UkraineDate is part of the Cupid Media family of websites that began in 2003. These sites are truly brilliant. What makes these sites so great, is what also makes them a bit difficult to use. The owners of these sites decided, rather than just creating a whole new database of foreign women, why not leverage existing “regular” dating sites, for that purpose. What they did was legally lift or borrow profiles from dating sites in Russia and Eastern Europe that really only were viewable in their own country’s language on a local dating website. That is, these sites are really just normal internet dating sites that have been translated into English and then turn around and cater to an international audience. That makes them incredibly intriguing because men can meet more “typical” females on these sites than they theoretically can on traditional foreign dating sites. Plus, many foreign women who would themselves target an international audience of men are signing up on these sites. The upside of this strategy is that there are less scamming women on these sites (for now anyway). Plus, the sheer number of women on these sites is huge and growing rapidly. Although it appears that membership profiles overlap at the Cupid Media sites, UkraineDate currently has 109,000 members while RussianEuro has a whopping 504,000 members! No other foreign dating site in these regions can compete with the sheer number of women that will be on these two sites. And that is very good news for you and them.
The downside to these sites is that men may find that their women are sometimes not as receptive to Western men as the women at other more traditional foreign dating websites. Another downside is that the women sometimes only write in their native language and the translation software that converts such into English is not even close to perfect. Since the cost of using this service is basically the lowest in the industry however, and the sheer number of women coming on these sites is so high, I give it the # 5 Best of, Choice Award. For Western men who do not mind a bit of digging around to find a diamond in the rough and are comfortable using online translation software or not always getting the gist of a message, these sites will seem like the Holy Grail. On the other hand, for men who are not as technically savvy with the communication gap and such, or who don’t want to spend hours on in fishing around for foreign women who themselves may not be that interested in meeting a foreign man, these sites may not be that powerful and I therefore would put all the other sites listed here before it. That is, for you guys, I would first focus my energy on the other sites listed here. At the same time, these Cupid Media sites are so darn cheap that I would recommend men purchase a year membership to one of these sites anyway and when they have the time, Western men should search here also. Yes, I realize that that is a bit confusing but once you spend some time on these sites, you will fully understand and appreciate what I mean.
As I mentioned, the cost structure of these sites is incredibly reasonable. Men can browse profiles for free but to see the profiles in full and to write the ladies (who aren’t paid members themselves) men need to buy either a Gold or Platinum membership. Here are the costs for both:
Gold Memberships:
1 month-$24.99
3 months-$49.99
6 months-$74.99
12 months-$99.99 (It’s hard to beat this price!)
Platinum Memberships:
1 month-$29.99
3 months-$59.99
6 months-$99.99
12 months-$119.99
Gold members get to view profiles in their entirety, can do more specific searches, can contact unlimited members through email or instant messenger, and can participate in chat rooms. Also, Gold member profiles rank above regular members. The main difference between these two plans however, is that Platinum members get to access video messages and voice mail, get automatic email translation, and their profiles rank above Gold members profiles. The difference in cost is pretty negligible so go ahead and purchase the upgraded plan if you like those added features but I do not think it is needed. Note that people can just go to Yahoo’s Babel Fish! for good free translation software.
In conclusion, these sites really work like traditional dating websites. Men can contact women, show them “interest,” and filter the results based on whether the women want a Penpal, Friendship, Romance/Dating, or Marriage. Since it is more like a dating site than a foreign bride service, these websites do not offer romance tours, telephone translation services, immigration and VISA support services, etc. But none of these items present insurmountable obstacles to meeting and dating and even marrying foreign women. My advice is to not think too long and hard about this service because it is only $100 for an entire year and can potentially be responsible for introducing a man to more women than every other foreign dating website combined! Just go for it!
