I just wanted to make a quick message about an e-mail that I received from Selz today.
Everyone with a store selling adult content got that e-mail and was notified that their stores were instantly closed down due to a change (external pressure) in their policy on erotic content.
"We're very sorry about this but the products and services your are
selling do not comply with the conservative terms imposed by our banking
partners."
I have my suspicions about who this unknown banking partner was. But I must say, they were a gracious and rather progressive host, even though they had to toe the line eventually. Hell, they even apologized twice in the e-mail. Better than I received when I was shut down by another, similar site way back when.
But yeah, before I get to rambling about how utterly pathetic these "banking partners" are, I'll wrap it up here and say thank you to everyone who purchased through that store. While my Lulu store remains open, I'll be considering other options at some point. Maybe Patreon? I don't know.
So much blog code clean-up to do now! Urgh.
I was wondering, too, if you could hook up with Class Comics. They accept submissions (that have to be approved) but if they go for it then you can have things in their shop. It may be a way for people like you and Animan to have your stuff online, even if you have to share the profits.
ReplyDeleteThat would be an honor, really. x.x But I feel like I need to get even better to do that, though. The artists who work there are so incredibly skilled.
DeleteI appreciate the suggestion, thanks very much!
That sucks. I saw this on Bleeding Cool about a guy who publishes a gay erotic comic book. They promised him when he came aboard this wouldn't happen and said they'd look for another credit card processor before they'd let anyone make them change their policy. I guess that's easy to say.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Lulu is still an option for you.
Thanks, man. Yeah, I happened upon that article after all this went down. On their forum, Dale said that he's gotten no response from Selz other than their deletion of his letter to them on Facebook. I guess that's a pretty telling sign that their minds are made up and there isn't much point in holding out for a change for the better.
DeleteIt's kinda crazy the way so many financial institutions are treating widely-consumed, lawful materials, effectively making them illegal in a sense. A friend of mine said that it was probably from married men buying porn, getting caught by their partners, and issuing chargebacks, but I can't believe that that's so widespread a problem that the entire operation should be shut down.
I'll keep at it. Thanks for your support, guys. :)