Tamás Ő.
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Sander D.
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Last updated: July 14, 2024 —
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“Find true love for free!” “Become a member of the No. 1 dating site on the Internet without paying!” “Free to browse, and remains free forever!” – These are just a few examples of the sonorous lines many online dating sites use to lure you in. But the promise of total dating freedom is a gilded cage, and often you find out that the promised account creation is indeed free, but some of the vital features – sending and reading messages in particular – are unlockable only after you subscribed to the service. But is there a way to still make the most out of the situation without paying?
First of all, it should be mentioned that dating sites need to make a living too, thus there is no such thing as a fully free service. In some form or another, you’ll always be offered a premium membership, with the added benefits of course. Ideally, this would mean that subscribing to a site’s premium content would enrich your dating experience. In reality, most dating sites take away even the most basic features, and dangle it in front of your nose, tempting you until you give in.
The most common practice is that they inhibit you from sending messages to your preferred partners, effectively blocking you from getting in touch with others, even if they show interest in you. It’s even worse when they blur out the text of the received messages for free members, rendering you both mute and deaf.
But stripping you from the freedom to communicate is just the beginning. There is a growing trend in the online dating world to boost your profile to get extra eyeballs on your page. It means that either by subscribing or paying an additional, smaller amount of money, you’ll be ranked higher on the search list. In other words, if you pay, you end up at the top of other people’s search list, and knowing that most date-seekers don’t dig all pages down to the bottom, this is a highly beneficial feature.
But it also means that freemium profiles have a smaller chance to be seen, buried under all the promoted users. And this is more derogatory than you would think: as a free user, your only chance to get in touch with someone nice-looking is that he or she contacts you – since replying to a message is allowed on some sites – but if you stand behind all the premium members, then your chances of being noticed are slim.
“So what are my options? Is everything lost because of the greedy dating sites?” – you might ask. Not necessarily. There are plenty of ways to find love while both saving money. For example: search for sites that don’t lock the communication features behind a payment wall. OkCupid is a great example, as they are allowing you to live chat even with a freemium account. Also, take full advantage of the free profile to explore your possibilities, even if it’s for browsing only. Gather experience, and if you feel comfortable with the dating site you may be able to get a free trial to a paid membership to unlock matches and messages you’ve received without paying.
Lastly, consider subscribing in a clever way. Purchasing membership for one month only is very expensive, while opting for a longer time – half a year for example – might reduce the initial price by 50-60%. In case the site offers a money-back guarantee, then subscribe for a longer period, and after you’ve found your soulmate, cancel the membership and request the unpaid months back.
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