So you may have got the memo to say that I’ve left my major selling platform Pantydeal. (Blog post coming all about my reasons for quitting Pantydeal.)
As I’ve been gearing myself up to close that account I’ve been looking around at other sites to see what they offer. So here’s my review of the Used Panty/Underwear site Kinkie.
First of all, this is a UK-based site but that shouldn’t exclude you from joining. The site advertises that sellers are worldwide and I’m sure there are UK buyers who wouldn’t be at all bothered about ordering from outside the UK.
The site is laid out well and easy to navigate.
Unlike other platforms there isn’t an overview or home page where you can post on a wall. This is a downside in my opinion because it’s not really possible to get attention.
They do have items listed on their home page as ‘featured’, ‘recently added’ and ‘lucky dip’, which is good. It makes sense to me that if everyone is paying the same subscription fee they should have the same level of visibility to buyers. However, I’ve noticed the featured and recently added items are exactly the same.
As is the case with a number of platforms it’s not possible to reach out to buyers. There’s no way to contact them at all so you basically have to post your items and then sit and wait for someone to contact you. Not ideal for my approach.
It’s possible for buyers to browse through sellers BUT the sellers are listed alphabetically so if you’re going to set up an account on here it would be best to start your name with the letter A or you’re gonna be waaaaaaay down the list.
The cost of the membership is £5 per month or £25 per year, which is significantly less than other sites out there.
If a buyer likes what you have to offer they send you a message but it’s not possible to message through the site. They leave you their email address. This is good and bad, I suppose. Great that you now have the buyer’s email address but not if you don’t want to engage by email. Sometimes sellers would rather keep things on the site as they feel safer that way. Also, it looks like one buyer mis-spelled his email address to me and I have zero way of getting in touch to respond to him because I can’t message him through the site. This is frustrating.
I do however get the impression there are less time wasters here.
One other thing I’d mention is that there’s no real engagement or community vibe (or response to tweets) on their Twitter. They just seem to automatically post new items for sale. This makes it feel like a site that is simply a business rather than have that community feel that other platforms have worked more at. (The best being Scented Pansy who let their members write their magazine.) This is a personal thing for me but I feel a little edgy when there isn’t a level of responsiveness or even presence on their main and only social media platform. This goes for ALL platforms. If you are paying them a monthly fee then you are their customer base and you want to feel like you’re being listened to and responded to.
Lastly, I’m disappointed that as I’m paying on a month by month basis, my items disappear after seven days. This is a major downside for me. As any seller will tell you, creating shop items is the most time-consuming, mundane part of this job. Having to do it every seven days is a major turn off for me and likely to make me cancel my membership.
I believe that it is 14 days before they expire if you pay the full subscription fee but still, this is untenable. Most sellers are on a few platforms and having to keep track of reposting and when is quite frankly extra work which could be better spent on other things.
Overall, I’d give Kinkie a 5/10.