Stop underpricing: how to raise your prices without losing your fans

In my first year, I underpriced everything. Not because I’d done the maths, but because I was scared. Scared people would think I was greedy, scared they’d leave, scared that if I asked for more, the whole thing would fall apart.

It didn’t fall apart when I finally raised my prices. It got better. So when I read a creator describing exactly the same fear, and exactly the same ending, I wanted to write it all down properly. Here’s what she learned, what the creators replying to her added, and how I’d raise your OnlyFans prices if I were starting again. (Biscuit says hello. He has never once undercharged for a cuddle.)

1. The day a $25 video became a $90 video

She’d been creating for four and a half years and sat around the top 6–7% of creators. Good, not great. Like most of us, she was nervous about upselling, nervous about charging more, nervous that fans would turn off auto-renew if she pushed.

Then she flipped the question. Instead of asking “what will he think of me?”, she started asking “what do my bills need?” Recently, she sold a five-minute video for $90. A year earlier she’d have charged about $25 for the same thing.

Her words, roughly: the money is there. You have to tell yourself you’re worth it.

2. Why so many of us underprice

Read the replies under a post like hers and you see the same few reasons again and again. I had every single one of them.

• “I’m new, so I should be cheaper.” It feels fair. It isn’t a pricing strategy.
• People-pleasing. A lot of creators described themselves as chronic people pleasers. Pricing low feels like being nice.
• Over-thanking tips. She used to send loads of free content when someone tipped $10, because it felt so generous. It wasn’t. It was $10.
• Fear of losing renewals. If one person turns off rebill, it feels like a disaster. It almost never is.
• No idea what’s “normal”. Many new creators base their menus on beginner guides and chatbots, then second-guess every number.

None of these are about what your work is actually worth. They’re about feelings. And feelings are terrible at maths.

3. “You’re too expensive for someone so new” is a trap

One creator, two weeks in, said fans kept telling her that $10 a minute for customs was too high “this early in the game”. The answer from more experienced creators was blunt: it isn’t too much. Some buyers seek out new creators because they know new creators haven’t set firm prices or boundaries yet. Scammers love that too: here are the red flags to watch for in custom requests.

Your experience level has nothing to do with the value of your time. A custom takes the same planning, filming and editing whether it’s your first month or your fifth year. Several creators said their own minimum for customs is now at least $50 a minute, and that new creators shouldn’t price lower just because they’re new.

And the same week she was told she was too expensive, someone spent $175 with her on a handful of selfies. The right buyers exist. Cheap prices just attract the wrong ones first.

4. Do the maths before you decide

Here’s the sum that changed one creator’s mind: one $100 custom is the same money as five $20 customs. To lose money by charging $100, you’d have to turn away more than five cheap buyers for every one who says yes. And you’d film once instead of five times. To run your own numbers, try the free earnings calculator.

Now add the bit nobody likes to think about. Your platform takes its cut before you see anything (OnlyFans keeps 20%), and then you owe tax on what’s left.

You charge	After a 20% platform fee	Times you film
5 customs at $20	$80	5
1 custom at $100	$80	1
A video at $25	$20	1
The same video at $90	$72	1

One creator said she raised her prices once she worked out how much she was really losing to tax, and her earnings nearly doubled. That’s the bookkeeper in me cheering. Set aside tax money every payout, and price as if that money was never yours, because it isn’t. If you’re in the US, here’s how creator taxes actually work, from deductions to quarterly payments.

5. A tip is not the end of the conversation

This one surprised me most. She used to respond to a tip by sending lots of free content as a thank-you. Now she says thank you, warmly, and then carries on selling: the next pay-per-view message goes out as normal. And they still buy.

Think about it from his side. He tipped because he’s enjoying himself. Stopping the sale to give everything away doesn’t reward that. It ends it.

Fans are customers. Treat them well, but they’re customers. A genuine thank-you is good service. Giving away the shop is not. A tip is usually a sign that fan is ready for the next rung of your ladder.

6. How to raise your prices without the drama

You don’t need an announcement, an apology or a big relaunch. You need a plan.

1. 01Pick one thing to raise first. Customs are easiest, because each one is priced individually anyway.
2. 02Set a minimum you’re genuinely happy to film for, then add a little. Never quote below it.
3. 03Raise prices for new fans first. Keep your loyal regulars on their current prices for a while; they’ve earned it, and they’ll keep spending.
4. 04Watch for two to four weeks. Track sales, not complaints. A few people moaning is not data.
5. 05Raise again in steps. She raised hers three times in one year. Small, regular increases feel normal; one giant jump feels like a shock.

A couple of practical choices creators shared:

• A public menu, or no menu? One creator dropped her public tip menu completely so she could price each request on its own. Another keeps a short menu for customs and ratings only, and leaves pay-per-view prices off it. Both work. What doesn’t work is a cheap public menu you’re afraid to change.
• How you say it matters. Price statements, not price apologies.

7. Stop being scared of rebill

The biggest fear behind cheap prices is losing subscribers. Two things other creators shared help here.

First, a subscriber who leaves isn’t gone forever. One creator follows back every expired subscriber, so she always has a big list of people she can message with new offers. Another has close to 6,000 expired fans she follows back. That makes any single renewal much less scary. Here’s a simple system for winning those quiet fans back.

Second, the fans who leave over a fair price are usually the ones who were never going to spend much. As one creator put it: better to weed them out early and focus on the people who pay. You don’t need everyone. You need enough of the right ones.

8. The fair pushback

Not every reply agreed completely, and the disagreements are useful.

• “How do I know what’s fair?” One creator worried her prices weren’t consistent. The sharpest answer: this is a luxury service, not a necessity. There’s no objective “fair” price. It’s your time and your boundaries, so you decide. Consistency matters less than having a floor you never go below.
• “Less effort, same money.” One long-time creator with a free page and pay-per-view only said she earns more the less she stresses: she uploads, sets a price and lets it sell. Someone replied that this works once you have confidence and consistency, and a big audience. It’s a later-stage model, not a starting point.
• “You could be leaving money on the table.” Someone pointed out that a buyer who happily pays $20 might have paid more. Asking a regular what budget he had in mind, then pricing from there, was one suggestion.
• Confidence isn’t a strategy on its own. Raising prices works best alongside steady promotion. As the original poster said herself, the creators struggling right now usually need two things: more promo and higher prices. If promo is your weak spot, start with how to promote on Reddit without getting banned.

Your pricing check-up

Run through this today. It takes ten minutes.

• Do you know your minimum price per minute for customs, and do you stick to it?
• When did you last raise any price? If it was more than six months ago, it’s probably time.
• Are you still giving away content every time someone tips?
• Do you know what you keep after the platform fee and tax?
• Are your loyal regulars protected while new fans pay the new prices?
• Is anything on your menu priced low because you were nervous when you wrote it?

Quick questions