Review of Dating Site American Singles

American Singles is a dating site that is hard to recommend. On one hand American Singles has a tremendous number of users around the world, thanks to their parent company Spark Networks, which owns a large number of niche dating sites whose databases are shared. But on the other hand, American Singles can be overwhelming for some users, and counter intuitive for most. Need more details? Read on.

"American Singles is made up of a fun, high-quality group of singles from all walks of life, all backgrounds, all professions and all ages, who are living life to its fullest and looking for others to share their experiences with. Dates, soul mates, friends and even pen pals galore...take your pick!"

A free American Singles membership allows users to create a profile, upload photos, send generic "flirts", review your matches every week by email, see who your secret admirers are, and search the database of users using a wide variety of search options.

Paid American Singles members receive all of the same benefits, along with the ability to send instant messages, email, video chat and e-cards, as well as use the message boards and see how compatible they are with other members.

American Singles has a clean, intuitive layout that might be a bit overwhelming for users new to online dating because of the myriad of options. As well, although American Singles boasts more than six million members worldwide, I found few members in my search area (less than five within the city limits) whereas most of the other large dating sites had hundreds or more to choose from. As well, you can see on each individual's profile (which is shown in a pop up so you don't lose your place in your search - a handy feature) how long it has been since they last visited the site; usually, the longer its been since someone has logged in, the less likely they are to still be single.

Annoyingly, American Singles is one of those websites that asks for not only a handle but also your real full name when creating am membership. I strongly suggest that if you choose to sign up with American Singles, you use a pseudonym.

However, don't fill out the entire sign up form if you are already an American Singles member (even a free one) on one of the other Spark Network sites. The same membership is used to log in for all of the sites in the network, and just as annoyingly you'll be told (after you've filled out a new profile of course) that you can just sign in with your other account. So then you do - and voila - you have to fill in the demographic information again. Which makes no sense to me (if anything wouldn't I change my profile and not my demographic information?) but that's the way American Singles works.

The profile feature of American Singles is also a tad odd. Many questions are required that a lot of other sites don't bother with (such as providing exact weight), although the drop-down options are definitely more numerous than most. Who knew there were so many different ways to describe one's body type or hair color?

Other than these somewhat picky points, American Singles has a nice search result layout (where users can say yay or nay to potential matches quickly and easily with the Y, M, N hearts next to every profile photo), as well as a multitude of search options for both paid and free members that most sites ignore (like "closest to you" and "most popular").

American Singles costs $29.99 a month for one month at a time, $19.99 a month if you purchase three months at a time, or $13.34 a month if you purchase six months at a time. All American Singles memberships automatically renew if you use a credit card to pay on a monthly basis . American Singles also lets users pay by phone, check, money order, or by direct withdrawal a checking account.

The Bottom Line About American Singles

American Singles is a mixed bag. Although I really enjoyed their search, layout and matching features, I had a hard time with their baked-in drop down questions that had to be answered (some of which a lady should never have to share, like her weight!) and their lower-than-normal membership numbers. American Singles' low price is what tipped the scales in their favor, so I'd recommend American Singles if you find there are lots of users in your area.

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