Tomar began camming six years ago as a side hustle to his full time job in retail. It didn’t take long for a side hustle to the side hustle to emerge: selling his used underwear.
“Guys started asking to buy them as soon as I started camming,” the Georgia native tells MEL. “I never took it seriously until one dude finally convinced me to sell a pair — through sheer persistence and a very generous offer.” The offer was $100, he says — about triple the price of his typical underwear sale now — for a pair of red Hanes low-rise briefs.
“I had a photo wearing them on my cam page, and he kept asking about them,” Tomar explains. “He specifically asked for a week of workouts and also wanted a personalized vid wearing them. When I finally agreed to sell them to him, he walked me through the process in great detail — telling me how to store them and everything.”
These days, Tomar sells most of his underwear through his profile on the camming site ManyVids (NSFW), and usually to repeat customers, he says, including one overseas. Occasionally, he dabbles in the subreddit dedicated to guys selling their underwear, r/malepantyselling (NSFW), which is where I found a few more guys who sell and were willing to tell me about the business. Here’s what they had to say.
Tomar, Georgia
Most of my underwear sales come from repeat customers, including one overseas. I’ve definitely made some sales through the subreddit, but it isn’t really much of a thing, AFAIK. I assume there are other marketplaces, but I sell videos through ManyVids anyway, so I just set up a store there.
Currently I sell my underwear for $20 to 30 a pair, although some kind souls tip generously. The first pair I sold was for $100. I only sell one or two pairs a month these days, but I used to sell four to five when I was actually trying. For me, selling underwear is a byproduct of camming and selling vids. It’s a side hustle to my side hustle.
The first sale pays for the pack I buy at Target! The rest is profit until I have to start doing laundry too frequently. Almost all of my underwear customers buy videos first, so it’s my videos that stand out and my underwear is the “merch.” Also, I am unfathomably sweaty.
Since it’s almost always the smell that buyers are after, my standard process is three days of P90X and a 3K run. If I go to a punk show, I’ll wear them there, too, because everyone smells terrible anyway and I’ll work up a sweat. Once they dry out, I put them in a bag to ship.
Some guys have a fetish about other guys wanting their underwear. I derive no satisfaction from it… but I also don’t judge! The most frequent [request] is to cum in them. A few guys have sent me panties or thongs to wear in a custom vid and then send to them.
James, 26, New York
I have a full-time corporate job, but side hustles are still needed, so I started selling my underwear about four years ago to supplement the income I got from my other, other job: camming on sites like Chaturbate and Cam4. It really isn’t a lot, but anything helps.
I sell each pair for around $40 to $60, usually to older guys around 40 to 50 years in age. I don’t really have any repeat customers, nor do I get requests every day — it’s more of a couple times a month and that’s if I really put myself out there on the web.
That said, I’m not totally sure what the total amount I’ve made is, and I don’t know if I stand out to people, but I try to advertise the best way I can with a picture of me or of my collection. I am an uncircumcised white male in the U.S., so people tend to be interested in that.
So when I do get a potential sale, I’ll just ask what the customer wants. If it’s just wearing underwear for a few days to get it “ripe” then that’s what I do. I also cum into them a couple times as requested. Other than that, nothing crazy. How a customer wants them is how I deliver them. I also have a wide range of pairs they can choose from, like designer brands and briefs, boxer briefs, boxers as well.
David, 22, the Netherlands
I started selling my underwear two years ago, after I ran into the women’s version on Reddit: /r/usedpanties. I thought it was interesting, dared my female roommate to do it, and she turned it around and was like, “Why don’t you?”
I hadn’t thought about it, also didn’t expect there to be a male’s version, but of course there was, and so here we are, I’ve never looked back. I’m hetero myself, but these guys respecting and even adoring you was surprisingly nice.
I’m not that well-versed in the business, but I really appreciate the extra income even though it’s not a lot, while I continue to work my other boring job and go to school for my master’s degree. At the same time, this is all more work than you’d think: posting pictures, shooting vids and making stuff dirty without it impacting your normal life too much. If anything, it motivates me to go to the gym so I look good in my advertisements while preparing current orders [wearing the underwear]. Many prefer fit guys, although for every niche there will be some demand.
On average, I sell one pair a week, peak times and lows (also depends on how frequently I post ads), and keep all my sales in an Excel doc. I think the novelty factor of a new guy is pretty big for them generally, so most order just one pair ($35 including worldwide shipping, three days of intense wear and access to my nude album), and others ordering multiple pairs, and many custom videos (where I masturbate and cum onto their gear) or even send them cum into a condom.
I’ve also sold socks, T-shirts and shoes, but most guys want the underwear to just be smelly. Being straight is a plus to some gay customers, but it differs a lot: Some request pubes, some request specifics like no pee drops at all, or conversely skid marks (I charge extra for that), a sub-dom dynamic often plays into it, sometimes clearly (like when they address me with “Sir”) — but most are just looking for something that clearly has your smell. I buy varied types of underwear (jocks, soft fabric boxers, etc.) cheap, so that I have something for everyone.
I’m up for most things really, haven’t encountered something too much out there that I didn’t want to do, except for the rare meet-up request. Someone proposed sending me underwear of their wife first for me to wear then send back, which didn’t end up happening unfortunately. Would’ve been interesting.
I always make sure to wear it a bit longer than they request, to really meet and surpass their expectations, because repeat business is really valuable.
Overall I feel like this gig has broadened my horizon. My girlfriend thinks it’s mildly interesting. She’s not too keen on hearing a lot about it, I feel, but sometimes I’ll share stories. Most of my family and friends don’t know I do it.
Quinn Myers
Quinn Myers is a staff writer at MEL. He reports on internet culture, technology, health, masculinity and the communities that flourish within.
