- Standard membership
is FREE.
- Premium membership is available at these rates:
- 1 Month: $34.94
- 3 Months: $59.94
($14.98 per month)
- 12 Months: $139.94
($9.33 per month) plus three free months (15 months
total).
- The
following upgrade allows Premium members to access Standard members
through FastCupids e-mail system.
- 1 Month: $19.90
- 3
Months: $35.90
- 12
Months: $99.90
- Create your own profile and
post pictures.
- Perform free
searches for other
members within your locale.
- Browse
members'
profiles and pictures.
- Say
hi to other
members for free
- Create your own
hotlist of members you
like.
- See who's viewed
and flirted with
you.
- E-mail
other members using the internal e-mail system (used for premium
members only -
unless you purchase the additional upgrade for Standard members'
e-mail).
- A full search facility is available, allowing
members to
search by:
- gender
- age range
- relationship
type
- location within 5 miles
- marital
status
- children
- language
- religion
- body
type
- Astrological sign
- whether
the member has pictures posted
- ethnicity
- smoking
- drinking
- height
- weight
- premium
membership
FastCupid.com is one of the new breed of internet dating sites. They have
affiliations with other social sites that feature a dating option and
others that strictly engage in mainstream dating. We believe Fast Cupid
and their affiliates share databases. This is becoming a more
common occurrence where smaller sites join forces to help them compete
with the leaders. The most frequent alliances are between a
social networking site and a classically structured dating website.
While we have yet to see this combination work well for the dating side
of the scene, we'll give them the benefit of an objective critique.
The site's sign-up and registration were
simple and
went well. The site could be accessed without the need to complete any demanding menus or wait for profile approval. It can be a turnoff when sites prevent you from getting to
actually use their site as a Standard member until you submit an
inordinate amount of personal and detailed information. Not so with Fast Cupid, which lived up to its name by facilitating fast access. With
site access
established let's see how FastCupid
met our search standards.
Our benchmark
search came up with 38 local members, 25 of which had accompanying photos. The
listings
contained reasonably limited information: username, age and
location. There was no information regarding last log in or last visit to the
site. There also were no Premium (paying) members that
appeared
in our search results.
In our experience, the reasonably low percentage of
members with
accompanying photos, along with the lack
of log-in information, indicates that the site may be sluggish
or inactive. You have an
even lower chance of getting some dating action at FastCupid when you add the lack of paying members and low a membership total to the mix.
As a Standard member, when you
click on
a member's listing to get more details, you're re-directed to the 'upgrade
your membership page'. There is no access
whatsoever
to members' profiles, nor any option to view enlargements of members' photos or additional shots which members have uploaded. In our view, this is not the way to
encourage new members to buy a Premium
membership. We see
this practice as a turn-off. This problem is
compounded by what appears to be a tack-on charge for Premium members
to e-mail Standard members. If we understand this correctly
(and
we believe we do), this is a first, and we're not that keen on it.
We have nothing good to say
about the way the
site handles photos, profiles, or new member communication. FastCupid does give
free members
access to "flirts' like "hi", but that is just an interest indicator
and doesn't go further than
that. Frankly, FastCupid.com has a poor range of features on offer: there is no way for to
build
any membership through activities, no chat-room, no Instant
messenger, no kind of matching services. When combined with the e-mail
restrictions, the range of features offered by FastCupid is pretty dismal. In fact, we've
never printed such a short features list.
When we look at how FastCupid
measures up
to our standards regarding a site's impact on its members, we can't help but conclude that FastCupid strikes out. There are no features worth noting,
nothing to help Fast Cupid stand out or give members a sense of belonging to
a community. The lack of photo and profile options just
increases
the isolation. There is nothing which encourages us to recommend
them. When it comes to value for money, FastCupid seems very overpriced
for
its benefits.
Click on the button below to check out FastCupid.com for yourself...
