By Peter Berton
MONTREAL – A month’s access to a content network for half price. A $15 dildo for $5.95. A 33-percent discount off the regular monthly membership fee at a popular porn star’s website.
Those are only three of the dirty deals at DirtyDealz.com, an online warehouse of bargain-priced porn and adult toys.
Adam L., one of the founders of the site, said Walmart inspired the launch. Though we’re sure the late Sam Walton would have admired Adam’s devotion to low prices, the conservative Wal-Mart founder might not have appreciated the merchandise.
YNOT: How did you get the idea for DirtyDealz?
Adam L.: To be honest, it just came to me one day while I was walking through a Walmart getting office supplies.
It’s crazy the things that will pop into your head while you are doing mundane, boring things. Sometimes you have to turn your head off for a light bulb to come on.
What challenges did you face in launching the site?
I have been an entrepreneur for the past five years, and I have dabbled in a bit of everything, but launching DirtyDealz was one of the hardest things I have ever done. This is a very tricky industry, and learning the ins and outs is not easy. From opening a bank account to setting up a merchant account, everything is more difficult when you’re in the adult industry.
The more you get into it, the more you realize that even though this is one of the biggest industries in the world, a very small, tight-knit group actually runs the show.
How did your friends and family feel about you going into the adult industry?
I’m 26 years old, so most of my friends love that I’m working in the adult industry. They think it’s all tits and ass, but it’s actually not. It’s a lot of hard work and pretty much no tits and no ass!
I always have to remind them that I’m not a producer or any kind of content provider. So my exposure to the crazy side of the adult industry is virtually non-existent.
In Montreal, entering the adult industry has become more and more common. I’m very lucky, because my family just wants me to be happy and they support my decisions. They realize I’m not a porn star and that I’m pretty much in sales. The only difference is that my products are adult-related.
How does DirtyDealz work?
Our site works in a very straightforward manner. Every week we feature three new deals. Some of the deals are for subscriptions to the day’s most popular porn sites, and some are for physical goods like sex toys.
The consumer just needs to find what appeals to them and redeem the deal. It’s simple and easy.
How do you negotiate the discounts?
When we look for deals to feature on our site, nothing is off-limits. This means we pull out all the stops to make sure our discounts are amongst the best out there.
When it comes to negotiating deals, each case is different. For some cases, we approach vendors who have overstock and we explain to them that DirtyDealz is their solution for moving their product.
In other cases, we explain to vendors that this is a no-risk venture: They are not risking any capital by placing their product on our site. If they sell, they make money, and if they don’t, then at least they get the exposure for their product.
How do consumers redeem the deals?
When I first looked into the coupon business, I realized stores were making the most money on people who never redeemed their coupons. I didn’t want to operate like that. I wanted my customers to be able to redeem their coupons right away.
For website subscriptions, we automatically redirect our customer to the site they selected and have them redeem right away. For physical products, we did almost the same thing, but instead of redirecting them we get them to redeem directly on our site.
How do you make money from the deals?
We make money by taking a small percentage of the sales we make.
What has running DirtyDealz taught you that you didn’t know before?
I don’t think there is enough room in this article to list the fetish and quirks I never knew people were into. I now believe everyone should do whatever makes them happy.
Where do you hope to go from here?
This is a hard question. I know as an entrepreneur you should always have an exit strategy when starting a new venture, but I don’t.
I’m not sure where this is going to go, but I hope DirtyDealz will become a big name in discount adult goods.
