Dating Sites HQ is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Date Match is a very familiar-looking site.
You might begin to recognize a few of the layout and color schemes as being exactly the same as those found on other sites – this is because these are template sites. While not just to name them “scam” sites, their primary purpose is not to enhance the quality of your life. Do a quick search on the name and you can begin to see just how many complaints are out against this site.
First Impressions
The landing page at first glance is very promising. It is modern and enticing, but then you start reading the ad copy and looking at the pictures. There isn’t much pretense about this being a dating site; it is definitely designed to appeal to men looking for a “dating” site. Once you go in a little further things get even more unreal. The pictures displayed as profile photos are stock and there are highly suspect statements listed as member testimonials. The site keeps emphasizing that it is 100% free to join, but you would be hard put to find the actual membership price anywhere.
How does it compare in the real world?
Alexa does show a global rank of 1,176,494 for the site and manages to pinpoint some of the demographic statistics down to men, older than in college and accessing from public Wi-Fi points. The traffic and usage barely report any activity and there is not enough information to identify where their traffic is originating from. It does have a high bounce rate, which is probably due to the inclusion of a high price keyword such as “date” in their title. In short, this dating site is using a keyword trap to try and get traffic. It is keeping profiles that are inactive to bump their membership appearance to stay ranked.
Features
Date Match advertises that it will let you quickly find a date for the night. Not too much is said about anything long term. There aren’t very many special features to the site, just basic search, chat, IM and email.
- Profiles cannot be deleted from the site (you are forever active)
- Email notifications are sent to whatever active email account you registered with the site
- There is no mobile app.
There is little way to tell what features are available on the site, and which ones are active. At best, the hope of the new user is that you can search and contact members. That you can do, but you better have a paid account first.
Price and membership
You can choose from one of their tiered memberships:
- $35/month or $150 for one year for gold membership.
- $30 for one month
- $60 for three months
There is no explanation as to what the difference in the memberships is. Just remember that once the trial is over, you can choose not to use the site but your profile will stay active forever to boost their numbers. The lack of explanation about the difference in price ranges and what features it unlocks isn’t unusual, but it is rare that it is so blatantly listed in this manner.
Conclusion
Sometimes it pays to pay attention to what shows up on the first few entries about anything when you do an Internet Search on it. Plug in “Date Match” and you will get an education on what type of scams can be run from a dating template site. The problem isn’t that there are fake profiles or escorts on the site, it is that the site isn’t about helping you find anyone – it is about getting you to commit to a subscription payment. This is how these sites make their money.
As you look around more for a site that will be better suited to your lifestyle (and money), start to pay attention to how you almost feel like you are seeing the same site over and over. This is because a date “template” is really an eCommerce package sold with a predesign web site you can customize in endless variations. In short, you should pass this variation on by. At the least, Alexa should be able to return some information on a site if you are going to even consider joining it.
