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The Difference Between Free and Paid Online Dating Sites

Since a dating website doesn't amount to anything if there aren't any members, many online dating websites offer free and paid membership. Some may allow you to remain a free member forever, limiting how much you can interact with the site and other members, while some will only allow you free membership for a specified period of time. Whether you should have free, trial, or paid membership is totally up to you, and should be based on what you hope to achieve with online dating.

Free Online Dating

Free membership to an online dating site is ideal until you decide if the particular site you are visiting is worth paying for. Most free dating services will allow you to set up your profile, and visit the profiles of others. It will give you a chance to see who is there, and to see how the whole system works before paying for it. Communication with other members, however, will be limited. This limitation of communication is probably the only downside of free online dating services, but again, it gives you the opportunity to view other people's profiles, and you can remain a free member, and view profiles, until you see someone that you would like to get ot know better, at which time you can upgrade to paid membership.

Online Dating Service Trial Memberships

If there is a free trial, take advantage of it! Just make sure, before signing up, that you will have an easy way to cancel membership before you are billed, should you decide that you don't want to become a paid member. Trial membership will usually allow you to use all features of the site, for a limited time. While most trial memberships are free, others are paid, with a very low cost. A trial membership should allow you to do everything that a paid membership would allow you to do, such as contacting other members, using instant messenger, email, and chat features. As long as there is an easy way to cancel your trial membership before you are billed, there really is no bad side to trial membership.

Becoming A Paid Member

If there is a free membership or a trial membership, use those options before paying for membership. It gives you a chance to see what you are getting into. Paid membership gives you full access to the online dating site, allowing you to use all of the features. There may be different levels of paid membership as well, with each level allowing you to use certain features, or allowing you to use all features on a limited basis. For example, one dating site may have three levels of paid membership, with the first level being allowed to send 5 emails per month, the next level being allowed to send 10 emails a month, and the top level having unlimited emails.

Paid membership will usually allow you to use the matchmaking techology that the site uses as well, to find suitable matches. Pay for membership on a monthly basis, and make sure that you have the option to cancel your membership at any time. This way, if you pay for a month of membership, and either find your match, or don't find any matches, you can easily cancel your membership, and not be charged further. Also, before giving out your credit card number, read everything! Know how your information will be used, if it will be retained, and understand the safety measures that are used to protect your financial information!