A screening fee—this is what’s next up for us to pay as clients. I swear I thought we had seen it all, from consulting fees to referral fees, but at this point, I’m beginning to believe it will never end. These fees are becoming more frequent and never-ending to the point where you never know what to expect when you email a provider. Now, we have to worry about screening coming at a cost.
The screening fee really needs no explanation. As a client, you’ll be sending a fee just to have yourself checked out. Calling it what it is, this fee is just another way to make sure clients follow through with booking. As if sending a deposit wasn’t enough, this screening fee can be that extra incentive for us not to cancel. Now, how the provider breaks it down here is worth noticing, even though it’s no different than a deposit. The screening fee will go toward the original booking, which does sound good—but in my opinion, isn’t needed.
Then you have to think about this from a scammer’s point of view. This is just another way for them to take more money from us. Think about it: a scammer can easily throw this into their fake Eros bio. All they need is the client’s info, wait maybe an hour, and tell the client “everything checks out,” even though that’s complete bullshit. Then the scammer just asks for a deposit, and just like that, the client has lost a quarter—or even slightly more—of the original rate.
When it comes to a provider’s time, a client knows better than anyone how much it’s worth. A provider will make sure their time is being well compensated, from the moment the email is received to the second we leave the hotel room. And I believe it should be to this standard. But there has to be a line somewhere for this hobby to stay the way it is. Charging for every little thing can’t be good for the hobby and will soon have a lot of interested future clients either scared off or simply unable to pay all these extra fees.
At the end of the day, we all understand that time is valuable—especially in this space. But layering on fee after fee creates a barrier that pushes the hobby further out of reach for everyday clients. Screening is a necessary step, but turning it into another transaction only adds to the growing sense that booking has become more complicated than it needs to be. If we want the hobby to remain accessible, safe, and enjoyable for both sides, we need balance—not another invoice.
. We should deduct some for our own screening fee considering we have to wade through all the fake ads
