Seniors Dating Services

Top Dating Services for Seniors and Middle-Aged Adults

Online dating sites have both simplified the dating scene and made it more complex at the same time. While it is easy to sit behind your monitor and search for profiles for a person that seems compatible, you really never know what you get. In many cases, the profiles are either old or bogus. For the genuine ones, you may pour your heart out only to get no response in return. It can be frustrating, but once you get the hang of it, you will be able to filter the good from the bad. Just keep in mind that common sense rules apply.

Below are 3 dating services that I have profiled. They are Senior Friend Finder, Match.com, and eHarmony. Of the 3, Senior Friend Finder is the one specalized in matching middle-aged and senior adults. The other 2 are for general dating and matchmaking, but they have senior members as well.

Senior Friend Finder
SeniorFriendFinder.com is the largest senior dating service on the Internet and is generally considered one of the best.

Overview
The Senior Friend Finder site is an attractive, well-organized and extremely user-friendly online dating site. There is a good Help section that includes answers to frequently asked questions and provides easy access to Senior Friend Finder customer service representatives, who can help with more complex or less typical situations.

According to the website: “The purpose of the Senior FriendFinder site is to make it as easy as possible for you to meet people, using the power of the internet. At Senior FriendFinder, you'll find a community of people using the site as a tool to make connections and find partners for dating, romance, friendship, and a variety of encounters.”

How Much Does it Cost?
Standard membership in Senior Friend Finder is free and provides a package of basic services that allows you to test the waters before diving in to an upgraded Senior Friend Finder membership.

Standard membership includes:

• posting your profile on Senior Friend Finder is free of charge
• access to chat rooms and instant messaging
• limited use of the Senior Friend Finder search tools
• access to the interactive Senior Friend Finder magazine
• the ability to respond to 10 emails from interested members every 24 hours
  

If you’re serious about using Senior Friend Finder to help you meet someone special, chances are you will want to upgrade to one of the premium Senior Friend Finder memberships.

Silver and Gold status both offer many additional services, including:

• unlimited communication
• faster technical support
• better placement for your profile
• free use of powerful search tools that enable you to search for other members by location, sex, age or favorite activities

According to Senior Friend Finder, premium memberships can cost as little as 25 cents per day, but they are more likely to run between $20 and $25 per month.

How Safe is Senior Friend Finder?
Senior Friend Finder advertises its service as “free and safe,” but, just as in the real world, your personal safety is your responsibility. The only information Senior Friend Finder requires of new members is a valid email address, and Senior Friend Finder does not screen potential members.

On the other hand, Senior Friend Finder has an Abuse Team that follows up on member complaints about abusive email or other problems. Anyone found violating the Terms of Use or abusing other members will be banned from the Senior Friend Finder site.

Visit the Senior Friend Finder website

Match.com
Match.com is one of the largest general interest dating sites on the Internet and one of the most successful at bringing people together. According to the website, every year more than 200,000 people find the person they were seeking by using Match.com. And Match.com reports that people 50 and older represent its fastest growing user segment.

Overview
Founded in 1995, Match.com offers many user-friendly features to make online dating easy, rewarding and fun, whether you are a newcomer or a veteran. The large number of Match.com members increases your chances of finding many more interesting matches close to home, and allows you to be as selective as you want.

Having a large membership also makes Match.com a good choice for baby boomers and seniors because its huge user base guarantees that you will find someone your age in your geographical area.

How Much Does it Cost?
It is free to post a profile, browse and search for matches on Match.com. This is a good way to ease into online dating, because it lets you get a feel for what kind of people are on Match.com looking for potential matches, and gives you an idea of what kind of potential matches you could make before you pay a membership fee.

To contact someone, however, you have to be a paying member. Joining Match.com will also let you take advantage of the full range of services available on the site. Match.com offers a variety of subscription packages and discounts to meet the diverse needs of its members. A basic, one-month subscription costs $29.99, which is in the typical monthly fee range for most large dating websites.

How Safe is It?
Match.com has a well-deserved reputation for protecting member privacy and for going the extra mile to make using the site as safe and worry-free as possible for its members.

According to Match.com, “What happens at Match.com stays at Match.com. We use a double-blind email system to preserve your privacy. It replaces your real email address with your username and "talkmatch" domain (ex: sportsgirl@talkMatch.com), then forwards your messages to the members you’re emailing.”

All other forms of communication between member, such as instant messaging, video and audio also have built-in features that allow members to remain anonymous.

Match.com reviews all profiles and photos before they are posted to make sure they are appropriate and free of suggestive or profane images and language.

Visit the Match.com website

EHarmony
eHarmony claims to take the guesswork out of matchmaking by using a scientific approach to help people find not only good matches and potential mates, but soul mates, and it seems to be working.

On average, 90 eHarmony members get married every day, and the site is filled with testimonials from happy couples who found love at eHarmony, including couples over 50. On the negative side, some members felt some discrimination based on their physical appearance

Overview
Founded in 2000 by Dr. Neil Clark Warren, a clinical psychologist and author of books about creating healthy relationships that last, eHarmony was the first online dating site to use psychology and science to assess a potential couple’s compatibility and to match them accordingly.

According to eHarmony, its mission is “to empower people with the knowledge and inspiration needed to grow and strengthen their most important relationships for a lifetime of happiness.” They say that using research to help people find their “soul mates” works, citing “recent research presented at the American Psychological Society, which found that eHarmony married couples are significantly happier than couples married for a similar length of time who met by other means.”

With 15 million registered members from all 50 U.S. states and 200 countries, and members of every race and religion, eHarmony claims to be building a relationship site that “serves a world community.”

eHarmony is also unusual in that its membership reportedly includes about twice as many women as men, flipping the more typical ratio found on other dating sites.

How Much Does it Cost?
It doesn’t cost anything to fill out the eHarmony questionnaire, receive your Free Personality Profile, and be matched up with prospective partners. You only pay when and if you want to communicate with one or more of your matches. eHarmony offers four subscription rates:

• $59.95 for one month
• $110.85 for three months ($36.95 per month)
• 173.70 for six months ($28.95 per month)
• $251.40 for 12 months ($20.95 per month)

With all four options, the subscription is auto-renewed and charged to your credit card at each new billing period until you cancel your membership.

eHarmony costs more than most other online dating services, but the company defends its price by saying that it is a unique relationship service that helps people find their soul mates and “fall in love for all the right reasons.” According to eHarmony, comparing their prices to those of other online dating sites is an “apples and oranges” comparison.

How Safe is eHarmony?
eHarmony protects the anonymity of its members until they are ready to share personal information with someone they want to know better. The Guided Communication option offers an added layer of protection, allowing you to get to know a match pretty well before every revealing your identity.

eHarmony also offers a page with common sense safety tips for online dating and a special email address where members can report any concerns they have about a match or another member’s conduct.

Visit the eHarmony.com website

Conclusion
If you want a website that is dedicated for seniors and middle aged adults, then Senior Friend Finder is your best bet.