Cost

JDate.com is a popular Jewish dating site that has been in business since 1997. We have just finished updating our JDate review with the latest information about what the service offers to its members, and the features it provides which will make your online dating experience not only eventful but exciting. The last major update to this review happened just over 2 years ago. So what has changed since 2010 with JDate.com? Here is a list of the major changes we found:

• JDate now offers a mobile website and iPhone dating app
• For most subscription terms it is now much cheaper to use JDate
• No more audio or video chatting
• Kibitz Corner - Tell members more about yourself and catch someone’s eye with your witty or profound response
• Redesigned member dashboard that allows for easier navigation and searching
• Updated dating profile and color code personality test questions
• Revamped Likes & Interests
• JMag and JBlog are updated much more frequently. A lot more JDate Videos are now available

To find out more about this popular Jewish dating site and the changes please read our updated JDate.com review.

I notice several comments this week about users not liking the fact that Plenty Of Fish has now made the dating feature "Viewed Me" for paid users only. I had thought this was done a while ago but after some further research it looks like only the ability to see when someone had looked at your profile was removed. You could still see who had viewed you, not just when.

Well earlier this week it looks like you now cannot see who has viewed your profile anymore on POF.com, if you are a free member. You will now have to pay for this privilege.

For more information on this popular dating site, you can read our POF.com review.

I am not sure if I missed this before when PlentyOfFish starting offering a new paid membership but I noticed today this statement from their upgrade page:

PlentyOfFish will automatically continue your subscription for the same period and amount as your current upgrade.

PlentyOfFish previous memberships never automatically renewed, so it looks like PlentyOfFish changed their position on this point.

For more on this dating site you can go ahead and read our Plenty Of Fish review.

Over the last few years PlentyOfFish has tried several different ways to monetize their members. They first offered paid virtual gifts back in December of 2008. It didn't last long though and was pulled after about a month. In March of 2009 PlentyOfFish then offered the "Paid Profile Upgrade". This upgrade called the "Serious Member Badge" was designed to showcase that the member was serious about online dating by displaying icons on your images and highlighting your profile. Prices ranged from $5.95 to $9.80 a month. By mid-2010 the Serious Member Badge also offered a few additional features including having their profile appear above others in search results.

Early this month PlentyOfFish started to offer a new regular membership. As far as we can tell this membership has replaced the Serious Membership along with the “privilege of upgrading” assessment which was supposed to weed out all those who were not serious about maintaining a long-term relationship. The new membership offers:

• The new and improved Ultra Match matching system
• Improved visibility on PlentyOfFish including higher placement in search results
• Find out if your emails were read or just deleted
• The use of profile themes
• Who has viewed your profile
• Unlimited virtual gifts through email
• Additional credits for placing gifts on profiles

Membership costs have increased slightly and range from $6.78 a month for a year to $11.80 a month for a 3 month term. There is no auto rebilling but memberships are also non-refundable. With these new membership changes the only thing that differentiates PlentyOfFish with most other popular paid dating sites is that they still allow all members to email and message each other for free.

With the new membership comes a new statistic. If you upgrade to the new membership it will improve your chances by 530% according to PlentyOfFish (I assume this is when compared to a free membership on the site). With the Serious Membership upgrade your chance of a relationship only increased by 230% 😉 (See Story).

I also notice the other week that the domain Plentyoffish.com now forwards to POF.com, this use to be the other way around. The URLs in the emails I receive from PlentyOfFish for matches etc. also use the POF.com domain though the email is still sent from customercare@plentyoffish.com. The site is still obviously called PlentyOfFish so I am not sure why they changed the primary domain at this point to just the initials. Maybe it will be easier to remember for the average user, or maybe there will be a name change in the future? (I really doubt this will happen)

The last thing that has changed is that the forums link is now back at the top of the PlentyOfFish dating site. We notice that this link first disappeared sometime last summer (See Story). The upgrade link in the forums though still points to the old “SERIOUS UPGRADE” page and not the new membership upgrade page.

To find out more about this dating service you can read our POF review.

It looks like PlentyofFish.com has a new payment option that enables members to purchase credits to use on gifts and other features of the dating site. To buy these Goldfish Credits (they are also called PlentyOfFish Credits or POF Credits on the site) you will need to try sending a Gift, Ice Breaker or attempt to view the Sent Message Status. From any of these pages you will be shown your Goldfish Credit status and have the option to visit a page to buy some.

POF updated their site a few days ago with this new credit system. There was no official word as far as I could find on the topic so I am sure it caught a few members off guard. I think members will probably complain most about requiring credits for the View Sent Message Status. Since, this means free members of POF will now not be able to tell if a member has read or deleted their message anymore unless they pay for the privilege first.

The cost of Goldfish credits vary on the amount you buy. The costs listed are in USD:

• 100 credits for $9.95 (10 cents a credit)
• 215 credits for $18.95 (9 cents a credit)
• 500 credits for $37.95 (8 cents a credit)

Now don't confuse Goldfish credits with POF points. Points still do exist and are earned by doing certain activities on the site like creating an account, and every time you login.

On a related note, the first time POF wasn't 100% free happened in March 2009 when they first offered the Serious Member Profile Upgrade (see Story).

For more information on this story you can visit Bonny's Dating Blog who got the scoop first. To find out more about this popular dating site, you can read our PlentyOfFish review.

Online dating may be on the rise, but so are sites which compete with eHarmony's stronghold on the market. CEO Greg Waldorf recently spoke to The Wall Street Journal about their plans for the future, including a thirty-million dollar ad campaign aimed at trying to increase growth in subscriptions.

In the article, Waldorf points out that the recession has actually increased consumer interest in eHarmony. In a study the company did in September and October of 2009, researchers found that when the Dow dropped 100 points, the site saw a 2% increase in the number of pages viewed on each site compared to days when the Dow rose.

However, subscriber growth has been slowing. Waldorf maintains that singles are still looking for long-term relationships, but they are likely exhausting other methods first, like trying to meet other singles on their own rather than through a dating website.