I was recently asked if there were “free” alternatives to the expensive marriage and dating sites such as Jump4Love and, of course, there are. Admittedly, it is quite possible that many of these free sites will also include a percentage of traditional scammers, therefore it is still important to keep your wits about you.
In my experience, traditional ‘pay sites’ do very little to screen out scammers or remove fake profiles, choosing rhetoric in place of action. In addition, because pay sites are money centric, they also attract local agencies and girls (or women) who see it as a way of earning easy money therefore, arguably, the number of women that are not serious about relationships is likely to be far more prevelant on the pay sites.
As mentioned in some of my previous posts, for the most part, the pay sites use local ‘marriage agencies’ who are paid a percentage of the revenues generated from men willing to pay to meet prospective partners. These local marriage agencies will often receive between 35% and 50% of the revenues generated from the main site. In turn, most agencies (it is a competitive market finding attractive girls), will pass on as much as 60% of the revenues generated to the girls. Local marriage agencies may operate from offices, or they could offer to provide the girls with a laptop. However, whatever the method of communication, girls being paid will be expected to spend a minimum number of hours each week “online” and must hit targets for letters and/or chat, especially if the local marriage agency has paid for their photo portfolio and/or supplied a laptop. Not all girls on the pay sites are receiving commissions, some may be genuine and seeking a real relationship, but with so many being paid, it could cost you thousands to find a sincere girl and, more likely, you efforts will be futile. So why pay?
The downside of free sites is that you will have to work a little harder. Don’t expect 100′s of letters in your ‘inbox’ every day! However, because the girls on the free sites are not paid to communicate, at least you will know that their motives are not financial.Therefore, if you follow some basic rules about not sending money to anyone you communicate with, you have a real opportunity to meet new friends or find a partner without having your bank balance decimated.
Although I have experience of some of the free sites listed here, I am not going to make any recommendations, you must complete your own research and come to your own decision.
FreePersonals.ru
A completely free dating site where you can view profiles and send messages. The has English, German and Russian language options.
love.rambler.ru
Free offered by Rambler, a Russian search engine and one of the biggest Russian web portals. The site claims to have more than 11m users, this site caters for those looking for friendship, love, marriage and casual sex. Search function, view profiles and send messages. There are also a few clones of this site such as love.ru.
fotostrana.ru
Free Russian dating and personals site where you can view profiles and send messages.Claims to have 15.5m girls listed.
love.i.ua
Free dating site (and portal) focusing on Ukraine.
privet.ru
Free community and dating site. View profiles and send messages.
love.mail.ru
Part of the Russian portal mail.ru this site has its own dating and personals section where you can view profiles, chat (including video chat) and send messages.
vkontakte.ru
Russian social networking site which with features and functionality that are strikingly similar to Facebook and free to use.With more than 100m registered users, if you know someone in Eastern Europe, the chances are they have a profile on this site.Available in 70 languages.
odnoklassniki.ru (Classmates)
This is another site popular with Russians and for Soviet Republics. Whilst it is primary intention is to reunite old friends and former classmates, it is also a very popular form of communications between Eastern Europeans. They have more than 45m registered users, but the users are predominantly under 35 years old.
If you know of any more free dating or social networking sites (focused on Eastern Europe, not International) that are not listed here, I would be pleased to include them. However, it must not simply be a “free trial” of a paid site, nor can they charge a subscription, for letters or any other forms of communication such as chat.