Parship review

www.parship.co.uk

The UK's first compatibility-based online dating service, specifically for people who want to find a long lasting relationship.

Parship uses matching technology based on over 30 years of research and has attracted a remarkable 2 million members. With Parship you'll find predominantly affluent, educated men and women between 28 and 55 years old. Basic membership is free. They also state that they offer one of the best male to female ratios in the online dating business.

The Good: One of the largest dating sites • Matches based on compatibility test data • Reported to attract serious relationships

The Bad: Above average pricing • Time consuming registration

Profile Creation

Registering for Parship takes a minimum of 50 minutes and in many cases longer. The reason being that Parship is an affinity style site that matches people on the basis of compatibility. This means members must fill out a long personality questionnaire before the site can do its work and suggest some people you might click with.

Login via Facebook	Multiple photos	Video profiles
Compatibility testing	Photo via webcam	Sign up ~ 50 mins
Horoscopes	Photo editing

Search Style

As an affinity-based site users do not search through lists of profiles as is common in online dating. Instead the site presents you with a list of compatible people, the length of which will vary depending on the each member’s answers. Once you have this list of potential matches you are able to apply filtering options that narrow this list. Options include preferences on age and smoking habits amongst others.

Free to search	Advanced search	Save searches
Find new members	Postcode search	GPS-based search
Search last login	Gender search

Halo Score

Parship scores well on Halo as it clearly displays the date when its members were last online. This is rare in the industry and can be taken as an indicator that it has lots of active members. This site also allows you to cancel your profile online without having to contact the support team. Furthermore the site states that all new member profiles are hand checked to ensure profiles are genuine.

	Show last login		Online profile removal		Cancel subs online
	Show who's online		Block / blacklists		ID checks

Payment & Support

Parship's pricing is set well above the average for an internet dating site. Payment options include the usual credit/debit cards plus another means known as Click&Buy. This site does not offer an option for non-recurring billing. Support is via email and we noted that it was a fairly complex process to track down the email support form. This site does offer a highly comprehensive list of frequently asked questions.

Credit / debit cards	Non-recurring fees	Phone support
Direct debit / SO's	Cancel subs online
PayPal	Mobile payments

Communications Summary

Communication is via direct messaging. Parship also offers virtual winks which in this case are called 'smiles'. The site also allows you to send icebreaker messages as a non-paying member provided you have filled in your profile. You will of course be required to pay to read any responses.

Show who's online	Flirts, kisses, winks	Direct messaging
Show who's looking	Instant messaging	SMS texting
Friends list	Video chat

Mobile Features

Parship currently offers an iPhone app for mobile access but as yet does not support any other platforms.

	iPhone app		Android app		GPS-based search
	Blackberry app		Nokia app

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55%
overall review score

How we rated Parship:

Profile creation:	Search style:
Halo score:	Payment/Support:

Parship prices:

1 month subscription: £39.90
3 month subscription: £89.70
6 month subscription: £119.40

network reach...

Parship states that it is trusted by over 10 million members across Europe. Quite how many of these are in the UK we don't know but given that this company is a well known advertiser on TV, radio and press we'd expect there to be quite a few.