Online Dating - Financial Costs

Financial Costs

===Background of Financial Costs in Online Dating Web Sites===
The purpose of online dating web sites usually is for users to look for new friends and lovers. The users can post their personal details to the sites where other people can read and they can look for the one who are suitable to be friend.

Basically, most of the web sites for online dating do not charge the users any fees except for contacting people. Users can post the profiles without fees. In Who’ll you’ll meet and what you’ll pay, it reports that how users pay fall into two categories, “pay time�? and “pay per contact�?.

===Information of Charging Fees from Different Web Sites===
There is some information about collecting fees from some popular online dating services. Every site will not charge any fee for registering, until you actually want to contact a targeted person. If you really want to make contact to others, here are some fees needed in different web-sites:

• Yahoo! Personals charges $25 per month. But it also has a discount for three months and six months users. The fee is charged in when the users send emails and instant messages to others.
  
  
• Match.com will charge $34.95 per months. After paying the fee, user can have unlimited contact with other members. If the users would like to join three or six months, the price will be $26.65 and $20.83 every month respectively.
  
  
• RSVP.com has a different charging system which is different from the Yahoo! Personals and Match.com ones. People as usual can search and register as a member with no fees. However, it does not charge monthly fees when users want to contact others. Instead, they have to buy a stamp before connecting others, which includes 24 hours of chatting time. There are different packages of buying stamps for the users to choose from. For instance, four stamps cost $34.95 where 12 stamps cost $69.95. 24 stamps cost $89.95.
  
  
• Lavalife does not charge monthly fee. But the company set up a “Credits�? system for full members to purchase.
  
  

===Online Dating Services that will not Charge the Fees===
MSN Messenger, ICQ, and the web sites include chat rooms provide places for people to meet new friends without paying fees. When people use the MSN or ICQ, they can search the new friends depending on some features such as a specific gender, range of ages, and hobbies. Besides, chat rooms always have their discussion topics. Therefore, people joining the chat rooms can meet new friends who have same interests and same topics for sharing.

Further Information

===See also===
Key Topic: Online Dating

ICQ

MSN Messenger

===Reference===
Buying Stamps (2005) RSVP.com Retrived on 25 October 2005, from http://www.rsvp.com.au/display.jsp?page=/help/Mindex.jsp&template=HelpHelp&k=1853554242916764563&s=74437307&l=en&t=GUEST#im2

Fees and Payments (2005)Lavalife Retrived on 25 October 2005, from http://www.lavalife.com/120/guest/agreement.act;jsessionid=4836B84F45B4604276EDF1B685BFBA4B.120?context=anOO

Sing in to continue (2005) Match.com Retrived on 25 October 2005, from http://au.match.com/match/mt.cfm?pg=purchase&join=success

Thrills start here! (2005) Yahoo! Personals Retrived on 25 October 2005, fromvhttp://au.personals.yahoo.com/reg/billingsplash?vbil=1

Who’ll you’ll meet and what you’ll pay (2005) Australian Consumers' Associaton Retrived on 25 October 2005, from http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=104578&catId=100518&tid=100008&p=2

===Contributor===
Kanix Yau 00:45, 28 Oct 2005 (EST)