What is a tribute?
A tribute, or initial tribute, is a small payment a sub makes to a domme, ideally before he ever contacts her, to show respect, and that he’s serious about his inquiry.
Most dommes have an initial tribute amount listed on their Wishtender, or posted in their social media bios (on platforms where it’s safe to do so). New dommes might start with $15, and very experienced dommes might expect up to $50 before they will acknowledge a sub. Very high-dollar dommes might set their initial tribute at $100, but that’s unusual. And true to form, some dommes dislike the whole idea of paying before speaking, and don’t ask for a tribute at all.
Why ask for a tribute before speaking to a sub? Because it gives you a way to immediately weed out time wasters. If a sub messages you, and wants to chat without paying, he’s not a sub. He’s just a dude looking to see what he can get from you for free. Ignoring your tribute request, or continuing to dodge it, or my absolute favorite, telling you he doesn’t pay until he’s sure you’re what he’s looking for, is just wasting your time.
My policy with tributes and chatting, which you can use, adapt to your liking, or ignore completely:
If a sub sends a tribute, and then messages me, I will chat with him for a bit, to see what his intentions are, and if we’re a good fit. If his kinks fit my boundaries, and we’re a match, we can progress.
If a sub slides into my messages with “heyy” or “you’re beautiful”, or some other useless interruption of my day, I send him a question mark. If he responds with more time wasting, I drop a link to my tribute listing on Wishtender. I don’t interact with him at all. If there’s no tribute in 24 hours, I drop a link to my unblock listing, and block him if he hasn’t blocked me already.
If a sub approaches with “hello, Mistress”, or some other respectful greeting, I’ll chat briefly. Usually, this is a sub who has a question about what type of domme I am, or whether I might be a good fit for what he wants. I answer questions very briefly, without embellishment, because I want to provide information without giving him free wank material. At a certain point, I do ask for a tribute if he wants to keep chatting, and he either pays, or the chat goes dead for 24 hours, and he gets the unblock link and blocked.
How you handle initial tributes is up to you.