Would you pay a $100 first date deposit? Single woman, 30, proposes charging time-wasting Aussie men cancellation fee after splashing out ‘hundreds’ on makeup and petrol for Tinder no-shows

Melbourne single Maddy Carter has doubled down on her controversial stance that men should pay a first date deposit to put an end to last-minute cancellations on dating apps.

“If someone cancels a date within 24 hours, you should be able to charge a cancellation fee,” the 30-year-old said on a recent episode of her Mad’s World podcast.

However, the proposal to charge men $100 upfront for a promised date resulted in a swift backlash, with dozens of irate gentlemen criticizing the TikToker for her views on modern dating.

“And they wonder why relationships fail, a good start indeed,” one man commented when Maddy shared a clip of the podcast on her social media.

“If you want to know why dudes cancel on you, just look at your own TikTok again,” another man snapped. “If we wanted the drama and pageantry, we would all just go to the Miss World pageant.”

“Charging for a woman’s time… Novel,” another commented sarcastically.

This week, Maddy laughed off the heated backlash online she’s received since she publicly raised the idea.

“I said what I said,” she told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday, “and I stand by it.”

The TikToker explained that inspiration struck when she had been talking to a man “on the apps” for a few weeks, and he held her up on a Friday evening with less than half an hour’s notice.

“We agreed on a time and place for Friday evening,” she said, noting her commute to Melbourne’s CBD is an hour’s drive from her home.

‘I tanned the night before. I went to work that day, even though I could have worked from home. I did my makeup. I styled my hair. I dressed up. I had a drink with my colleagues at the bar… and then got a text message half an hour before we were supposed to meet up.’

‘It said, “Oh sorry, I have to work late, I can’t make it anymore.”

Maddy said men dropping out of a first date at the last minute with ‘faint excuses’ is all too common.

‘It probably happens one out of every two times. So many times,” she wailed.

“Aussie men have this thing where they like to talk, but they don’t walk the talk.”

She said many online conversations started positively but ended with “crickets” as the man failed to follow through.

Maddy added that women often had to juggle multiple men at once, paying enough attention to each online so that they could actually attend a meeting in the real world.

“It’s like I have all these pen pals, like little Tamagotchi pets in my phone that I have to feed, and talk to them all so they don’t die.”

The blonde said she thinks $100 would be a reasonable amount to compensate for the loss of time and also the money women invest to prepare for those dates.

“You can’t get back the time you invest in preparing and getting excited,” she argued.

‘I couldn’t do anything else that day. Friday night is the prime real estate of the week. At 6 p.m. it’s too late to arrange a date or make other plans with friends.

‘I had to go home, finish up and sit on the couch watching Netflix. It’s a huge waste of time and effort.’

Maddy pointed out that salons and other businesses often use late cancellation fees to avoid wasting time.

“It’s not the same as getting up because they’re still communicating, but working late on Friday night? That’s no excuse.

‘I am someone who sticks to plans once I have made them, out of respect for others. If you wouldn’t cancel on your friend at the last minute, what makes you think it’s okay to cancel on someone you’ve been talking to online?’

In her podcast episode, Maddy and her friend said young women like them spend hundreds of dollars preparing for first dates – something she’s been scammed for online.

“When I said it costs girls ‘hundreds of dollars’ to get ready, I’m counting on my makeup and beauty products – they’re expensive! – but especially before my time.

“That’s my hourly wage, $200/hour, plus the cost of the Mac or Mecca products, how much it costs to keep my hair, get my tan, fill my car with gas to drive into town and take a trip to the office. It all adds up.’

Her comments come as young daters on dating apps are becoming more choosy about who they want to meet in real life.

Almost one A quarter of singles surveyed by Tinder for their 2024 Year in Swipe report said they will choose fewer, more meaningful connections in 2025.

“Singles are embracing intention in their dating lives: being honest about what they want and refusing to settle,” said Tinder Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Hobley, explaining a trend they’ve dubbed “noisy.”

People say more clearly what and who they want, and, like Maddy, are also honest about what they don’t want.