BedPage

Bedpage is a classifieds website that nominally presents itself as containing advertisements and listings for a wide range of sales and services, but is in fact almost entirely dedicated to advertisements for various kinds of sex work.

The site has been operational since 2017, when it was founded in anticipation of the downfall of Backpage, a website that previously openly advertised sexual services before it came under the ire of various law enforcement agencies from around the world. As it became clear that Backpage’s days were numbered, Bedpage built itself up as a near-clone of the well-known site, before exploding in popularity in April of 2018 once Backpage was finally shut down as a result of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and the related Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA).

Reading The Back Pages

If you’re familiar with what Backpage once was, you’ll be immediately familiar with the layout and features of Bedpage. The site is not at all a direct copy, but it clearly took liberal inspiration from its forerunner in every aspect, from the categories down to even certain aesthetic design choices.

The site’s main landing page allows you to jump to the listings posted in one of a number of cities throughout the world. The site is most commonly used in the United States, but many cities in Canada, Europe, and even Asia, South America, and Africa have active postings.

Regardless of which region you choose, the listings will be categorized exactly the same. There are eleven sections to choose from: Adult, Automotive, Buy/Sell/Trade, Community, Dating, Jobs, Local Places, Musician, Real Estate, Rentals, and Services. Within each of these is as many as ten or so subcategories which have more specific postings that fall under each. Under Automotive, for example, you’ll find three pages: one for parts, one for services, and one for car sales.

That being said, many of these sections are for all realistic intents and purposes useless. Though there are a few postings in each, they’re nowhere near active enough to be useful. Bedpage is a site used almost exclusively for sexual services, and the inclusion of sections unrelated to this purpose is likely to provide deniability against that fact. There may be a section to purchase commercial real estate on Bedpage, but it’s highly unlikely that the site has ever actually been successfully used for such a transaction.

The actual bulk of the site is concentrated in three sections: Adult, Dating, and Services. The adult section has pages for happy ending massages, fetish services, strip clubs, and phone sex lines, as well as for female, male, and transgender escorts. The dating section is virtually identical to the escort pages, aside from being under a different name—it’s incredibly unlikely that anyone visiting this site is actually going to end up going out on a date that doesn’t involve an exchange of money.

Likewise for the Services section. The Massage subcategory is essentially a twin of the Bodyrubs section under the Adult banner, and the Misc page often has sexual services advertised, but the rest of the pages are almost entirely dead. You might find a maid who cleans in lingerie or in the nude in the “Cleaning” category, but you’re not likely to find anything of use in many of the others.

In the past, entire regions could be searched, as could individual categories, but for reasons that are unclear to Pornsites.com this feature is no longer available. This somewhat limits the effectiveness of the site if you’re looking for incredibly niche services, but for the most part, this shouldn’t prevent users from finding what they’re looking for.

Once you’re in a category and looking at the listing themselves, each section is nearly identical. The most expensive tier of classified listings will appear on the side of each page, the next highest at the top, and then the standard tier immediately below that one. No matter the tier, the postings are usually roughly the same—photographs, some text describing their services in vague implicit terms to stay on the right side of the law, and contact information.

One thing that you do need to look out for is fake postings. Since Bedpage is so popular and due to the fact that posts are not well moderated, there are a large number of non-genuine posts appearing on the site. This are sometimes noticeable by area codes from far away regions and poorly spelled ads, but in many cases these false postings blend in well with real ones. These scams exist not only to harvest phone numbers and email addresses but occasionally for more nefarious purposes, so make sure that you don’t send any money or any personal information to a poster until you’re convinced that they’re genuine.

Depending on the legality of sex work in your region, you may also want to look out for law enforcement stings. Use common sense when contacting any ads, and avoid those that appear too good to be true or openly discuss sexual services in the body of the ad. When in doubt, wait for your service provider to bring up sexual acts before you do, and don’t exchange money until you’ve confirmed that they’re legitimate.

The site is nearly identical when comparing its standard version and the version optimized for mobile viewing. The only differences are minor visual changes, with all of the features remaining the same. Shockingly for a site of this style, Bedpage is fully and completely free of advertisements of all kinds, obviously excluding those that make up the purpose of the site: you won't be bothered by banner ads, pop-ups, or any other unwanted intrusions.

Free For Users, But Not For Posters

Bedpage is totally free from the end-users perspective. You can view each listing on the site without an account. A vast majority of ads provide phone numbers or email addresses as contact information, but those who don’t will require you to sign up for a free account in order to access the site’s built-in contact form.

If, however, you’re interested in posting advertisements, doing so will not be free. A basic ad will cost a flat fee of two dollars, but the popularity of the site means that these postings will quite quickly fall down and become essentially inaccessible, meaning that this is by no means a one-time fee. If you plan on advertising for more than a day or so, you should consider taking advantage of the site's automatic reposting service, which allows you to prepay for a number of reposts at your selected day and time slot.

There is also a higher tier of ad placement available for an increased rate. Instead of the cheap two-dollar fee, this will run you fifteen dollars per ad in one city, with volume discounts for each additional city. Though expensive, the superior placement of these ads can be seen as a worthwhile investment, especially in higher-volume cities where more service providers are competing for ad space.

The final level of advertising offered is what Bedpage calls a Sponsor Ad. The cost of these vary, but the ultra-premium placement, bold font, and inclusion of a thumbnail image alongside your post can be eye-catching enough to really bring your viewership up to the next level. These plans extend weekly, too, so you won't be required to repost your ad each and every day to stay on the top of the pile.

The Best Remaining Choice?

Bedpage is not perfect, but it’s as good as it gets in the world’s current legal climate surrounding sex work. The site isn’t quite as well-run as Backpage, or even as popular as Craigslist when it more openly allowed sexual advertisements, but it’s by no means bad. There are a few more fakes than would be ideal, and the site is missing some useful features, but it gets the job done.

Knowing what to expect from Bedpage is key to properly using the site. Without the knowledge that a majority of its categories are merely a façade representing a respectable front, users are likely to find the site lacking. But, by concentrating your time in those categories that in actuality make up the true purpose of the site, Bedpage is actually a remarkably focused site. There may not be many choices of types of ads, but those that are popular contain healthy numbers of advertisements.