am happy with the new rates many are charging (even if temp) and have been hiring more often because of them. My personal feeling is that there will be more of a drop in rates in the coming months. The reason is so many new, part time escorts and the financial crisis the nation is in.

There are only so many clients willing to pay 300.hr. We all don't make HooBoy dollars .

chrismac · December 31, 2002

Just going online to sites like m4m4sexnow or mygaydar or men4sexnow.com and seeing the talent that looks to hookup for free, it seems the proliferation of online sex/dating sites for gay men must be having some effect on escort business. It's even easy to connect with someone when traveling anywhere in the world now.

True, the freebies are selective, but one only has to be in fairly decent shape to find several out of the hundreds, or thousands online daily.

One guy I know here in San Diego is a big bear in every sense of the word; about 6'1" and 280lbs, with more hair than Koko the Gorilla. Yet he has no problem finding hot young (twinkish) boys who want to ride his ample endowment. I was amazed but it's true. I asked him if he ever hired, and his response was "why would I?"

I think for most clients, hiring simply takes away the time needed to find the right person, who mutually wants to get together - without going through all the rejections and sifting out those who may not be desirable to them themselves. But the economy isn't getting any better very quickly - so at some point this has to have an effect.

VAHawk points out another road to success for escorts in what may be returning to a market based on classic economics: charge less to ensure greater frequency, and thus revenue.

When I look at the pics online at some of these dating sites, I find myself thinking, "man, these guys could make money at this." The reality may be now, "perhaps not."

To all the hard-working, energetic, and genuinely kind escorts out there who charge an honest buck for an honest, well, time:

HAPPY NEW YEAR - and much success in 2003, in all sincerity. :-)

chrismac · December 31, 2002