Your 60+ guide to Online Dating Websites

With many requests from our readers, I have spent the last few days reviewing Online Dating services that offer a seniors, or over 50s style of service.  Now I can’t attest to which ones are better, having not used them personally in much detail, but I can give you an objective view of those that are appropriately positioned out there and let you know how you can get started.  Over the week we are going to post articles from a number of people in the community that will have you share their own “real life” experiences.  And there are some terrific ones coming.

Some people have emailed me telling me stories about how dating online had them meet their current husbands, and changed their life.  Others have had a few rather undesirable experiences and put online dating in a box never to be tried again.  Clearly, the best thing we can do is understand the opportunities and risks of online dating and hope the opportunities exceed the things you should be afraid of…

But now, to online dating sites.  There is a myriad of them out there, and how you choose them can be based on price, user interface preferences, communication styles, size, volume of people in your location, because a friend told you, or most likely, because your gut instinct has you trust one a little more than another…

I started looking around, digging into the capability of the sites most prevalent in Australia and was surprised at how little information is available to you before you sign up for a site.  They really do bait you hard to get you inside the site with a live profile.  I found it so hard that I ended up having to sign up for some just to find out the costs… and proceeded to get more than 10-15 emails from the sites in the first hours after signup hooking me further in.

So I have found 6 sites that seem to have strong visibility in Australia, and appear to have user bases of people aged over 50 years or are marketing to build them.  I hope those of you who have used them can provide our readers with your own feedback, reflecting on your preferences and experiences with the systems and processes.

If you have online dating stories, we invite you to tell them this week in our “online dating week” so others can learn and make their own decisions.  See our Write for Us page for more information.

RSVP

Apparently RSVP has over 2 million members and gets another 1200 per day.
RSVP is one of the most widely known dating sites in Australia.  It is owned and run by the Fairfax Media network.

It is free to login to RSVP.   When you’ve logged in and set up, you can see the last 4 people who looked at your profile and can send and accept virtual “kisses” which are expressions of interest for free.

Then it operates via a credits system (RSVP currency is “stamps”) rather than with a monthly fee.  Stamps allow you to communicate with your favourites via email and chat.   Credits range between $4.50 – $11.50 although it was difficult to find pricing before signing up.  One stamp allows you unlimited communication between you and another person for 30 days.

Approximately 30%+ of their singles are over 40 years of age, apparently

50and.com

50and professes to be much more than an online dating site, but to be an online community.  “We don’t only connect people for love, but also for friendship and community.”

50and have set up their infrastructure to help people going through life change looking for new friends with similar interests, or possible travel companions.

50and is free to join initially, and for 3 days you can try it out.  After this you have to sign up for the 1 month or more subscriptions that start at $33 per month.

We could not get any information about how many are using the site.

eHarmony

eHarmony pledges to have a significant point of difference in making all participants fill out a detailed questionnaire where they nominate the important features they want from a relationship or partner.  The answers from the questions come together to form a profile which is used to find matches.  They call this the “29 dimensions of compatibility”.

eHarmony has three levels of membership.  It is free to sign up and set up your personal profile, look at your daily matches and send smiles or a limited number of questions.  Basic members pay between $19.95 per month for twelve months to $59.95 for a one month membership depending on the time you sign up for.
They also have a Total Connect membership plan that is priced slightly higher, This plan offers users a deeper personality profile and a phone based system where they can call their matches on a Secure Call without revealing their phone number.

Be2

Be2 professes to be one of the world’s leading matchmaking services. The website, which was launched in 2004, now services millions throughout the world in 30 countries.  Their website says: “20,000 new members are joining every day and our 225 employees of 41 different nationalities based in 11 cities around the world make sure that they find the love of their lives.”

Be2’s matching system is apparently built on a scientific model of analysis that uses psychological, anthropological and sociological criteria to assess the compatibility of two personalities. They say that they only introduce members to you whose personality suits yours particularly well.

We found it very difficult to find the payment model for this website and cannot provide any more information about how the company works.  There did, when searching seem to be some rather critical insights about the site and its payment processes online.

Seniors Dating AU 

I went to the website, which is visibly an Australian dating site for 50s and 60s.  The site gave me no opportunity to explore what they do, it drops me straight into a popup that I cannot close with a small X in the corner.  It kind of forced me through setting up a profile before I had time to think about it… Then it showed me a selection of people that I might like to look at within a local proximity.  The site clearly has only a limited number of candidates at this stage as when I did a search for men of any age-group in my city, I didn’t get many at all, but instead were offered men throughout Australia.

It costs $59.95 for one month, or $33.33 if I signed up for 6 months which didn’t seem too expensive.

OK Cupid 

OK Cupid is a free online dating site for all ages in Australia.  They are owned by Match.com and actually have a very strong presence throughout the world.

It is popular because it is free, and has reportedly got over 1.5 million members. Users who have signed up describe their personality, interests and hobbies and their criteria for a mate.  Then users can search for suitable matches based on only a few items in their profile.   It only matches you based on location, type of relationship you are seeking, age and language apparently.  It is free to make contact with others, and to pursue these contacts.

Because the site is free, it has a large user base.  It is worth noting that when you sign up for the site, you sign away your rights to your information, which can then be used in marketing of OK Cupid and their surveys at their freedom.

There is two different membership levels on OK Cupid, free and A-List.  Free members can look at profiles, photos and contact other members.  For $9.95 per month members can access the site ad-free, and get additional match and photo album options as well as have more options in their messaging.

So, what site did you use? Please leave your comments on the article on the site so it can remain a resource for our community for times to come rather than on Facebook  (or do both please).