The Costs of Online Dating
With millions of people dating online, finding a potential mate has never been easier. The Internet and online dating sites give you direct access to a treasure trove of partners. Back in the olden days (think’95), your options were generally limited to people you were in contact with on a daily basis: classmates from high school or college, a coworker in the next cubicle, or maybe someone you kept an eye on in the local coffee shop. Today, however, for just a small charge every month, you can communicate with people all over the world.
These dating services vary in price. Many don’t cost a thing, or have a free month long period for you to try the site and figure out whether it’s worth it for you. In most cases, unpaid sites don’t have the same kind of functionality in comparison with paid sites. For example, you shouldn’t expect to be able to search through interests or hobbies. More likely, you’ll have to sift through hundreds of profiles sorted only by location, age, and sex. That can add a lot of time to your hunt.
Paid sites, on the other hand, will let you search across a wide range of criteria. This can be very effective for finding a mate that shares similar interests and hobbies. In small markets where there aren’t many people, this isn’t much of an issue; you can just individually search through each profile, noting potential matches. If you live in a huge metropolis like London or Sydney, however, this becomes much more difficult, with thousands of people on each dating site.
Another cost that most people don’t think about? You’ll likely be going on a lot more dates! This could prove doubly expensive for men, if they go the traditional route and pick up the whole tab. This is one reason (with safety being the other primary) why it’s important to spend some time getting to know someone online before taking the relationship offline. And who wants to sit through a long meal with someone they’re obviously not compatible with anyway?
Sites that cater towards specific nationalities or religions are also often more expensive, for the simple reason that they can be. Dating sites aimed at the broader public face more competition, so their prices, in turn, must be more competitive. On the other hand, religion based sites like JDate.com (aimed towards Jewish singles) have a huge market share, and can price their services more or less at will. That translates to higher costs for the consumer.
One last thing to keep in mind: it’s very easy to sign up with your credit card, and then completely forget about it! A year later, you check your card statement, and realize you’ve been paying for it the whole time. That could mean a whole lot of wasted money.
Online dating sites can be a great and inexpensive way to meet the love of your life, but you have to exercise some caution when choosing a venue. Do the proper research, and you’ll be just fine.
Jayde Johannsen give some great reviews when it comes to Australian dating sites. She also realises how rare totally free personals are.
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