DateInAsia - First Impressions

So I signed up to DateInAsia yesterday. DateInAsia is a 100% free Asian dating site. There are many free Asian dating sites, but DateInAsia is by far the most popular. The site claims to have over one million members. How many are active members is not known however.

First impressions were quite favourable. As a security check when you sign up your email address is verified. You also have to supply a mobile phone number. The site then sends out a SMS message to your mobile phone so that the site can verify that you're not setting up a duplicate profile or anything. Does this prevent scammers from using the site? It's probably not hugely effective given that a SIM card is pretty cheap. A professional scammer won't be deterred either - they'll simply add the mobile phone to their expenses of running their business. One cheeky tactic of many scammers is to ask their male victims for money so they can buy a mobile phone. So effectively scam victim #1 is paying the scammer to set up their fake profile so that they can scam victim #2.

So far so good. But unfortunately my impressions of DateInAsia went downhill after that. The site is very basic. I mean VERY basic. There are minimal search facilities. And there is nothing like the My Matches feature of sites like Chinese Love Links. The search facility is stupendously basic. You can really only search on location and age. Want to find a Chinese lady who speaks Japanese and wears glasses? Don't bother with DateInAsia, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. But finding her on Chinese Love Links would be a piece of cake.

But for me the killer problem with DateInAsia has been the lack of interest in my profile. I've booked my trip to Asia. I'm not one of the majority of male members of the site who has no intention of ever actually visiting the ladies. I'm compiling my list of ladies to visit. Yet the only thing on the site is tumbleweed. By comparison I get 3-4 messages a day on Chinese Love Links. And on Filipina Cupid I had to hide my profile as I was swamped with admirers, and that was just on the free membership plan!

So DateInAsia is pretty much a waste of time unless you have time on your hands. A lot of time!