Agency Work or Going Solo as an Escort in Melbourne?

Bookings and screening

With an agency, reception answers every enquiry. It checks the client, agrees the time and place, then offers you the booking. You say yes or no.

Working alone, you answer every message yourself. That includes the time-wasters, the late-night texts and the clients who will not give a name. Screening is your job too.

Independent escorts build their own checks: a name and number, a call before the booking, and the warning lists that peer groups share.

Learning the job

An agency gives a new escort someone to ask. Reception can explain how a booking runs, what to pack and what to do when a client runs late.

Working alone, you learn by doing and from other workers. Vixen Collective runs peer support, and Scarlet Alliance’s Red Book covers the basics.

Shifts and your hours

With an agency, you tell reception which hours you are free. Bookings come to you in those hours, and some shifts are quiet.

Working alone, you decide when your phone is on. The work comes only when your ads bring it in.

Either way, you can turn down a booking. Ask an agency if refusing one carries any penalty. A fair agency says no.

Since May 2022, a sex work ad in Victoria needs no licence number. You can describe the services you offer, mention safer sex and use your own photos.

Each website still has its own rules, and many are stricter than the law. The Australian Consumer Law also applies to every ad.

An agency writes your profile, books the photo shoot and pays for the advertising. Working alone, you choose every word and pay every bill.

Privacy

An agency stands between you and the client. Your number, your legal name and your address stay out of the booking.

Working alone, your work number is the contact. Guard it, and keep it apart from your private life. Our guide to privacy for escorts has a checklist.

Working from home in Melbourne

Victorian planning rules allow home-based sex work, with conditions. It must be your main home, and it must not harm the amenity of the area.

No more than two people who do not live there may work in the home at one time. The home-based rules do not cover hotels, boarding houses or short-stay rentals such as Airbnbs.

Sex work businesses can now operate anywhere a shop can. Check with your local council before you sign a lease.

Safety on bookings

With an agency, reception knows where you are and when you should finish. Working alone, set up a buddy: someone who knows the address, the client’s number and the time you expect to leave.

Agree a code word with your buddy that means "call me now" or "send help". Use it in a normal-sounding text.

Questions to ask before you join an agency

A fair agency answers these before you sign anything. If it will not, look elsewhere.

• Does the ad say clearly that the work is sex work?
• What is the split, and when are you paid?
• Are there any fees for photos, ads or rooms?
• Can you refuse a booking without a penalty?
• Who screens clients, and how?
• How do check-ins work on a booking?
• Will you see your profile before it goes live?
• Can you leave at any time, and will your profile come down?
• Are you a contractor or an employee?

Contracts, fees and red flags

Read any agency agreement before you sign it. Take it home, and ask a support group to read it with you. Keep a signed copy for yourself.

A fair agreement is short and plain. It sets out the split, when you are paid, what you can refuse and how you leave.

Look closely at any of these:

• A joining fee or a bond
• Fines for running late or refusing a client
• A minimum number of shifts each week
• A set period before you are allowed to leave
• Anyone who holds your ID or your earnings

None of these belongs in a fair agreement. Taking a worker’s earnings by threats or force is a crime in Victoria.

Your rights are the same either way

The law protects you however you work. Health and safety law applies wherever sex work happens, and WorkSafe Victoria regulates it.

The Equal Opportunity Act 2010 and the consent laws cover agency and independent escorts alike. Free support from Vixen Collective and RhED is open to everyone in the industry.

Money and time

An agency takes a share of each booking fee. Working alone, you keep the whole fee, but you pay for ads, photos, a phone and sometimes a room.

Time is the hidden cost. Messages, ads and screening can take hours each week. With an agency, those hours go back to you.

Working alone also means your own records. Keep every receipt for ads, photos and your work phone, because they may count as tax deductions.

Tax works the same either way, because escort income is taxable. Read how to become an escort for the ABN and GST basics.

Which suits you

Choose an agency if you want screening, bookings and photos handled, and a team that knows where you are. Choose solo work if you want full control and do not mind the admin.

Plenty of escorts switch over time. An agency can be a place to learn the job before going solo, and the move can run the other way too. Both are fair choices.

Leaving an agency

You can leave an agency whenever you choose. Ask it to take your profile and photos off its site, and to tell you in writing once they are gone.

Ask early who owns your photos. If the agency paid for the shoot, it may hold the rights, so agree in advance what happens when you go.

If you plan to keep your working name for solo work, check that your agreement allows it.

Questions to ask yourself before you choose

The right choice depends on you more than on the work. Be honest about a few things.

• Do you enjoy admin, or would you rather someone else answered the messages?
• How comfortable are you screening strangers on your own?
• Can you afford ads and photos before the first booking pays?
• Who will know where you are on each booking?

If most answers point to support, start with an agency. If they point to control, going solo may suit you better. You can change your mind later.

If agency work sounds right, read about escort work with an agency in Melbourne at Ruby. To see how Ruby presents escorts to clients, visit its Melbourne escort agency home page.