My First post, Ancestry advice please....

[Paulc]

Hello, this is my first post on the forum, so be gentle with me.

I am thinking about taking out a subscription for the first time with ancestry, and from I understand the subscription rate can vary depending on how you negotiate etc with ancestry. Has anybody recently renewed and successfully managed to get a reduced rate and what would be the expected yearly amount to pay. Also will the basic package be the correct one to go for.
Thanks

ps apologies if this is posted in the incorrect section of the forum

[Elaine ..Spain]

Hi Paul, welcome to the site. Hope you enjoy it here.

Quite a few people have managed to negotiate a discount when contacting Ancestry by phone - others haven't been so lucky.
One way of getting a discount is to register with a site called Quidco - who will then pay you a 25% payback on your registration fee.

I suppose it depends where you are in your research as to which subscription you choose. The basic package, as far as I know, only contains information post 1837, for example census and BMD information. I am not sure if it includes the WW1 Army Services records etc. If you are just starting on your research then this would certainly suffice initially - and you can always upgrade at some time during your subscription if you feel you need other databases which aren't included in the basic package.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Some earlier threads about this topic which you might find useful:

http://www.familytreeforum.com/research-qs/52908-ancestry-discount.html

http://www.familytreeforum.com/research-qs/52491-ancestry-renewal-people-still-getting-discounts.html

http://www.familytreeforum.com/research-qs/48021-gobsmacked-cost-ancestry-mo.html

[KiteRunner]

I haven't negotiated a discount, so can't answer that part of your question, but as for whether the basic package is the one you want, it all depends what you think you will be looking up really. The basic one will give you the BMD indexes and censuses so it does sound like a good starting point but you might find you want to look at WW1 army service records etc - no doubt if you take out the basic membership and want to look at something that isn't included, it will give you the option of upgrading or buying some pay-as-you-go "premium credits" though.

Anyway, most importantly, they usually offer a 14-day free trial so I would recommend you try that first to see how you get on with it. You will most likely have to give them a credit card number and make sure to note down the details of how and when to cancel if you decide not to go ahead with subscribing at the end of the trial.

[Paulc]

thanks for the tips and advice. I will take a look at the other threads as well, so thanks for that as well

[LondonLass]

You should also take a look at some of the alternatives, which may be better value for you: findmypast.com's Explorer gives you access to all their records (about £90 before any discounts), though they don't have 1851 yet, though their transcriptions are generally more reliable than Ancestry for the other censuses. The Genealogist is also cheaper than Ancestry though I can never work out what's included, but they have a free trial too.

[Elaine ..Spain]

FindmyPast only has 5 counties available at the moment for the 1901 census.

[Paulc]

ok, I will have a look at findmypast and the genealogist and maybe try a free trial with each. It's just knowing now, what i might need in the future, to try and futureproof which option i go for, rest assuted that whichever one I choose, I will need something that one of the others has instead........!!!

[Paulc]

I'm just concerend about spending the money in the wrong direction

[KiteRunner]

Like I said, take out a free trial with ancestry before you decide. And all those sites also have pay-as-you-go options and most offer free searches so if you are really worried then you could try that way and see how you get on.

[Paulc]

the genealogist at £68-95 looks better value than ancestry

[KiteRunner]

If you do decide on The Genealogist, bear in mind that they keep a close watch on what you look up and if they think you are doing lookups for anybody other than yourself, they may charge you extra or ban you from using their site, whereas ancestry don't seem to mind that kind of thing. Also if you don't want to renew a sub with The Genealogist, make sure you notify them well in advance.

The last time I used The Genealogist you had to search each county separately but I don't know if that's still the same, and their searches were less flexible than ancestry's.

Anyway, I would say the best thing to do is get trials or pay-as-you-go credits for each site and see which you like best.

[WendyPusey]

The Genealogist is only any good if you know what county your ancestors were in. You can't do a blanket search as you can on Ancestry.

[Paulc]

thanks wendy that might help, as I did intend to do some blanket searches,

[Paulc]

would you advise uploading my gedcom version of my tree to this site???

[KiteRunner]

Can't hurt, can it, Paul? The more sites you upload your tree to, the more chance there is of finding others researching the same people, after all. On this site your actual tree won't be shown to anybody - they can only see the names and dates of the people in it. On some sites (e.g. ancestry, Genes Reunited, etc) you get the choice of whether to make your tree private or public and can choose to share the actual tree with others.

[WendyPusey]

Yes of course you should Paul. You never know, someone may well be connected to you.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Welcome to FTF, Paul.

I negotiated a very successful discount with Ancestry last time, but not this time, they are absolutely adamant that I must pay the full price - I have two days left to decide!

I think that as you are a new researcher, Ancestry is definitely your best option for a year, certainly, and the basic package should suffice. You can always ask on here for lookups for the things basic Ancestry doesn't cover.

Oh, and don't forget all the FREE sites!

OC

[Paulc]

thanks for the advice, will try to upload it later

[Paulc]

thanks OCH...........im just trying to get something sorted in time to put on my xmas list for this year...........lol