Lovehoney - Richard wrote:
We have a good relationship with Paypal, talk to them regularly and there isn't even the shadow of a hint of a suspicion that they will remove payment processing facilities from Lovehoney. Paypal isn't our only payment option.
Glad to hear it, and I realise that Lh has very sensibly not put all its love-eggs in one basket.
Lovehoney - Richard wrote:
Paypal is (quite understandably) concerned about its facilities being used to facilitate payments for stories about beastiality, rape for titillation and incest or pseudo-incest. That's nothing to do with Lovehoney so no reason they should remove facilities from us.
Firstly, I'm not so sure it is understandable that they should wish to discriminate against certain types of fiction, while letting others off. These are, after all, themes that are dealt with in mainstream fiction, genre fiction of all types, and literary fiction, including literary erotica. Even Anais Nin wrote about incest, and Nabokov dealt with paedophilia. You don't see PayPal dropping major booksellers for stocking these objectionable materials, though.
It seems that erotic fiction is being targeted purely because of its name.
Further, even those categories you mention have a deceptively wide presence in the erotic fiction market. I've heard it quoted that 40% of women have fantasies about rape or non-consensual sexual activity. That's a lot of people to tell "your inner thoughts are so wrong that we don't even want to dirty our corporate hands by helping you to buy stories that echo them." And the label "bestiality", while shocking at first, also covers the very popular were-creature sub-genre of erotica and erotic romance. This affects a lot of titles.
Lovehoney - Richard wrote:
You may not use the PayPal service for activities that:
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. . . (h) certain sexually oriented materials or services, .
This is the key clause - ignore any mention of illegality: illegal things are already illegal, and covered by other legislation. What PayPal is demanding publishers remove from sale is legal material, that they happen to feel uncomfortable with.
It's censorship by monopoly.
JakeH wrote:
I wouldn't worry about this, PayPal must be keen to associate with large online retailers such as Lovehoney. They're less likely to be concerned about some (very!) niche (e)book publishers...
So, "I'm all right, Jack" is your answer, Jake, is it? Seems a little short-sighted to me, but I do hope you're right. In the mean time, don't try writing anything vaguely provocative, will you?