Review of Match.com & Flyby of Eharmony: A Frugal Gurl's Take

How did Frugal Girl find Lurve via Online Dating Websites?

A special three-flavored wedding!

I guess I lucked out! And I didn't pay a cent to meet my match, married now for four years (after a long courtship). Actually my DH didn't pay a cent to Match.com either, but more on that later. Anyway, THANKS Match.com! Well I have been recommending Match.com for years to all my single-n-looking friends, and thought I should write a review about it, and also Eharmony, who is Match.com's archrival in the online dating scene. Both claim to be The Number 1 Dating Site, with Eharmony adding 'Trusted' to their pitch. So here's my take on Match.com, and my flyby impression of Eharmony (gathered from user forums, comments and a few books: 

• The Ugly Woman's Guide to Internet Dating: What I Learned From 70 First Dates (by Rosemary Thornton who has an awesome website HERE)  
• Meeting Your Match Online: The Complete Guide to Internet Dating and Dating Services - Including True Life Date Stories (Tamsen Butler) and 
• Chemistry and Numbers: The Online Dating Guide (Steve Monas)). 

My experience with Match.com
I placed my ad / profile on Match.com in 2002. I wanted to broaden my horizons and meet interesting men and women from around the world. 

The sign up process was easy, and actually quite fun. I didn't pay anything, but waited for people to contact me (a privilege for which they had to pay haha). Match.com, with the various cool individuals who struck up friendly correspondence with me, was a breath of fresh air that helped me 'get out there' again after a horrible, horrible relationship. 

Interestingly, I received an email from this Dude who said he found my Match.com profile intriguing, and this email wasn't sent via Match.com at all! This very resourceful dude (now my DH), had figured out my profile name gracetabithalim might work as an email too, and had tacked on hotmail, gmail, yahoo and all the other email servers he could think of, in the email that eventually reached me. El-Cheapo meets Frugal Girl!  

Match.com has since fixed this loophole, and you'll need to fork out $35 for a month-long subscription or $17 a month for six months of dating matches (here's a 20% Off Discount special for my readers :p). The latter is a decent deal, because of their guarantee of an additional six months FREE if you haven't found that special someone at the end of the first six months. You can also try 7 days Free.


Eharmony?
I had a look at the website, and it's nicely laid out, easy to navigate. The personality test that you have to take when you sign up (I did that with the 7 day free trial) is erm... ridiculously thorough! Wow, half an hour into the thing and I was only 60% done. But ... I kinda like it! It's all very scientific, professional and calculated (and sure wasn't how I met DH hehe). And it pledges to match you up with people who complement you.

I think this would be the way to go for someone who hasn't had much luck dating because they keep picking the wrong type. For example, in Match.com, you get to select characteristics of the person you'd like to meet, so you could theoretically end up with your doppelganger if you are a control-freak who chose all your own fav traits.

In Eharmony, it appears that the step-by-step process (with Dr Neil Clark Warren holding your hand all through), guides you and your potential mate to wonderful discovery of each other. Forcing people to talk to each other about things that matter, at the very start of the relationship, is possibly why Eharmony is responsible for 5% of all US marriages (that's what their website says the Harris Poll found). Definitely for folks who have a serious eye towards marriage, I'd say.

The cost though is $60 for a month-long subscription, coming down to $20 a month for a year's worth of courtship opportunities.

Frugal Girl's Take
Back in the day, online dating was Taboo, and carried a sort of seedy stigma that the person was 'desperate' or 'damaged goods'. Online dating is pretty much mainstream now, and in my view, a very good way to meet a potential mate. 

The profile matching in Match.com helps narrow down the list of people that fit your selection criteria, so you can quickly scan and pick the ones that look the most promising, to start correspondence. And this is done in the safety and comfort of your home. Beats the bar scene any time! 

While Match.com worked fine for me, I think if I were single and seriously looking for a marriage partner, I might 'invest' in Eharmony. Then again, Eharmony's scientific-based matchmaking and hand-held communication process is a tad too unromantic for my taste hehe. So Match.com it is! (Try these links for a 20% Off Discount, or 15% Off Discount or a 7-day Free Trial at Match.com.