What's the preferred way to suggest changes or new articles on the main site? I'm going to do this one as a public thread in case anyone else has comments.

I've been looking at the outcall article and have a couple of things to say. I use www.bt.com/directory-enquiries/ for checking phone numbers, it's free and doesn't require registration, so more convenient than the two suggested.

Some genuine clients are x-directory, not in the phone book yet or don't have a landline. I get around that by asking for a deposit if I can't check them using their phone number. I ask for ?20 or ?30, but even a tenner should be enough to deter timewasters, and the only people I've had who refused sounded a bit dodgy from the start.

There's no perfect way to take a deposit, I don't know if you think it's worth having it's own article. These are the ways I know:

Amazon gift certificates: Discreet, and you'll want something that they sell pretty soon. The client has to get an account if he doesn't have one already, then he just needs to fill in the gift certificate form with your email address. This can't be used at the last minute as they can take an hour to get to you, and I've gone off them since I've had a couple that didn't go through at all. The clients got their email confirming that they'd bought it and it would be sent, but I never received it and their cards were never charged. It's a good thing they weren't charged, but could still cause problems.

Phone credit: Some people get clients to buy a top-up voucher for their network and give them the code.

Paypal: Convenient, most people have an account, but if you're caught using it to get payment for sexual services they'll close your account and may freeze your funds for a year, so withdraw them straight away. I had my account closed and was able to open another one with a new credit card.

AdultWork credit: You can create an item for sale called "deposit" with a price of ?10 or whatever and get him to buy it. If you pay for advertising on adultwork you can use the credit for that, or you can withdraw it as a cheque minus AW's 30% cut.

Pre-payed credit card: I've recently had a guy pay me for phone sex with IDT Prime cards he bought at the newsagents. He'd buy a card and gave me the details so I could shop online. There's a ?3 fee for buying a card, and a 50p-?1 fee per transaction. The client will still have the details necessary to use the card himself, so you'd want to spend the money on something straight away.

Bank transfers and deposits: This can work with a bit of notice. A client could transfer money using online or telephone banking to your bank account in three working days, or deposit cash at a branch to have it processed the same day. If they do the latter, they'll usually be given the initial and last name that your bank account is registered to, so you might not be comfortable doing that with your personal account. You can get a free business account from Abbey and call it whatever you like.

Er, that was longer and more boring than I intended. Sorry about that.

I think an article on outcalls is a good idea; I only do outcalls and rarely work in my home town. I take deposits (mobile top-ups but occasionally Paypal where I have two accounts) for any long journeys, or I get them to buy the train tickets so that I can collect them at the Fastticket machine at my local station (which all clients have been happy to do so far). I didn't know about the BT site though - I usually use 192.com and this one looks much better - thanks! AMY x

I checked on the site and it's also says you need the payment card - I've done this twice and got my friend to pick them up for me well before as I don't drive and live a good hike from the station, whereas she lives almost next door. I've just asked her; apparently what she did was actually get them from the ticket office and say that she needed the tickets and had the reference number but had lost her debit card - they can print out the tickets from the machine in the ticket office (provided they have been paid for). I didn't know this though and it might have just been dumb luck so maybe not one to try again! AMY x

I started writing because I thought it would be worth changing the directory enquiries link to the BT one and mentioning that there are some genuine clients who fail the checks but are willing to pay a deposit.

All the deposit stuff could be added to the outcall article, but it can also apply to things like phone sex, and people who book their incall place by the hour may want to take deposits too.