Choosing an Agency

[kievstar]

Jooky, EM in Kiev recruits women.  I dated a girl in Kiev over a year (just for fun) and she was the reason I found out how EM work in Kiev.  She was recruited and was given money for bringing others.  EM also advertises in English papers in Kiev to come see their women. They used to have advertisement in Kiev airport tourism book until new laws got rid of massage parlors and dating / sex agencies.   

Spend some time with sex tourists they love EM.  Direct contact and the attractive women who will marry are also open for other things.  That is why IMHO visit many write never.   

But keep in mind about a year ago I posted a thread on did anybody marry a woman from Kiev.  1 person responded.  Letter writing and speaking on the phone is difficult to capture the attention of a Kiev girl.  Need to visit often.  Kiev is really setup for the Europe based man to do well. 

EM is setup for the keyboard romeo and men who hang out on internet forums tend to be keyboard romeos.  So we will see more members here with better success with EM. 

EM makes it easy to cut out the agency.  Aweb is setup to make you write forever or visit.  Than upon visit you find out your writing or speaking to an agency workers.  EM is also not as safe for the RW as many creepy men visit and the agency is no where to help them if the man cuts the agency out.  Aweb provides More protection to the RW as they make the man go through the agency.   

My wife had negative things to say about EM and aweb in Kharkov and she was recruited by both. But she hates internet forums so I can not speak much more on that. She will tell you no matter the agency (including EM) - 80% or more of the RW are not serious at all.  My wife was one of them however and she says the RW will change in the 80% category.  But letter writing is not going to change the 80% - need to visit often.

[Jooky]

Kievstar, that all makes sense. 

What I don't get is, how do these Elena's Models agencies get paid? From what I know, Elena's Models is really just a website run from Australia, that works with affiliate agencies and allows for individuals to sign up.

So, how does an affiliate agency get paid? What is their cut based on? Do they get a commission based on how many letters are exchanged with the women from their agency? Or do they agencies only get paid for services they provide for clients that actual visit? Do you know?

[ECOCKS]

Interesting take.

I don't see how EM could make any money for/through affiliate agencies. A couple of my wife's friends just joined by puttingtheir pictures and profiles up there. Mixed success, mostly due to lack of understanding how to identify serious WM from time-wasters and perverts. No money reqquired for their profiles to be setup, no interviews, no fee collections, so really don't get how their "recruiting" went. Also, over the last four years, saw nothing regarding referral fees for the wife bringing on others.

[Jooky]

I don't see how EM could make any money for/through affiliate agencies.

Yeah, it doesn't seem to make sense, but here's my guess at how their business model works.

Elena's allows normal, sincere women to sign themselves up and use the site with no agency involved. These are the type of women that most men that post here end up meeting.

But... 80% of Elena's clients are not signing up for the normal, sincere women. They are signing up for the young hotties!

So, in order for Elena's to attract clients, they must also use agencies (like the one in Kiev) to recruit the young babes, photograph them and even email for them. These are the women that the majority of men are signing up for, so Elena's gives these agencies commisions based on how many different men are writing to girls in that specific agency.

These agency girls will: write to many men first and respond to all expressions of interest. Here's how this helps Elena's site.

First of all, for men to view full photos they need to create an account, even if they don’t pay. As soon as you create an account, these agency girls will write letters to you, letters that you can’t open until you sign up. So that’s the first agency function, to convince men who are ‘testing the waters’ of the site to actually sign up.

Second, most clients buy the Gold membership. This allows for a limited number of contacts (50). Expressions of Interest don't count. It's a bit of a trick. A man will send an EOI to some young hotty. This won’t use up his contact, but if she accepts the EOI and sends a short email, he will use (waste) a contact to open this email. So, the goal of the hot agency girls is to waste a man’s contacts so that he needs to pay additional fees or sign up for the more expensive Platinum account.

That’s my guess… I really don’t know.

Kievstar, does this sound right to you?

[ECOCKS]

Hmmm, looking at their fee structure, I still don't see how they could be splitting much of the revenue with another organization. Seems pretty lean to me.

Maybe they used to be recruiting heavily in the past (like pre-2006), but this doesn't seem to be happening these days (like within the last 3-4 years). I've seen nothing indicating they are actively recruiting women. Where would this recruiting take place? Not at the airport where they are presenting to the potential male clients. Unlike, say Daisy Brides or a couple of others whom I have seen at the universities, metros and on Kreshatyk, Elena's seems to be pretty low-key in these recruiting efforts. The emails received by new signups don't seem to be pushing for photo fees, profile placement or anything else either.

Anyone have a link for these EM affiliates?

The Impressa office, I believe, is a company office and not an independently owned affiliate. What has anyone seen that indicates different? Maybe they have these "affiliates" in other cities but, unlike AWeb, I don't recall seeing their database being hit by other search engines.

[Turboguy]

Turbo,
The Hotel Impressa?  Funny, because I stayed there and my impression is that they are so much a mafia style outfit. It was the place I felt tried to scam us the most. Is there an agency working out of the hotel?

Yes, Elena's Models has an office in the Impressa or they did a few years ago.  If you walk in the front door and turn left and walk past the hotel registration desk down the hallway there is a door on the right which is Elenas.   The impression I had was that it was a company owned office and thier only real office.   I went there with a friend who wanted to use thier services and sat there looking through thier books as my friend worked out meetings.

It is very possible that the affiliates don't get paid for sending them girls.  It would allow them to increase their advertising for their ladies and to generate translating and lodging revenues.  I have no idea but I just don't see how the way Elenas is set up could give the agencies much of anything for a listing.

[Gator]

Hmmm, looking at their fee structure, I still don't see how they could be splitting much of the revenue with another organization. Seems pretty lean to me.

I just don't see how the way Elenas is set up could give the agencies much of anything for a listing.

Agree with both of you.  Every woman I met from EM was sincere.  Then again, none were under 40.  Very pretty examples of Slavic beauty.

[kievstar]

Jooky, I think your right on EM business model as EM needs a big population of women to do well.  EM also sometimes offers the 10 to 15 thousand search program for about 6 to 10 men each year which helps with corporate profits.  Is EM really run out of Australia?  I heard different but not a good source on that and that the lady who started EM has not been involved in more than 10 years now.  I did buy her book and it was really outdated and was really worth less than a roll of toilet paper.  The section on sex was comical. 

The local agencies probably get a franchise fee from corporate EM and they probably are required to bring in x amount of new women per month as well as have x amount of total women. 

My wife was approached by EM less than 3 years ago.  My ex girlfriend is back on EM and was recruited again.  They were both real models and not hard for marriage agencies to find them to be recruited.  Aweb has a ton of women 18 to 22 who are real models and will never meet any man unless the agency worker really convinces them that a man is very handsome or rich. My wife and ex were over 26 years old when recruited.

Aweb corporate monitors mail traffic to ensure the local agencies are sending personalized letters.  They will fine the local aweb offices if cookie cutter letters are being done.  If your receiving letters from Aweb and not met the girl your getting it from the agency worker.  With EM the agency workers only do this if the woman requests it.  The agency workers are very organized at Aweb and they split up the girls they monitor so they know all the men they write to.  Ever noticed when you get one letter you also get a couple more from the same city about the same time.  You think 3 women in the same city happen to write you same time.  Or do you think the agency worker is fishing for business.

Regarding the women over 40 years old I think you will find that Aweb does not have many of them and EM does. 

What I write is about Ukraine and Russia is very different I have been told.  EM also tends to have many women from Russia whereas Aweb is dominated by Ukraine women.  You can meet wonderful women in both.  Just need to be careful.  Do not assume EM is more than 50% legit.  The founder of EM also has legality issues in Ukraine going back to her days when she was a black market shop trader.  If she is still involved with EM someone might ask her when was the last time she was physically in Ukraine?  might also want to ask for proof.

[Jooky]

Is EM really run out of Australia?

Their official address and phone number are still in Queensland. I exchanged a few emails with Elena (at least I think so) a few years ago.

I did buy her book and it was really outdated and was really worth less than a roll of toilet paper.

100% agree. 

The local agencies probably get a franchise fee from corporate EM and they probably are required to bring in x amount of new women per month as well as have x amount of total women.

 

That makes sense, in addition to the agencies getting men to upgrade their accounts or come on the personal search program you mentioned. It might not seem that Elena's brings in enough revenue per customer to support these agencies, but if the agencies work with several sites then it's just extra cash for them.

I did meet a girl in Novosibirsk that signed up with an agency that listed her on Elena's and several other sites (and wrote responses in her name). She never actually used the agency because they wanted to charge her to come in and read letters. (She was over 30 and not recruited).

I also talked to some hookers at the (infamous) Boar House in Moscow a few years ago that were recruited by an Elena's affiliate agency. My guess is that a lot of the recruiting happens at night clubs and strip joints, but could be anywhere.