Today is a review of the Western Match dating website located at https://www.westernmatch.com/
I’ve talked a bit about online romance scammers, and how I spot them, but I haven’t got around to profiling the dating websites I’m signed up with.
To put it simply, this is a cowboy/cowgirl match service. It’s a niche dating website. People here are all about a country lifestyle, and many already live on farms and ranches.
Their sign up page says they have over 100,000 profiles created, though my guess is many of them are not active. Just because someone created a profile doesn’t mean they didn’t delete it down the road.
Membership costs?
How much?
Let’s get the dollars out of the way quick. Western Match has different prices for one month, three months, etc. But the price just about everyone goes for is 5 years for $25 because that’s a great deal. https://www.westernmatch.com/page/goldmembership/
The 5 year plan is called a gold membership. Actually when I signed up they called it a lifetime membership but showed my expiry date in 5 years, so that’s not really what I call “lifetime” which might explain why they’ve changed the title.
Edited November, 2020
Western Match has updated their pricing structure. Here are the current rates:
1 month – $14.95
3 months – $19.95
6 months – $28.00
1 year – $38.95
5 years – $59.95
Prices subject to change at any time without notice. Check the Western Match website for current rates. https://www.westernmatch.com/page/goldmembership/
Edited September 3, 2023: I no longer have a membership with Western Match and unable to log in to check the rates. It’s disappointing that the only way to find the rates is by signing in or creating an account. It doesn’t hurt to sign up for a free account to check things out. I never was subjected to spam email from Western Match. It never happened, so feel free to sign up without being harassed.
Free access?
If you’re not sure this is the dating website for you, try before you buy. There is a free access option. A freebie member can fill out their profile. I think they can put a photo up. They can do searches and read profiles.
A free access member can send flirts, which are already pre-written by Western Match. When you’re viewing a profile, you can press the Flirt button and choose one of the messages to send. Here’s a sampling:
“Howdy Mam.”
“Guaranteed more fun than your ex.”
“Let’s trail ride sometime.”
“Are you as nervous as I am?”
“Care to meet me in the chat room?”
And speaking of the chat room, freebie members can access that.
Free access can not send a message and I don’t know if they can read messages sent by other members. Sometimes Western Match is running a special and turns that feature on. Western Match wants people to spend money on a full access membership.
Paid members
If you purchase a membership on Western Match you get full premium features. You can write and read messages, put up to 10 photos on your profile, set up notifications, and save your searches.
Speaking of searches, Western Match is very similar to other dating websites. For me, I say I’m a woman looking for a man and put in an age range. I can narrow down my searches to a certain locality, body type, smoker, drinker, height, hair color and so much more.
If you’re too picky, you’re not going to get many results to a search. For me, the dealbreaker is smoking. There’s no way I’d be in a relationship with a smoker.
You can have friends and favorites and send little gifts to other members like virtual puppies and flowers.
A paid member can also see who viewed their profile, and is probably curious enough to check out that person’s profile too.
Free or paid?
When browsing on Western Match, like most other online dating websites, you’ll get several results on a page. A brief summary: a photo, name, age, and location. Click on that to read the member’s full profile. A paid member on Western Match will have a golden horseshoe in the lower right. It’s a pretty obvious movie gif and lights up.
A free access member will have nothing in that spot.
The sign up process
Here’s some more information on what happens when you sign up for Western Match, and what features you can access.
When you first sign up to the service you will become a free standard member. Your account is limited as to what you can do. You may upgrade your account at anytime to gain access to all features.
Read and reply to mail from Gold members only. (Free)
Send flirts – FREE
See who viewed your profile – FREE
Chat Rooms – FREE
Upload up to two photos – FREE
Private one on one instant messaging – Gold Membership Required
Send messages – Gold Membership Required
See if your mail was read or not – Gold Membership
Send virtual gifts – Gold Membership Required
Upload up to 10 photos instead of 2 – Gold membership Required
Cheap or scammer?
To my way of thinking, $25 is very reasonable for full access for 5 years to a niche dating website. When I’m scanning a page of results, I’m not going to waste my time clicking on the profile of someone who doesn’t have the golden horseshoe. An unpaid member can’t read or respond to messages.
There’s not much point in looking at that profile.
If a man doesn’t spend $25 for a 5 year membership, he’s either cheap or he’s a scammer. Neither interest me.
Scammers on Western Match
Yes, scammers lurk on every dating website out there. Even niche dating websites and online dating where they have to buy a membership.
But … Western Match has free access so it doesn’t cost anything for a scammer to sign up. And then he can send off a bunch of flirts, but really I’m not going to respond to a “Howdy Mam” from an unpaid membership. It’s not like he can read my response!
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen Western Match run a short term promotion where free access members can send and read messages. The last time their online dating website got overrun with scammers, so maybe they decided not to do that again.
Here’s another thing. A scammer might have stolen a credit card and used that to buy a membership. If a person is unaware their credit card number was stolen and they run up a lot of charges a month, they might not notice $25.
I have been contacted by scammers on Western Match. Both free access and paid membership.
Check out my post on how to spot a scammer by their online dating profile.
Spot a scammer on Western Match
On Western Match it’s very easy to spot a scammer. First off they only have one photo. And that photo is very telling. Probably the same photo they stole off Myspace and use it everytime they sign up with a new online dating website.
Real people on Western Match have multiple photos of themselves and there’ll always be photos riding their horse, around their farm, wearing cowboy hats and cowboy boots, their livestock, standing next to their truck and horse trailer, or maybe even on their tractor plowing a field.
A scammer uses the same profile they use on other online dating websites. This can become a problem with a niche dating website.
If you’re on Western Match there better be something in your profile about how you enjoy a country and western lifestyle!
Real people on Western Match will talk about their horses. They’ll say if they’re a full-time cowboy or rancher, or mention what they do for a living if they’re a gentleman farmer. A real member’s profile shows their love of horses, animals, and country living.
Scammer from Seattle on Western Match
I recently got contacted by a scammer on Western Match. He had one photo up and I couldn’t get a hit when I did a reverse search. If I know for sure I’ve been contacted by a scammer, I’ll send a message to the Western Match admin and they’re very good at deleting those scammers fast. This man claimed to be 59 years old, from Seattle, widowed, a young son and was an engineer. What? Not a cowboy?!
OK, it’s possible to be a city boy who desires a country lifestyle, maybe even has a horse in a boarding stable, but on a dating site like Western Match – you got to write that on your profile!
The first red flag was before I even looked at his profile. He sent me a message and the subject line said something to the effect of being a gold member.
Who says that?
Us women aren’t stupid. Western Match has a golden horseshoe on your profile that alerts us whether or not you’re a paid member.
I sent him back a response, obviously up to having a little fun! I said sorry it doesn’t look like we’re a match. Then I said let me give you a little advice. You need more photos up and you definitely need a photo of yourself and your horse and you need to talk about your horse and livestock in your profile. Also you need to say in your profile how old your son is, if he’s still living at home or has moved out. And wished him good luck in his romantic search.
Short and sweet just like me!
Women would expect a man kissing 60 to have raised his children, but scammers usually claim to have a 12 year old son.
He sent me a response and I deleted it unread. However, I could see the first few words of his response and it went something like thanks for the advice but do not judge me.
LOL. That’s what dating websites are all about. People view your profile and judge you, and decide whether or not to contact you.
Anyway after about a week I noticed Western Match deleted this scammer. Profile is gone from my “recently viewed me” page. I’d already deleted the messages he sent me, and the first one by the way was a standard cut and paste. I had not deleted the message I sent to him, but it’s missing from my mailbox under sent messages.
Western Match will obliterate all traces of a scammer once he/she has been reported.
Video dating
Western Match has announced a new video chat feature for paid members, that has not yet been implemented.
You can send a message to someone and request a video date and set up a time. You can accept or decline a date.
This is a great feature, especially for weeding out scammers who are using stolen photos. A video chat will confirm if the person matches their photo.
Western Match still has not decided on time limits for video dating. As of November, 2020, they’re considering 15 minute intervals with a limit of three video dates per day.
Once the video dating has been rolled out, I’ll update this blog post with more details after I’ve given it a whirl!
Renew or not?
My 5 year (lifetime? LOL!) membership will be up in February, 2021. That’s about a year and a half away.
Dates? Meet ups?
Zippo to both.
I’ve had a little fun with scammers. The ones who send me messages at 3 in the morning in Arizona or wherever they pretend to live, and want me to teach them to ride a horse.
Uh, if you’re on Western Match, I’d expect you to already know how to ride a horse, cowboy!
I’ve enjoyed coming into the chat room from time to time in the evenings. Usually the same members show up to gab. However, months can go by between my visits.
There are very few members in Canada. When I search for men ages 50 to 75 in Canada who are not smokers, I get 13 results, and 5 are paying members. Out of the 13, there are 3 in B.C. and two are paying members. One of them is looking for women no older than 55 (he’s 59) and the other two are geographically undesirable.
I have a saved search on Western Match, and I don’t specify location, but generally most members are in the states. I get dozens of results, unsure how many are paying members versus free, but probably several dozen have bought a membership. I’ve had some short messages with a few men, and I’ve sent messages to men who viewed my profile but didn’t respond. No actual phone calls or private chats through the site.
The website is a good idea, but so far no Western Match for me.
I’ll probably end up renewing. $25 is reasonable for a niche dating site.
Edited July 3, 2023 – forgot to come back and say I didn’t renew my subscription to Western Match.
Check out my YouTube video review of Western Match online dating site.
Published by Cheryl @ The Lifestyle Digs on September 8, 2019 and updated on September 3, 2023.
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