The following is a 100% authentic, 100% real review. I was not provided a complimentary product or compensated in any way for this review.
Children, please closer your browser as this is a review of an “adult” dating site. Shagaholic is an adult dating website intended for people looking to casually hook up with other adults. Although the website is based out of the United Kingdom, membership is open to users from over 20 different countries as they search for an ounce of happiness to make their day that much sweeter than it would have been otherwise.
The Money Aspect
Creating an account for basic access is free of cost. A free account enables you to review other profiles and send messages. The basic level allows you to explore the features of the website to get a feel for it before committing yourself to becoming a paid member. A premium account is necessary to review extended profile features such as unlimited access to profile pictures and uploaded videos. Shagaholic is flexible in its membership options. Memberships can last for as short a day (£0.83) or as long as six months (£ 59.99). Membership for one month only is £19.99.
Although you get can by with just a free account if you’re mainly just browsing, it is my opinion that a subscription is necessary to get everything you can out of this particular website. My rationale for saying this is that your resources on finding the right person are severely limited by the limited access of the free account. Try it out for free to see if it’s your style before deciding to buy a membership.
Profiles and Matches
Creating a profile is as easy as filling out a few fields of information and uploading a photo. You aren’t required to put any money down initially which allows you to polish your profile to an acceptable level before venturing out into the greater reaches of Shagaholic. Navigating around your own profile was thankfully a relatively easy task with clear instructions on where you needed to look for any particular feature.
Exploring the profiles on this website is an adventure for the mature soul. Members are able to describe their standard demographic information as well as information of a more sensual nature. This is accomplished through fields describing the kind of relationship they are looking for and their particular sexual interests. Paid users are also able to upload (and view) full sized photos of themselves and videos to sweeten the pot for other users who might be interested in a rendezvous.
Matches are set by your own preferences in the search engine and can range from a broad geographical location to more specific criteria. Free accounts are able to visit any profile they would look and review the completed fields but can’t review full sized photos and videos without a paid account. Free users aren’t able to take part in video chatting either, messages. Perhaps the greatest flaw of requiring subscriptions is that only paid users are able to message each other leaving those with free profiles in the dust.
Website Usability
I found the experience of exploring Shagaholic to be very stable. I had no difficulty in going from one area of the website to the other as I explored its nooks and crannies. Although there were many sections that I wasn’t able to explore due to not having a subscription, I found it easy to navigate the search engine and review other profiles. I found it difficult to ascertain how well the messaging system works due to being unable to send and receive messages at will. Although I understand that the website needs to make money, I can’t help but feel that this is a flaw in their system that makes it difficult to recruit serious users.
In spite of this, the website was very well put together and it’s obvious that a lot of work went into creating an environment meant to hit a particular market. This is most apparent in the (sometimes overbearing) amount of advertisements scattered throughout Shagaholic. It is clear that from what was seen so far during the course of this review that this website is trying very hard to fulfill the needs of its client base through the creation of an elite market where members need to opt in to have the full experience.
Shagaholic has a good grasp on the concept and shows a lot of promise. Their main issue is to find a way to recruit new members who are turned off by the costs of joining as full members. The honest opinion of this website is that on a scale of 1 (dreadfully horrible) to 5 (amazingly wonderful); Shagaholic gets a 4.5 out of a possible 5 stars.
