A Foreign Affair

[searching]

I signed up for A Foreign Affair years ago.  I never paid them any money or contacted any women on their site.  I have been doing okay with local women.  A few months ago I started receiving emails from them.  They were at first mostly from women in Ukraine, allegedly.  Then the Colombian girls started writing.  Now some pretty good looking Chinese women have started sending messages.  Of course you have to pay to read them.  I have a small profile up on their site.  No picture.

I assume most people are familiar with A Foreign Affair's system.  You have to pay to send and receive messages.  If a woman has an email address you can buy it and then communicate with her directly for free.  Well of course most of the women that contact me don't have an email address to purchase, so you must continue to use A Foreign Affair's system.  And a lot of the girls have very little knowledge of English which means translation service ($$$).

So my questions are...

1) Anyone else experiencing a recent inexplicable uptick in activity with this site?

2)  I have communicated with multiple women in Russia and Ukraine who I met Stateside.  I've used Skype, MSN, iChat, etc.  These were young ladies in their mid 20's.  I was scolded by one of them when I expressed surprise at the high tech telecommunications.  Her reply was, "Ukraine is not a backwater."  Are college educated women with home wifi, laptops, and video chat common in the FSU?  These girls are not rich by any stretch of the imagination.

[BillyB]

 Are college educated women with home wifi, laptops, and video chat common in the FSU?  These girls are not rich by any stretch of the imagination.

More and more people in the FSU have computers and internet at home.

I don't like any pay to play service where each letter you open, you pay. It only encourages foul play by the feeder agencies to send as many letters to men as possible.

Don't worry about getting scammed. Just find a few ladies to communicate with directly and call them often. Stay away from any lady who's life is full of problems which are solved with money. Scammer or not, it's just best to find someone who has no problems.

[SANDRO43]

1) Anyone else experiencing a recent inexplicable uptick in activity with this site?

Over the past few months I've noticed many pay-per-letter sites increasing the volume of their "You've got new mail" notices, not to mention a scam site like YEVA4U often notifying me that I have 100-150 'new' first letters EVERY DAY, several of which are actually repeats from 2 months before - probably their business is facing a downturn .

On the other hand, Bride.ru's notices of new ladies are no longer daily but sent about every other day, and the number of new ladies shown is half or less of what it used to be .

It seems the whole market is shrinking - less demand, and less offer, too - possibly due to the economy and to social networks becoming more popular?

[tim 360]

I'm sure business is slow and they are just trying to drum (spam) up more business.  You can be sure many other guys get the same letters.   Try to not use a pay-to read/write website, there is just too much room for deception.  :evil:

[dbneeley]

2)  I have communicated with multiple women in Russia and Ukraine who I met Stateside.  I've used Skype, MSN, iChat, etc.  These were young ladies in their mid 20's.  I was scolded by one of them when I expressed surprise at the high tech telecommunications.  Her reply was, "Ukraine is not a backwater."  Are college educated women with home wifi, laptops, and video chat common in the FSU?  These girls are not rich by any stretch of the imagination.

Computer ownership and use is growing rapidly in Ukraine. By no means does that imply that most have computers yet, but it is becoming rarer especially in the younger generations (say 30 and below) to find people who don't have a computer or at least ready access to one. How good the Internet connection is depends largely upon where you are. My connection in Donetsk is much faster than any I had in the U.S. over the years -- this one is now rated at 30 Mbps and costs about $12 per month.

As for their being "not rich"--as with so much else, that depends upon their priorities in large measure. Even people with small incomes can often make sacrifices to get what they really want, and the costs of living here for those who own their flat can be surprisingly small. When you live with no debt, much becomes possible that would not be if you were paying most of your income to debt service. I would expect that discretionary income as a percentage of total income is often higher than in the West.

David

[BillyB]

On the other hand, Bride.ru's notices of new ladies are no longer daily but sent about every other day, and the number of new ladies shown is half or less of what it used to be .

Bride.ru used to advertise on the mamba network which has millions of FSU ladies there that lured many to sign up for Bride.ru if they would consider looking for a foreign man. I don't know where they are advertising now. Lack of advertising could be a reason they've had less ladies sign up. They don't have any agency offices in multiple cities so to get the word out on them I'd assume internet advertising is the way they have to do it.

It seems the whole market is shrinking - less demand, and less offer, too - possibly due to the economy and to social networks becoming more popular?

I see more and more guys here recommending social networks to find their significant other. If agencies don't do a better job policing the crap that goes on there, they will continue to lose a few customers in the attempt to gain $. I'm sure a few guys quit after one or more bad experiences.

[Gator]

It seems the whole market is shrinking - less demand, and less offer, too - possibly due to the economy and to social networks becoming more popular?

Yes, you are correct.   

If agencies don't do a better job policing the crap that goes on there, they will continue to lose a few customers in the attempt to gain $.

Also correct.

Another fator perhaps:  a decent economy (at least in Russia), giving the average RM plenty of jingle in his pocket and the RW a sense of independence?

[searching]

Thanks for the replies guys.  They were very prompt and informative.  I had searched the forum looking for AFA info, but I didn't find anyone specifically addressing this recent phenomenon.

Also thanks for the info regarding email and video chat.  I think the idea of writing a letter or using a "letter service" in 2011 is archaic.  Maybe there are some legitimate 20-30 year olds without access to email in Russia or Ukraine.  I will just have to miss those opportunities.  Its amazing.  AFA would have you believe that these women are college and graduate school educated, have model looks, live in Kiev, and have no access to internet.  C'mon.

These are fascinating times.  The internet transformed the MOB business and opened it up to a broader range of people.  Now social networking is cutting out the middleman and making the process more natural... and palatable.

[civi68]

If you want to correspond with women, best to use sites that have a fee for joining and don't charge per letter. You will find your experience much different and more in touch with reality. For example, you won't be bombarded with letters since the attractive women already get several letters from men. On these sites, you usually have to contact the women first and won't always get replies.
  I have also found that women come and go on these sites, reflecting that some women are curious and find that they are not interested in many of the men. If you are on a site that charges per letter, some things are too good to be true.

[Rubicon]

I just signed up with Ukrainedate.com.  They are part of the Cupid network.  very reasonable prices, women who look real.  You should be able to chat with them and write to them and get their contact information in a reasonable period of time.

[Sky_Blood]

We met each other thru rosebrides.com
idk about how much they charge, but definetely real girls, and good girls among them, have few friends who have profiles there...

[babajaga]

Hi,

as a long-termer, living in SPb for a couple of years, and now in Nikolaev, UA, for some years, let me tell you guys something:
The chances of finding a serious girl on anastasiaweb.com, loveme.com, a foreignaffair.com, interfriendship.de etc. is almost ZERO. Or, similar to the 1'st prize in the lottery.

Dating scam is actually the second best business in Nikolaev, after ship building. Or, may be now even the best business after closing quite a few shipyards.

In case, you use the free-of-charge sites (Vkontakte.ru, mamba.ru etc.) you only loose time. Otherwise, you also loose money.

One true story: During my first time in Nikolaev, I was wondering about photo sessions in a small park in the centre, with a single beautiful girl holding a bunch of roses in front of the statue of St. Nicolas. First I thought about wedding photos, but without a guy ?
Later on, a good local friend, told me the trick: Just besides the small park is a markert for flowers. The agencies rent a bunch of flowers, do photos with the girls, and give the flowers back to the market. And charge their American clients about 100$ for the roses for the girls. Of course, there are photos to proove, that the girls received the flowers :-)
But the girls usually prefere about 20$, instead of the roses.

Lot of other tricks to report, but I am almost tired of it, because most of the Americans arriving in summer in Nikolaev, Odessa etc. seem to think: This might be true, but will never happen to me.
Anyway, you are warned.

[Gator]

Hi,

as a long-termer, living in SPb for a couple of years, and now in Nikolaev, UA, for some years, let me tell you guys something:
The chances of finding a serious girl on anastasiaweb.com, loveme.com, a foreignaffair.com, interfriendship.de etc. is almost ZERO. Or, similar to the 1'st prize in the lottery.

Dating scam is actually the second best business in Nikolaev, after ship building. Or, may be now even the best business after closing quite a few shipyards.

In case, you use the free-of-charge sites (Vkontakte.ru, mamba.ru etc.) you only loose time. Otherwise, you also loose money.

One true story: During my first time in Nikolaev, I was wondering about photo sessions in a small park in the centre, with a single beautiful girl holding a bunch of roses in front of the statue of St. Nicolas. First I thought about wedding photos, but without a guy ?
Later on, a good local friend, told me the trick: Just besides the small park is a markert for flowers. The agencies rent a bunch of flowers, do photos with the girls, and give the flowers back to the market. And charge their American clients about 100$ for the roses for the girls. Of course, there are photos to proove, that the girls received the flowers :-)
But the girls usually prefere about 20$, instead of the roses.

Lot of other tricks to report, but I am almost tired of it, because most of the Americans arriving in summer in Nikolaev, Odessa etc. seem to think: This might be true, but will never happen to me.
Anyway, you are warned.

Thanks Babajaga for the ground truthing and special insights. 
 
There are many good women too in the FSU which raises another issue.  Some men seem to have scamaphobia, so bad that they have problems relaxing and enjoying time with a good woman.
 
Please join in other discussions from time to time.
 

[Vincenzo]

Many clients of the agencies have been experiencing financial problems lately due to the Second Depression. An American or French carpenter can't afford to bring a young foreign wife anymore.