Online dating and the credit crunch

December 13th, 2008

The current financial crisis has done nothing to deter people from searching for love, but if you want to use online dating during these hard times, you’ll want to make sure you’re doing it within your budget. It’s not as hard as you might think to save money while dating online, all it takes is a bit of planning and a bit of a changed mindset.

Here are some handy tips to help you save money while looking for Mr or Mrs right (or right now) on the Internet.

1. Free dating sites

My collection of good 100% free dating site reviews has grown large enough so as to take over this post, so I have now moved the list here. If free dating sites are not your thing, you can stick with this post instead and learn about ways of saving money with pay sites

2. No credit? No problem!

It can be hard to sign up to a paid dating site if you don’t have a credit or debit card, and credit cards are harder to come by nowadays. Luckily, some dating sites (at least in the UK) will let you sign up via mobile phone, meaning you don’t even need a bank account to sign up. All you need is a pay as you go mobile and some phone credit, which you can buy with cash almost anywhere. Look out for sites that offer mobile billing like GirlsDateForFreeBe aware, though, that some sites charge more for mobile membership than normal membership (although they do let you sign up for just a few days at a time).

Many sites also allow you to pay by cheque, including some of the major ones like DatingDirect and Loopylove.com.


3. Discounts and free trials

The pay sites are feeling the crunch and are constantly offering special discounts and free trials. Most are time limited, so if you hear of one, make use of it quickly, before it disappeares!

Free trials are a handy way of trying all the features on a site and making contact with new people, but if you’re thinking of using the free trial to avoid paying altogether – give it up. Attempting to contact everyone you fancy within 3 days or a week and letting them know you’ll be disappearing afterwards will only make you look cheap. People might be a bit more understanding because of the credit crunch, but ultimately, a dating site offers people a certain element of anonymity and protection, so they’d need a damn good reason to give that up. Saving you money is not likely to count as a good reason.

Use the free trial instead to get a real feel of a site before you decide on whether to spend your money. Message some people and see if you get any responses, see if you like what they say. Try the formerly restricted features to see if they are worth your money, etc.
Remember that some free trials will automatically roll over into full membership, so make sure you know when that’s going to happen, if you don’t like the site and want to leave.

Here is a list of some free trial offers currently available. I update this list regularly:

UK:

Lovestruck free 72 hour trial(on London site. Other sites 100% free)

USA/CA:

Join Lavalife.com 7 days free trial – (some UK/Australian/International memership available).

Discounts are a brilliant way of saving money on membership fees you’d be paying anyway and there’s quite a few about.

Look on the right hand side of this page (you might need to scroll up a bit!) for all the current offers I know of in the UK in abroad.

Watch this space for more or just search the net for your favourite dating site plus “discount” or “coupon”.


4. The cheaper option

Hunt around for cheaper sites that offer the same features you’d normally pay more for.

Compatibility matching (personality testing), for example, is usually an expensive feature that warrants higher subscription fees. However, certain forms of these are available both for free (see above) or at the standard membership rate without having to shell out extra cash.
In the UK, the following sites offer compatibility matching and personality tests as part of their standard membership package:
Match.com, DatingDirect, GirlsDateForFree.
Unless you’re sold on a particular site (like eHarmony) and trust it above all others when it comes to matching, you’re better off going cheap. It’s highly debatable whether you should rely on such personality tests to find your true love in the first place, but that’s an entirely different matter.

5. Money back guarantees

Some sites offer you a money back guarantee, usually if you sign up for a 6 month membership or higher. Sometimes you get your money back or you could get a membership extension instead. These offers come with plenty of terms and conditions, namely, you have to be seen to be actively looking on the site – upload a picture and a full profile, message plenty of people throughout the whole period, etc.

Match.com (UK)

offer their much publicised “make love happen! ™” guarantee. To qualify, you need to take out a 6 month subscription and, if you are actively looking and don’t find anyone in that time, they will extend your membership for an additional 6 months.

DatingDirect
offer a 12 month money back guarantee which is much less publicised, but will actually give you your money back (not free membership) if you search for a year and find no one you like.

6. Get someone else to pay for it

Some sites out there will let other people buy you a gift subscription (also sometimes known as gift membership). Often, this can be done if you’re already a member. Usually, men buy membership for women, although the opposite does sometimes happens (or does it?) You’ll probably need to pay first and then charm someone into buying you membership so you could reply to their messages. Unethical? Perhaps, but if you’re broke and can’t afford to use the site any other way after the first month or so, it might be worth a go. There are also sites where members can pay extra to have their messages read/replied to by non-subscribers. See Benaughty.com for an example of this.

Some sites out there cater for gift subscriptions to start from scratch, i.e. if you want to buy someone you know a present and get them set up with a dating site. My favourite one of those is MySingleFriend . This is a site that lets people set up their single friends/family members they think are tragically, rather than happily single. It’s perfectly set up to allow for other people to pay for you and even write most of your profile for you. It’s also a rather good dating site in general.

7. Saving money once you’re meeting and dating

Surveys conducted recently show that people are getting a bit more creative with their dating choices because of the credit crunch and replacing posh restaurants with cheaper ones and the likes. It’s good to find cheaper alternatives to common dinner and a movie scenarios but beware of choosing to go round someone’s house rather than meet in a public place for your first date – your safety must always come first.

In the UK, pubs are still the favoured place for the dreaded first date and these easily lend themselves to credit crunching times. Cafes are also good, especially those that let you sit around for hours with a single drink and get to know each other. You don’t really need much else if you want to just find out whether you click with someone.

Another good money saving trick is to use free software like Skype
instead of using the phone. You can use it to call other Skype users on their computer for free or landlines (all over the world) for a small fee, although it’s not particularly good for calling mobiles. You can also use it to avoid giving out your real number, as explained already in this blog.

8. And last but not least, watch out for those pesky recurring charges!

Now is not the time to be spending money on something you don’t want, so if you don’t want your dating site subscription anymore, remember to cancel it with plenty of time to spare. Most sites will automatically bill you again at the end of your membership period unless you tell them not to, so be warned!

Related posts:

1. An even better offer from Match.com
2. Match 7 day free trial is back
3. Free dating sites – no credit card needed Internet dating
4. Match.com – Free 72 hour trial
5. Online dating special offer on July 21st

Entry Filed under: Online Dating Tips