How to Choose Free vs. Paid Dating Services

Your friends and co-workers tell you of how they met the love of their life. These stories range from high school sweethearts, blind dates, to even arranged marriages. Now you're thinking that it's time you start looking for your special someone, but you're just not sure where to look.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Free Dating Services

1. Locate free online dating service websites. You can do a general website search for "free dating services" and many sites will come up for you to look at. Your local churches or community center may have a dating service forum or email group for you to sign up through.

2. Browse the websites. You can go into each site that appeals to you, to see if they offer what you're looking for in a dating service. See if the site has a local dating board to locate profiles of individuals in your area.

3. View the options and services available. Most free dating service sites limit the features they offer. You will be able to search for age and race groups to narrow your results, but you may not be able to chat with them through the dating website.

Paid Dating Services

4. Find paid dating service websites. An Internet search will show many dating service sites, but if you search for "paid dating services," you will narrow your results down.

5. Read reviews and recommendations. It's important to know how other customers feel about how the dating service dealt with their needs and wants. You may have to do a broad Internet search for reviews because most paid dating websites will only post positive outcomes.

6. Decide which features are important to you. Paid dating websites offer features that free sites may not. These include matchmaker surveys, webcam chat sessions, private phone calls and member blogs.

7. Consider the costs. See if the paid dating service website has a money-back guarantee if you're unable to find a match.

Tips & Warnings

• Know that there are a lot of people out there that don't take free dating websites seriously, so be careful not to give out too much of your information.