Should I Join a Free or Paid Dating Website?

There is without a shadow of a doubt that online dating sites are here and they are here to stay. There use to be a stigma attached to joining an online matchmaking site, that you had to be desperate but as more and more people around the world use it, dating sites are quickly being recognised as a truly effective way to meet other singles.

There are thousands of dating sites online. Everything from regional dating, religious dating, to pets dating sites (where Members are pet owners and not the pets themselves!). As you may have seen many of these offer free memberships and some are paid but how do you know what is really free and what do you really get for being a full member?

The answer is really quite simple and goes back to something that we were taught as children, nothing comes for free. Many of the most popular dating sites will often allow you to register for free but bear in mind that what they are allowing you to do is to place your profile online and that is going to be about it. What these companies are doing are ‘padding’ their databases up with thousands of members. You are usually not able to write to others, add photos, etc. Then every so often some of those free members actually upgrades to be able to write letters, do advanced searches, etc.

There are some true free dating websites but in those websites there is a distinct lack of members or services. Without the proper funding they would have received had they been charging they fall far behind the major dating sites and can not compete with the thousands of Members on those sites. With a free dating site there is no true reason for the website owners to be accountable for the information submitted. You may find it hard to hold them to account for loss of your personal information as you did not even pay for the services. There are even some free dating sites that make ‘fake’ members to quickly make a database and give a false view of their database.

A paid dating website would have a financial reason to carry on with ethical business practices. As word of mouth is very important with any business they would be very much aware of the need for customer care. If you ever felt that you were being given an inadequate service you could always ask for a refund, a strong enough reason for any dating site to do what it can to keep its paying members happy.