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 singleton Maddy Carty has doubled down on her controversial take that men should have to pay a first date deposit to put a stop 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 in a recent episode of her Mads World podcast. 

However, the proposal to pre-charge men $100 for a promised date resulted in swift backlash, with dozens of irate gents slamming the TikToker for her take on modern dating. 

'And they wonder why relationships fail, great start indeed,' one man commented when Maddy shared a clip from the podcast to her social media. 

'If you want to know why blokes are cancelling on you, then just re-watch your own TikTok,' snapped another man. 'If we wanted the drama and the pageantry, we'd all just head to the Miss World contest.' 

'Charging for a woman's time…Novel,' another commented sarcastically. 

This week, Maddy laughed at the heated online backlash she's received since floating the idea publicly. 

'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'd been talking to a guy 'on the apps' for a couple weeks, and he stood her up on a Friday night with less than half-an-hour's notice. 

'We'd locked in a time and place for Friday night,' she said, noting that her commute into Melbourne's CBD is an hour drive from her home.

'I tanned the night before. I went into work that day when I could have worked from home. I did my make up. I styled my hair. I dressed up. I had a pre-drink with my workmates at the bar... and then got a text half an hour before we were meant to meet up.

'It said: "Oh sorry, I've got to work late, I can't make it anymore".' 

Maddy said men flaking out on first dates at the last minute with 'lame excuses' is all too common. 

'It probably happens one out of two times. So many times,' she said.

'Aussie men have this thing where they love to talk the talk, but they won't walk the walk.'  

She said many online conversations began 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 each enough online attention so that they could actually make it to a real world meetup.

'It's like having 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 fair rate to compensate for loss of time and also the funds which women invest in getting ready for those dates.

'You can't get back the time you invest in getting ready, getting excited,' she argued. 

'I also then couldn't do anything else on that day. Friday night is prime real estate of the week. By 6pm, it's too late to organise another date, or for me to make other plans with friends.

'I had to go home, get un-ready and sit on my couch watching Netflix. It's a huge waste of time and effort.'   

Maddy pointed out that late cancellation fees are quite commonly used by salons and other businesses to prevent time wasting. 

'It's not the same as being stood up because they're still communicating, but working late on Friday night? That's not an excuse. 

'I'm someone who sticks to plans once I make them, out of respect for the other person. If you wouldn't cancel on your friend last minute, then what makes you think cancelling on someone you've been talking to online is okay?' 

In her podcast episode, Maddy and her friend said young women like themselves spend hundreds of dollars in preparation for first dates - something she's been ripped into for online. 

'When I said it costs girls "hundreds of dollars" to get ready, I'm accounting for my make up and beauty products - they're expensive! - but for my time more than anything else.

'That's my hourly work rate, $200/hour, plus the cost of the Mac or Mecca products, how much it costs to maintain my hair, my tan, to fill my car with petrol to drive to the city, and make a trip to the office. It all adds up.' 

Her comments come as young daters are getting pickier about who they elect to meet in real life from dating apps. 

Nearly a quarter of singles surveyed by Tinder for their 2024 Year in Swipe report said they're choosing fewer, more meaningful connections going into 2025. 

'Singles are embracing intentionality in their dating lives – being upfront about what they want and refusing to settle,' Tinder’s Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Hobley said, as she explained a trend they've dubbed 'loud looking'. 

People are being more vocal about what and who they want, and like Maddy, also being upfront about what they don't want.