Damn, I was so stupid, and bought this Advends calendar ....
Lots of credits for ... sorry ... garbage!
I would have only bought 2 out of 22 sets. The other sets are far from being listed in "Popular" or "XXX" ... None of the popular popular models!
500 credits in the trash. The first and last time such a surprise offer!

Damn, I was so stupid, and bought this Advends calendar ....
Lots of credits for ... sorry ... garbage!
I would have only bought 2 out of 22 sets. The other sets are far from being listed in "Popular" or "XXX" ... None of the popular popular models!
500 credits in the trash. The first and last time such a surprise offer!

Businesses are in the business of making money. Looks like they did their job. This time of year can be difficult in terms of bringing in top talent. It is universla across the industry. The winter in northern climates is certainly not conducive to travel and sexiness. My hypothesis is the advent calendar is a strategy to improve sales of cards that might otherwise perform pretty poorly. And in reality this lineup is a little better than last year, although similar. I would prefer totem gave a 20% discount on all cards if you bought the calendar...considering a person might spend $50 on cards they otherwise would not buy. But totem did their job...they made money. It is up to the customer to do theirs...choose wisely.

(...) I would prefer totem gave a 20% discount on all cards if you bought the calendar...considering a person might spend $50 on cards they otherwise would not buy. But totem did their job...they made money. It is up to the customer to do theirs...choose wisely.

I have learned from this... will never again purchase a hide set.

But everybody should have known beforehand that there was always a chance of one or more of the cards not being to their liking and if this was of any concern to them that they could delay purchasing the calendar until day 24 at no extra cost.

Well, even now, on the 23rd of December, the calendar does not show which cards are in there. My guess is that it's probably the 23 last cards when you sort all cards according to publishing date in the girls store, but a) it does not say that and b) you have to keep track of the cards you bought in order to be sure which cards you will get in case you purchase the calender. Which is not very user friendly.

you have to keep track of the cards you bought in order to be sure which cards you will get in case you purchase the calender. Which is not very user friendly.

Well the Advent calendar is not very customer friendly as far as I'm concerned. But, just look in the store for the cards released in in Dec to see what is left of the calendar that you do already own. Not friendly but easy enough.

I have learned from this... will never again purchase a hide set.

Jeez ... sorry you got ***** so early in your membership.

In the old days they sold subscriptions which was about the same thing as the Advent Calendar except instead of a free card it was just very cheap. So cheap in fact that I tried a 6 month subscription. Most ***** six month in my relation with Totem (IStripper, VirtuaGirl, DeskBabes). It was completely my fault; I should have known better but there were so many cards I wanted I made myself believe I couldn't go wrong. I'm sure they were great for many members back in the day but definitely not my style; subscriptions are not for me ... not matter how you label it.

In any case I'm sure you got at least a few cards that you will enjoy for a long time to come and there are more yet to come. Not sure what your budget it but consider stocking up on credits; the bonus offer is there best offer ever on credits.

Businesses are in the business of making money. Looks like they did their job. This time of year can be difficult in terms of bringing in top talent.

Businesses are in the business of making money but if the business plan is centered on trying to ***** customers to buy things they don't want then it's a poor business plan. Had the OP bought cards he actually wanted totem would have made the same amount of money. I don't see the talent being out of line with previous month.

Anyways I started typing a long business critique and realized it was both pointless and tedious. Instead I'll make a few predictions:

1.) More exclusive cards are coming soon I estimate 4-6 in 2019.
2.) By the time the 4th exclusive card of 2019 arrives they will no longer insist on selling you things they don't want you to buy but instead they will try and sell you more stuff you do want to buy .

3.) And 3 is more a suggestion. Bring back subscriptions but price them sensibly; the Advent Calendar is a subscription if it sells well then so will a thought out subscription plan.

Well the Advent calendar is not very customer friendly as far as I'm concerned. But, just look in the store for the cards released in in Dec to see what is left of the calendar that you do already own. Not friendly but easy enough.

Unfortunately, this is not possible for two reasons: 1) The store does not tell me which cards were released in December. 2) Cards that I already own disappear from the store.
Thus, I might already own several cards from the advent calendar without knowing.

Not to defend the calendar, but if you sort by "Date of Release" the store shows which cards were released in December (with dates, so any missing days like 12/10/18 in the screenshot are the ones you already own).

Not to defend the calendar, but if you sort by "Date of Release" the store shows which cards were released in December (with dates, so any missing days like 12/10/18 in the screenshot are the ones you already own).

Hey, the date is so small and such an incredibly light grey, I really see it for the first time now. Unfortunately, it seems not to be shown in any other view of the store, nor on the detail page of a card. Why not?

Another example that the user interface is buggy and usability is terrible.

Businesses are in the business of making money. Looks like they did their job. This time of year can be difficult in terms of bringing in top talent.
Businesses are in the business of making money but if the business plan is centered on trying to ***** customers to buy things they don't want then it's a poor business plan. Had the OP bought cards he actually wanted totem would have made the same amount of money. I don't see the talent being out of line with previous month.

Anyways I started typing a long business critique and realized it was both pointless and tedious. Instead I'll make a few predictions:

1.) More exclusive cards are coming soon I estimate 4-6 in 2019.
2.) By the time the 4th exclusive card of 2019 arrives they will no longer insist on selling you things they don't want you to buy but instead they will try and sell you more stuff you do want to buy .

3.) And 3 is more a suggestion. Bring back subscriptions but price them sensibly; the Advent Calendar is a subscription if it sells well then so will a thought out subscription plan.

Good businesses make money...they combine great sales with poor sales..sales that make the customer happy and sales that overtly benefit the business. A good business will not make you buy stuff you do not want but they WILL take advantage of people who are WILLING to buy stuff they do not want. This is the main concept of the coupon. A coupon is created to unload inventory that is moving too slow so they create a discount where the person pays 20% off for something they would not have ever bought. That means the customer pays 80% more than they would have for something they do not really want. Everybody who budgets knows the coupon is an evil because you spend thousands a year on stuff that you don't need just to feel you saved money. A totem customer will pay 50$ extra just to get an exclusive card of a girl who already has 5 cards and who does the same things in every card. That has nothing to do with the company...it is the fault of the customer. The only people who should have invested in the advent calendar are 100% collectors, people who were planning to buy every card. Totem didn't even give a discount for gawd sakes, just the promise of a mystery card. People need to stop acting like totem took 500 credits from your account and ***** 25 cards onto the customer. They pushed a pretty poor promotion and will benefit if anyone buys it...and I am sure hundreds have already. Win for totem. Hopefully they take the proceeds and invest into better video technology and processing equipment for our cards in 2019 look as good as those in 2016...and keep these istripper profits from their amazing new VR strip club.

@grimshaw, if you click the icon next to the "Sort" dropdown list, you get a different view that shows more information while sorting.

@gkar45, I can't see all 25 until everyone else can see them.

The only people who should have invested in the advent calendar are 100% collectors, people who were planning to buy every card. Totem didn't even give a discount for gawd sakes, just the promise of a mystery card.

Actually you aren't taking into account some of the offers Totem made in the Black Friday sales. As one of those people you often describe as a "whale" the only way I could get the exclusive Black Friday card, in part, was by taking advantage of the reload offers. These had a 20% bonus and I ended up with 300 "free" credits..

Those credits virtually paid for my Advent Calendar - I think in the end it cost me in the region of 33 credits.

Whilst you could argue the point that Totem were selling me something I don't really want, I would argue that I would end up buying those credits at some point down the line, particularly, as a collector, I buy all the cards anyway. I had enough spare cash at the time to be able to do this and I was also actually mindful that another Advent Calendar was probably forthcoming (@kaiju hinted as much in a post at that time).

In fact if I take up a couple of the current reload bonuses I could end up not needing to buyt any credits at all in 2019 and still purchase all the cards for that year.

I like the variety of women in the calendar. Can you imagine a world where everyone looks the same? That is insane.

If all you saw was one type of car for you entire life, you might think they are of lower quality if you come across a different one in the future.

And trust me OP, there are some really really "unseeable" women out there, and I am sure you really do not want those. The ones with a scarred face, etc. So no. Please no.

The only people who should have invested in the advent calendar are 100% collectors, people who were planning to buy every card. Totem didn't even give a discount for gawd sakes, just the promise of a mystery card.
Actually you aren't taking into account some of the offers Totem made in the Black Friday sales. As one of those people you often describe as a "whale" the only way I could get the exclusive Black Friday card, in part, was by taking advantage of the reload offers. These had a 20% bonus and I ended up with 300 "free" credits..

Those credits virtually paid for my Advent Calendar - I think in the end it cost me in the region of 33 credits.

Whilst you could argue the point that Totem were selling me something I don't really want, I would argue that I would end up buying those credits at some point down the line, particularly, as a collector, I buy all the cards anyway. I had enough spare cash at the time to be able to do this and I was also actually mindful that another Advent Calendar was probably forthcoming (@kaiju hinted as much in a post at that time).

In fact if I take up a couple of the current reload bonuses I could end up not needing to buyt any credits at all in 2019 and still purchase all the cards for that year.

I also bought the reload and do it everytime it is available...because it is smart...as long as istripper exists reloading is a good deal. It would not be "smart" for ME to buy the advent calendar and spend those "free"credits on cards I won't enjoy. I basically get 20% of the cards I like for free. The point is...the advent calendar is a smart business move by totem to pick up sales on cards that likely will lag behind due to the season and it is only a smart move for people who buy 90-100% of cards, or for those that really love the girls sold in the advent calendar. If totem was REALLY smart they would hold back one card from each girl throughout the year and then release those cards in the advent calendar, 25 of them and then another 25 during an easter egg calendar. I mean hide all information about them so they are a complete surprise. Think of the money they would make!!!!!!

Good businesses make money...they combine great sales with poor sales..sales that make the customer happy and sales that overtly benefit the business. A good business will not make you buy stuff you do not want but they WILL take advantage of people who are WILLING to buy stuff they do not want.

I hear you and generally agree but the only thing Totem sells is credits. The cards are digital there is no need to clear out the poorly selling cards to make room for the better selling cards. The only goal is to get you to buy cards so that you'll need more credits. Which cards you buy is irrelevant as there Totem profit is how many credits are spent. It could be argued that the # of credits a card sells for is less important than how many cards are purchased. I'm sure Totem would prefer to sell 1,000,00 cards for 5 credits than sell 1,000 for 100 credits.

Where the cards themselves actually matter is finding cards that members are motivated to buy in order to consume the credits. When I originally signed up I just watched the demo's and probably still would be except one day I received a free card. Then they had some sort of Black Friday and I stated buying to add to my single card. Had the offer been to buy cards I didn't want I'm pretty sure I would have passed. Hell I could have gotten the last Black Friday card without buying something I didn't want but passed because I'd rather just make a point of not buying exclusive cards. Sadly had it been the "Make a wish" card that will be this years exclusive; I would have put my pride behind me and picked up that last Credit Bonus offer and gotten the card.

Any case, Totem goal is or should be to sell more credits not particular cards. Making cards unavailable to buyers ***** to compromise or that join too late to take advantage of the offer is not going to help it grow membership. Also new cards probably sell better than old cards so there is not really much gain in promoting the newest cards.

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to take advantage of the Credit Bonus offer; It's hard to pass up but I'm already sitting on plenty of credits. I do appreciate the offer but again it lowers their margins but I don't understand why they made an even more generous offer? Would they have sold less had it been a double of the previous generous offer buy 1000 credits and get 200 free. Or better yet if Totem has to keep these exclusive cards how about buy 500 or 1000 credits and get an exclusive card. I would probably still pass as I could not justify paying 100 credits ($10) for a card but if I didn't think of the free card as 100 credits then maybe. And ideally they could bring an offer like this around again over time so the card is exclusive yet obtainable to members who we not around when the original offer was made.

For anyone that actually read all this (or even only part) sorry it was so long .. just kept typing what I was thinking.

@dar2112v - You forget that if you buy an "unwanted" card then you may still go on to buy a "wanted" card at full price. Totem have to balance a decrease in the number of full price sales against an increase in the number of sales at a discount. Going to far in the direction of discounts or otherwise making them too popular (e.g. by only offfering you the cards you most want) may lead to increased sales but decreased profits.

The reload bonuses mean that Totem get some of their income earlier than they otherwise would and so improve cash flow.

...if you need to see ALL cards released - in december or ever - in the store, just type "." in the search box.

The reload bonuses mean that Totem get some of their income earlier than they otherwise would and so improve cash flow.

I know a lot of customers view the cards they buy as investments of a sort into totem because we love the product overall. I just hope they aren't taking the istripper money and putting into other products that are not istripper. We all know the card quality has dropped since 2016 and the scope of models as well since the American studio closed, and they have not "refinished" the 1080 cards into 3k, with little progress over 2018. According to Rex these "cut backs" were done because of time and resources yet totem has released two proprietary products during this time...I can't help but feel disappointment transitioning into cynicism.

The reload bonuses mean that Totem get some of their income earlier than they otherwise would and so improve cash flow.

It improves current cash flow at the cost of future cash flow. I'll probably buy the current bonus offer which will put me above 2000 credits and likely all the credits I'll need in 2019. I guess next Black Friday I'll start restocking credits. I suspect a lot of members are sitting on historically high level of credits which is good for Totem now but what happens later in the year.

Discounted credits are not a lot different than a subscription with a 20% or so discount but for Totem the problem is there is no requirement to consume the credit in any time frame. So combining the bonus with discounts further cuts into Totems margins per card. Assuming members just buy more cards this isn't really a bad thing as it's revenue neutral for Totem but again there is no advantage in trying ***** members to buys things they don't want to buy.

@dar2112v

It improves current cash flow at the cost of future cash flow.

No, it moves the whole cash flow forward in time (assuming that the offer will be repeated at various times in the future). Even if the offer is not repeated the minimum effect is to make some money available earlier with no long term effect and this in itself is an advantage to Totem. There are also two other benefits, firstly, for various reasons some who have bought credits will not spend them all, ever, and secondly some people are more willing to spend credits that they have already bought than to buy new credits and they then find themselves wanting more anyway.

Discounted credits are not a lot different than a subscription with a 20% or so discount

No, there may be little difference to you, but there is a significant difference when seen from the seller's point of view. If nothing else they attract different sets of customers. Totem used to offer regular subscriptions of the kind you are talking about, but they stopped doing so because they were not working out to their advantage. One complication when making comparisns between offers is that ypu can not rely on customers behaving rationally so that two offers than can be shown to be logically equivalent will appeal to different sets of customers so it is better to make both types of offer, at different times, to appeal to both groups.

there is no advantage in trying ***** members to buys things they don't want to buy.

Nobody is ***** anybody to do anything. The offers provide an extra choice, if you don't want what a particular offer is offering then you do not have to buy it. There is also the advantage to totem that if you buy a card that you would not otherwise have choosen then you may find you like it and buy more cards featuring the same model. This has certainly been the case with me.

Why do you think that other businesses also make the same range of special offers?

you may find you like it and buy more cards featuring the same model. This has certainly been the case with me.

Why do you think that other businesses also make the same range of special offers?

I think you got pretty much everything in the economics wrong here but we both made our case so wont continue on.

On your final 2 points.

1.) It seems to me you buy every card so Bonus Offers and exclusive cards again only cost Totem credits. I don't see how anything other is the "case with you".

2.) Not sure what you mean by same "range of offers" ? What other digital content business excludes qualified buyers from some content? What other porn company doesn't sell a simple subscription?

It's Totem's business to do what the want with it but in my opinion they should hire someone who can do basic math and a little marketing. It would be better for both Totem and it's members.

In any case, I have been here 12 years and assuming both Totem and I survive I hope to be here another 12 years! Merry Christmas!

here are all the cards till today ..
waiting for the bonuscard tonight...

@dar2112v - When I started I was very selective about what cards I bought, but then I decided to buy a few of what Totem then called "booster packs". These did contain cards of models that I had previously ignored but I found that I liked some of them so much that I bought their other cards - that is what I meant by "it certainly worked for me" it worked so well that it completely changed my buying habits.

I wasn't talking specifically about digital businesses, but they are no different to any others. A simple example of excluding long time customers is that banks and electricity suppliers often offer special terms to their new customers, but very very rarely do they reward loyal customers in any way for the very simple reason that they do not need to bother, enough customers stay loyal anyway.

I'm not sure I'm even in the right place for this comment but as a loyal member for 10 years I only felt right to say this...and before I do please know I would never blatnatly disrespect any model or anyone for that matter...but what on earth are you guys doing??? The 25th card of this calendar should have been epic..it should have been better than last years or at least equal to it. Olivia looks like a sweet sexy girl but in my opinion this is not a 25th day card. It's a massive letdown and disappointment considering the amazing talent such as Katrina Moreno, Ginebra Bellucci, Avery, Christine...I simply don't understand the choice and I will not buy this next year. Half way through the month I was happy and pleasntly surprised by some of the wonderful cards but as the last few days came it was a huge letdown. The theme is wrong, the setting is wrong, the outfit is wrong...I'm entitled to my opinion and I spent my hard earned dollars for a calendar that should have ended with a bang instead of a fizzle.

I'm not sure I'm even in the right place for this comment but as a loyal member for 10 years I only felt right to say this...and before I do please know I would never blatnatly disrespect any model or anyone for that matter...but what on earth are you guys doing??? The 25th card of this calendar should have been epic..it should have been better than last years or at least equal to it. Olivia looks like a sweet sexy girl but in my opinion this is not a 25th day card. It's a massive letdown and disappointment considering the amazing talent such as Katrina Moreno, Ginebra Bellucci, Avery, Christine...I simply don't understand the choice and I will not buy this next year. Half way through the month I was happy and pleasntly surprised by some of the wonderful cards but as the last few days came it was a huge letdown. The theme is wrong, the setting is wrong, the outfit is wrong...I'm entitled to my opinion and I spent my hard earned dollars for a calendar that should have ended with a bang instead of a fizzle.

The point of the advent calendar is to get your cards 1 day in advance and to get 1 free card. I can understand being upset because you didn't get one of your favorites for free but there wasn't a "big bang" in the group. Every girl that is available was in the calendar...many people have problems with Katrina, and ginebra apparently is out of available cards, and even Avery was criticized for being boring in reviews. Olivia has as good of a chance of being a good free card as any of the girls above. And if totem wants to keep customers they need not throw a truly exclusive card in the mix...that would anger too many valuable customers.

@Cypher3 - why would Totem use an "epic" card as the bonus card. They could expect such a card to sell very well as a normal card and would therefore lose more sales if the bonus card was an epic one than if it was a ordinary one. If they were being very cynical they would take a card that they would expect to sell poorly as a normal card and use that as the bonus (especially if it was going to be a surprise, less so if they think the surprise is going to be spoiled by having its identity leaked), however this tactic might have a long term effect of putting people off the next such offer suggesting that a more ordinary card would be the best choice.

@TheEmu - I see what your saying but to me makes absolutely no sense. Agree to disagree I guess...no right or wrong just opinions. Let's just say I was hoping for one of the models I follow and like would have been the bonus set that's all...and to @orclover I get the point of the calendar I just don't agree with the bonus set as stated above. I'm sure there are other people who feel the same as me and probably others who feel like you. Debate and discussion are good. Hopefully some of my favorites are on the way. 😊😊😊

@Cypher3

If the bonus card remains secret then its actual identity can make no difference to the sales of the advent calendar - so why would Totem use one from which they expect to make a better than average profit? Why would they deliberately choose one that would minimise their profit?

On the otherhand, if the bonus card is not a secret then making it a very attractive card would boost the sales of the advent calendar, but this would be a very different situation to that which actually applied for this and last year's calendar.