Ask a random stranger about the positive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and you’ll likely get an annoyed stare. However, if you posed the same question to a person of culture, they’d tell you that the outbreak has created the best possible climate to sell your sex tape.
Indeed, the adult industry has never been bigger, stronger, or richer. As it turns out, locking millions of horny people in their homes will lead to a boom of homemade porn — or sex tapes, to use the old school term.
Subsequently, OnlyFans became the biggest and most profitable porn site in the world. However, it’s far from the only — or even best option — for selling your sex tape.
To learn more, keep reading. This article will cover:
- How to make a sex tape
- Where to sell your sex tape
- What type of sex tape you should make
- How to promote your sex tape
How to Make a Sex Tape
Before starting, let’s address the elephant in the room — and no, we don’t mean someone’s foot-long dong.
Obviously, despite the tape part, today’s sex tapes are simply home-produced amateur porn videos that can take many digital formats. There’s a fair bit of charm to that old term, though, so we’ll use it throughout this guide.
Now, making a sex tape should absolutely be an enjoyable process. There’s nothing wrong with leaving a camera rolling, calling your partner over, and simply doing what feels nice.
However, just like you can make a good lovemaking session great, there are ways to improve a fine-looking sex scene. Apply them, and you’ll make yours truly spectacular while having a bangin’ time (pun intended).
Know What You Want
While a sex tape should look spontaneous, that doesn’t mean that there should be no planning involved. In fact, a lot of work has gone into famous home videos exactly to keep their amateur vibe while maximizing performance quality.
Now, your sex tape won’t necessarily require such a degree of preparation. A simple bullet point list before each shoot should suffice.
For instance, you could cobble together something like:
- The guy sits on the sofa
- The girl approaches him
- The girl unzips the guy and starts doing oral on him
- They both take their clothes off, which ends with the girl on her back, naked
- They start banging in missionary
- They switch to cowgirl
- Shift to doggy
- The guy ejaculates on the girl’s back
If the idea you have is clear, you’ll have a much easier time bringing it to the screen. And if something doesn’t click, you’ll know in advance when you’ll need to improvise and re-ignite the video’s spark by fucking your brains out!
This may seem like common knowledge, but we’ll say it regardless: communication is vital. Never try to record a scene that your partner won’t be comfortable with, and if you’re unsure about something, always ask them beforehand.
Finally, if you feel like you’re lacking inspiration, there’s an endless treasure trove of references out there. Just check out popular amateur porn videos on your favorite tube site, such as Pornhub.
You’ll soon find yourself brimming with ideas, and you’ll be ready to shoot and sell your sex tape in no time.
Make Sure to Have Recording Gear
Aside from the sex itself, the best part of making a sex tape is how cheap it is. Strictly speaking, all you’ll need is a camera, and the one on your phone might suffice.
That being said, we’re in the 2020s, and porn shot in the style of found footage horror movies doesn’t have much appeal. So, if you want to actually sell your sex tape, you’ll want to get at least some equipment.
We’ll list that equipment in order of importance.
1) If your phone camera isn’t too good, you’ll need a decent one. Now, noting everything that you should consider in that regard would take as much space as Johnny SIns’ IMDb page.
That’s why we suggest heading over to Camera Decision, finding a cam that ranks high in video recording while meeting your other requirements (i.e. your budget), and getting that one.
2) To avoid giving your viewers motion sickness, you’ll need a tripod, a gimbal, or both. While you could, in theory, set your camera against a heavy object for stability, the footage is probably going to get shaky once you and your partner truly get into it.
A tripod is going to prevent that from happening at a very accessible cost. For example, you can get a fine phone variant for about $15, an alright camera model for less than $20, and a great camera tripod for around $80.
With a gimbal (or selfie stick), on the other hand, you’ll still need to hold the phone or camera, but the built-in mechanism will provide a lot of stability to your footage. They’re just as affordable as tripods, generally staying within the $30 to $80 price range.
3) By getting quality lighting, you’ll make sure that your sex tape doesn’t just look like people dry humping. Combined with a well-placed camera, you’ll be able to show off every thrust and contortion.
For a cheap and very effective lighting solution, we recommend ring lights. If you’d like to go for an even more professional look, consider reflectors and soft boxes.
To get a better idea of how to use those lighting tools, check this video.
4) If your moans end up getting dimmed or distorted, consider buying a directional mic.
Unlike omnidirectional microphones, these will mainly capture the sound in front of them and block out the surrounding noise. As a result, you’ll record your gasps and moans, and not your neighbors arguing nearby.
If you’d like to learn more about these (and their cousins that swing both ways), click here.
Always Look Your Best
Before you start rolling, you’ll want to look your best. Of course, the same goes for your partner.
Here’s what we suggest, preparation-wise:
- If you’re doing a still shot, set your camera to a flattering angle
- Apply some lube down there for long, smooth sailin’
- Oil yourself up; coconut oil is particularly great for that glistening, inviting look
- Put on some sexy lingerie
- Get into the mood, and consider a glass of wine to help you relax
Of course, things are going to get messy during the shoot, but that’s to be expected. In fact, many viewers will enjoy seeing you go from prim and proper to a dripping mess, and it’ll actually help you sell your sex tape.
Film the Sex Tape
Much like sex itself, shooting a sex tape is all about finding the sweet spot. Namely, you’ll make the best content by striking a balance between enjoyment and performance, both for you and your partner.
This is something that even professionals struggle with, leading to many wooden (not in a good way) or bored-looking performances. To help you avoid that common problem, here’s an industry trick: focus on performance until the pleasure takes you.
Therefore, you should pose so that the camera catches your face, expressions, good sides, curves, muscles, etc. Then, if a certain position or movement starts feeling really good, take charge and lead your partner to go hard with it.
And if you happen to find yourself close to an actual orgasm, you’ll absolutely want to go for it. It’s that kind of spontaneity that makes people buy sex tapes in the first place.
Speaking of enjoyment, many find the act of getting frisky in front of a camera so exciting that they decide to take things further, and become cam girls. If you’d like to learn more about that lucrative career, here’s a comprehensive guide.
Finally, while putting on a bangin’ show will absolutely sell your sex tape, great shot composition will improve those sales even more. You won’t have to go to film school for it; simply respecting the rule of thirds when possible is a solid starting point.
Edit Your Sex Tape
When you’re editing a sex tape, there’s only one rule you’ll need to follow about what to cut: if it’s hot, keep it. When you’re on the fence about something, it should go.
Shortening parts or set-ups that go on for too long is always good, as is cutting out the bits you don’t care too much about. If you aren’t interested in one of your own scenes, how can you expect the viewers to be?
You don’t have to be a computer whiz to edit a sex tape. In fact, you can do it on a PC, Mac, or phone, and you won’t need any expensive software, either.
Like sex toys, free tools are everywhere. For help with finding the right one for you, we recommend this resource.
Once you’re pleased with your creation, all that’s left is to upload it to your chosen sales platform.
Where to Sell Your Sex Tape
Before jumping the gun and heading straight for OnlyFans, you should consider your other options. We say that because, despite being in the top 100 most popular sites in the US, the biggest kid on the block may not necessarily be your best choice.
In fact, OnlyFans’ closest competitors — ManyVids and Sex.com — also have their perks, such as:
- The ability to better connect with your audience
- Letting you keep more of your earnings
- On-platform promotion, which OnlyFans won’t provide
- Lower competition
Based on your sex tape’s content and your preferences, though, you may find all of the above lacking. There’s no need to worry if that happens; we’ll also cover other viable platforms later on.
Of course, you won’t have to stick with just one choice. Nothing’s stopping you from taking the bukkake approach and selling on several websites — or even all of them.
With that clarified, let’s dive into the big three — bareback.
OnlyFans
Founded back in 2016 to help creators monetize their content by directly providing it to their fans, OnlyFans is a smashing success. While it’s true that the site favors monthly subscriptions, you can still effectively use it to sell your sex tape.
The most important thing with OnlyFans is that the fans part isn’t just there to make it sound catchy.
Namely, the platform is there for you and your fans. And if you don’t have any to begin with, you’re going to have trouble starting out.
You don’t necessarily need recognition in the adult industry; any fame will help. In fact, it’s influencers like Blac Chyna who happen to make the most money on the platform.
In essence, the idea is to build an audience elsewhere, then funnel that fame toward your OnlyFans account and the sex tape(s) you’ll offer there.
Otherwise, you won’t really be able to benefit from OnlyFans’ massive user base. Around a third of all earnings on the platform are made by just 1% of creators, and you should keep that in mind.
To learn more about starting an OnlyFans, take a look at our detailed guide.
Fees and Payout Options
As we’ve mentioned earlier, you can monetize your content in two ways.
First, you can go old school and simply sell your sex tape on OnlyFans, separately from the subscription option. That way, whoever is interested in your bedroom antics can pay your listed price, and access the flick from then on.
If you have more than one video, each will have to be purchased separately.
Alternatively, you can lock your work behind a monthly subscription that you set. With that option, you’ll make all your content available to whoever subscribes to you.
Both options are viable, with the subscription model being a better choice if you’re publishing content on a regular basis.
We know that it’s tempting to charge separately for over a hundred videos. However, that’s going to turn people off when established models are offering thousands for a single subscription.
With OnlyFans being the biggest adult marketplace in the world, one would expect a high commission fee. Instead, they still take the 20% industry standard cut, which is rather nice.
Sadly, OnlyFans withdrawals come with a big inconvenience; they can only be done as bank transfers. That’s a major condom-popping moment if you live outside of the US or wish to maintain your privacy.
Pros and Cons
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ManyVids
Despite not being as hung as OnlyFans, ManyVids can still take you to heaven and back. Number one or not, its 3.6 million users are more than enough for you to sell your sex tape and make a killing.
Originally a smaller site, ManyVIds received a ton of traffic back when OnlyFans almost banned all sexually explicit content, and quite a bit of that traffic has turned into permanent growth.
Unsurprisingly, content creators aren’t too crazy about a platform that could take away their livelihood at any given time. Therefore, plenty of them ended up sticking with ManyVids even after the scare blew over.
Just as importantly, many have also stayed due to ManyVids’ discovery feed feature, which OnlyFans lacks. As a result, the former is a much easier place to get an audience on — a major advantage.
Fees and Payout Options
Unfortunately, ManyVids is not a perfect place to sell your sex tape on.
As a major downside, they take a steep 40% cut from all direct sales on the platform. That’s twice as much as OnlyFans keeps, but the issue does come with a silver lining.
Namely, they’ll only take a 10% cut from subscriptions during your first year on the platform. That percentage will return to the 20% industry standard after the one-year mark, though.
Therefore, while we absolutely recommend ManyVids, we also suggest that, if you go for it, you use the subscription model. That extra money will pile up during the first year, giving you a significant head start.
When it comes to payment methods, ManyVids supports:
- Bank transfers
- Wire transfers
- Checks
- Paxum
If you live outside of the US, or are worried about privacy, you’ll put Paxum to great use. This intermediary will let you withdraw directly to your debit card, and your bank will have no idea about your naughty hustle.
ManyVids is middle-of-the-road when it comes to its minimum payouts. Namely, their necessary $50 isn’t difficult to reach, but it’s still higher than OnlyFans’ $20.
Pros and Cons
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Sex.com
Up until relatively recently, Sex.com was the Pinterest of porn — the same structure, but with an adult twist.
Ever eager to mimic other websites, it has recently reinvented itself as TikTok’s horny stepsister. While this willingness to borrow useful features isn’t exactly original, both you and your users will find it beneficial.
Case in point, the website has a discovery feed — like ManyVids — significantly increasing your visibility. If a video has a caption and at least three tags, it can and will be shown on the homepage.
Unfortunately, they also seem to have borrowed the CIA’s verification process. How else could we explain their request for each seller to provide a full-body nude, with the face visible, during signup?
Even worse, the rule applies even if you’re not showing your face in your sex tape(s).
Granted, Sex.com won’t display the image anywhere, and they’ll just use it for verification. However, no one would be surprised if you considered it a dealbreaker — a shame, considering everything the site has to offer.
Fees and Payout Options
When it comes to payouts, Sex.com uses the glory hole approach. Not discriminating between subscriptions and sales, it just takes a flat, industry-standard 20%.
Therefore, if you want to make use of a ManyVids-like discovery feed, but don’t want to deal with a lower portion of your sales profits, Sex.com is waiting with open legs.
As another convenience, they support Paxum alongside bank transfers. Unfortunately, this convenience comes paired with an inconvenience: their minimum payout is an annoyingly high $200.
Pros and Cons
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Other Great Websites to Sell Your Sex Tape On
The smaller the space, the tighter the squeeze. So, if you’re more about intimacy than size, here’s our list of other worthwhile porn markets.
| Platform | Monthly Traffic | Commission | Payout Options |
| Clips4Sale | 1.1M | 20-40% | ACH, wire transfer, SEPA, Paxum |
| ModelHub | 194K | 35% | Paxum, checks |
| NiteFlirt | 159.2K | 30% | Wire transfers, ACH, MassPay |
| IWantClips | 155.9K | 20-40% | ACH, checks, wire transfer, Paxum |
| LoyalFans | 92.8K | 20% | ACH, wire transfer, SEPA, Paxum |
| FanCentro | 92.3K | 20% | SEPA, ACH, checks, wire transfers, USDT, Paxum and Skrill |
| SextPanther | 87.4K | 20-40% | ACH, wire transfer |
| JustForFans | 77.6K | 20% | Bank transfer, Paxum, cryptocurrency |
| MyDirtyHobby | 61.5K | 50% | Depends on location |
| IsMyGirl | 53K | 20% | Wire transfer, direct deposit, checks, electronic transfer, Paxum |
| BentBox | 40.3K | 35% | Bank transfers, cryptocurrency, Amazon gift cards |
| ExtraLunchMoney | 7.4K | 40% | Paxum, checks, bank transfers |
| APClips | 6.7K | 20-35% | PayPal, checks |
| MyClub | 4.8K | 20% | Paxum, CosmoPayment, ACH, cryptocurrency, wire transfers, Directa24, ePay Service |
| ModelCentro | 1.6K | 35% | Checks, wire transfers, ACH, SEPA, Paxum |
| Unlockd | 1.5K | 15% | Checks, ACH, SEPA, Paxum, wire transfers |
Sell Your Sex Tape on Your Own Adult Website
However you look at it, marketplaces are there to help you make sales. However, if you feel like they’d cuck you out of your money, you can always cut them out and sell your sex tape on your own website.
Because that site will normally require both a developer and a designer, though, this option can get rather pricey. As such, you should only consider it if:
- You’ve got an existing audience
- You have more than one sex tape to sell
Luckily, you can take shortcuts to a complete website, with one being particularly quick and direct. Namely, you can get a theme — a premade, ready-to-use website with no required programming knowledge.
ModelX — Vicetemple’s own model website theme — is a particularly great choice. It’s reliable, easy to use, and comes packaged with your other two necessities: a domain and a web hosting plan.
Whether or not you go with a theme, though, selling your sex tape on a website of your own will grant you many advantages. We will cover the most important ones, below.
The Perks of Having Your Own Porn Site
Being a good boy or girl and playing by the major platforms’ rules is perfectly fine and dandy. However, there’s nothing quite like taking charge and cracking the whip in your own dungeon — ahem, store.
For starters, you’d be able to partner with other creators, cross-promote, or even film new sex tapes with them. You’d also be able to run ads for additional income, or tweak or delete your content at will.
Next, you wouldn’t have to abide by any content restrictions that mainstream websites may place on you. As long as you aren’t offering anything illegal, an adult hosting provider like Vicetemple will have your back.
This is particularly useful if your sex tape(s) contain fetish content that generally isn’t welcome on mainstream platforms
Third, nothing will limit how much you’ll be able to charge, or your monetization in general. Also, you won’t have to wait for any schedules (such as the one on ManyVids).
Simply put, once someone pays you and the money comes through your adult-friendly payment processor, it’s all yours.
What Type of Sex Tape You Should Make
If you plan to keep selling sex tapes for a living, you can’t have them all be the same. While it’s true that dedicated fans will tolerate a bit of repetition, they too will start showing signs of fatigue if you go all Marvel and keep repackaging one general idea.
Think about it — no one will pay to see you in the same pose, in the same bedroom, ten times. If any buyer wants that, they’ll just rewatch the first sex tape they bought — not purchase new ones.
Therefore, to prevent your audience from growing bored with your content, you’ll need to make things interesting.
Now, we don’t necessarily mean that you should start producing fetish content — although that’s a perfectly viable approach. If you’re willing to branch out in that direction, here are some worthwhile niches.
But if you’d like to stay on the vanilla side of things, you can also make things work. Just head on over to mainstream porn tubes like Pornhub, XVideos, xHamster, and others, click around, and observe.
The performers there will sport plenty of different poses, lingerie, costumes, etc. Think about what you see, decide what you like, and work it into your future content.
Make this into a weekly habit, and your assortment will remain fresh throughout your career. And as a result, your fans will keep buying your sex tapes, eager to see where you’ll take your bedroom antics next.
How to Promote Your Sex Tape(s)
Filming and putting your sex tape up for sale is just getting the tip in. To properly score and land that money shot, all that’s left to do is a bit of marketing.
Now, while ManyVids and Sex.com do have promotional features (unlike OnlyFans), putting additional effort into hype will grow your audience even further. And a bigger audience means even more money in your pockets.
There are countless ways for you to get your work out there, but the following have several inches on others:
- Promote your sex tape on major porn sites
- Grow an audience on social media.
Promote Your Sex Tape on Major Porn Sites
Unless you’ve spent the last decade in a cave (and we don’t mean Lana Rhoades’ back passage), you probably know that Pornhub, XVideos, etc. all have huge amateur porn galleries.
As an adult entrepreneur, you can use these both for marketing purposes and as an additional source of income. In essence, you’ll upload content that website users will be able to access for free, and you’ll earn a piece of the ad revshare, based on your number of views.
People will browse their favorite tube site, stumble upon your work, and subsequently seek out your sex tape. Then, those who like what they see and are in a position to buy it will do so.
So, it’s a promotion method that will actually pay you, instead of the other way around. The only tricky part is getting the content.
In that regard, you have two options:
- Shoot additional videos, specifically for tube sites
- Take an existing video, and chop it up into shorter clips
These won’t have to be long; 2-10 minutes is enough, with the latter being ideal. Just keep mind that if you show too many good bits from your sex tape, it probably won’t end up selling all that well.
Either way, your earnings from these videos will vary based on countless factors. However, they’ll typically net you between $0.50 and $0.70 per 1,000 views, on average.
You can use this method on pretty much any free porn site, but we recommend:
If you’d like to look further into making money on Pornhub, we have much more to say here.
Grow an Audience on Social Media
As you might imagine, social media platforms are an amazing way to get anything in front of a huge audience. Sadly, the vast majority of them won’t let you directly promote any kind of porn — your sex tape included.
For instance, Snapchat won’t allow adult content creators to directly link to OnlyFans. YouTube and Instagram, on the other hand, will shadowban them if they get too saucy, etc.
But while simply disregarding these platforms would be easy, you’d miss out on a lot of attention by doing so. Instead, with just a bit of creativity, you’ll be able to generate a lot of hype for your content.
Yes, you can actually use mainstream social media to sell your sex tape. You’ll need a special app to do it, though, and we’ll cover the process further below.
Twitter may have restrictions on post length, but their policies on adult content are looser than Mia Malkova’s butthole after a three-day shoot.
Yes, just like the aforementioned orifice, they’ll let pretty much anything through, as long as it’s not illegal.
To use it, put a link leading to your online store into your bio, regularly post teasers, and liberally use relevant tags in those posts.
So, what’s a teaser? Simply, it’s a brief video (one minute or two) meant to pique the viewer’s interest in your main content.
A good teaser will show off what you’ve got while leaving a fair bit to the potential buyer’s imagination. Remember, if people can blow their loads for free, they won’t look for more and make spur-of-the moment purchases.
For instance, if your sex tape has a bitchin’ reverse cowgirl scene, you absolutely shouldn’t make it into a teaser. Instead, use another position (still hot, but not your hottest point), or make a montage that quickly cycles through your video’s various good parts.
To get a better grasp on how successful adult performers are making use of Twitter, we suggest going down this list.
Instagram may be a huge, throbbing platform, but its stance on adult content is worthy of the Bible Belt. Despite that fact, though, it’s a place where adult content creators maintain gigantic fan bases — and so can you.
The secret to making Instagram work lies in posting regularly, making the posts sexy, but keeping them subdued. Going in raw and posting genitals, anuses, female nipples, or anything R-rated will result in a ban or shadow-ban.
Different models tackle the platform in different ways, but here’s a quick rundown of what you’ll generally want to do:
- Write your own posts, as people love a memorable persona
- Wear tight outfits that flaunt your figure
- Strike enticing poses without going into softcore porn
- Include hashtags like #babe and #sexy, while avoiding explicit ones like #pornstar
- Use flirty, but not vulgar, language
By following the advice from above, you’ll be able to present your sex tape (and potentially other adult content) to millions of potential buyers while staying within the platform’s boundaries.
Strangely, Instagram actually accepts suggestive content, and will often promote it on the platform’s explore page. And with a special trick, you can actually divert this traffic to your sales platform of choice.
To do that, sign up with Linktree, add a link leading to your store to your Linktree account, then paste that Linktree URL into your Instagram profile bio.
From then on, whoever gets the urge to spank one out at the sight of you will easily find your store. Over time, this will bring you many new fans and sales.
The fact that Reddit has pros and cons shouldn’t surprise anyone.
On the plus side, the platform features countless adult subreddits, covering a huge number of porn niches. As a minus, not all of them will let you promote by linking to your store in your posts.
Luckily — and similarly to the Instagram Linktree trick — you can still make use of them all. Even better, you won’t have to use Linktree; just add your store URL to your Reddit bio.
All that’s left to do then is to find relevant subreddits, regularly post samples there, and mention that more content can be found in your profile bio.
The Porn Dude is a decent starting point for locating such subreddits, but there’s plenty of similar resources online.
Dig around a bit, note what you find, and start posting at your leisure. Just make sure to read each subreddit’s rules, as breaking them could get you banned.
Snapchat
A public Snapchat account is an amazing promotion channel due to a couple of reasons.
First, it’ll help you get closer to your audience without actually having to get to know anyone. The platform is all about putting yourself out there by snapping the important, annoying, or just random events from your life.
All those times when your cat did something cute, when your friend pissed you off, when your partner said something funny — become fan fodder on Snapchat. Take a selfie, film a quick video, rant, rave, and stir some drama!
You’ll seem natural, relatable, and — most importantly — memorable. And in this age of sterile, overproduced porn, standing out in any way will help you sell your sex tape.
Second, Snapchat gives you the perfect preview and tease tool in the form of self-deleting private messages. Whenever you’re chatting with a potential buyer, you can do a quick snap and send it to them.
They’ll feel special for having experienced a unique moment with you, with little effort on your part.
Sell Your Sex Tape via Social Media (Using Unlockt)
As we’ve mentioned above, you can sell your sex tape over direct messaging on any social media platform. But because those platforms aren’t made to handle the payment — and possibly even the exchange — you’ll need an app like Unlockt to seal the deal.
Let’s briefly cover how to use it.
Once you install and run Unlockt, you’ll be greeted with an initial import screen. The screen will include an Add Media section, a Set Price block, and a Generate Link button.
Tap the Add Media surface to open a browsing menu. Next, locate and mark the file or files that you wish to sell, and confirm the selection.
You’ll find yourself back where you started, with the marked files displayed. To proceed, you’ll have to set a price, so click the Set Price block, and input the amount.
Then, hit Generate Link. The app will update, and you’ll be shown a URL under a blurred version of the media section, along with a Copy Link button.
Finally, click the button. Doing so will copy the link, which you’ll then be able to paste over to your buyer.
Once they pay the price you set, you’ll get the money, and they’ll be granted access to the files.
Other than the 20% cut from sales, the app is entirely free to install and use.
Conclusion
Now that you have the know-how, all that’s left is to put it to use. As long as you stick with our advice, selling your sex tape (and homemade porn in general) will be as easy as — and more enjoyable than — getting a blowjob in a red light district!
