Written by Michelle Leonard
Black Friday weekend is right around the corner and it is now a tradition for most of the major DNA testing companies to offer their best deal of the year at this time. These Black Friday sales are a great opportunity to pick up DNA testing kits if you've been thinking of testing yourself or other relatives and if you want to give any as Christmas presents it's best to buy now rather than later. The sales will be over very quickly so take advantage while you can.
Here is a quick round-up of the DNA sales on offer over the next few days:
Here is a quick round-up of the DNA sales on offer over the next few days:
AncestryDNA has by far the largest autosomal DNA database at over 6 million testers and it is growing daily. If you are interested in taking a DNA test for genealogy purposes then you simply cannot ignore the sheer size of this database. Additionally if you have a DNA mystery or brick wall you are trying to solve using DNA, it is imperative to test at Ancestry to fish in the largest pond. You cannot transfer into Ancestry as you can some of the other companies so you have to test with them direct. They are offering their lowest price of the year for Black Friday so now is the time to buy if you've been holding off waiting for a good sale!
The price of the AncestryDNA test in the UK has been reduced by £30 from £79 to £49 for Black Friday
(please note that this does not include shipping which is £20 for a first kit and £10 for each additional kit in the same order - maximum ten kits per order)
*sale ends 27th November at 23:59 GMT
AncestryDNA are also running Black Friday sales in Ireland, the USA, Australia and New Zealand:
Ireland: Price reduced by €36 from €95 to €59
Shipping €20 per kit and €10 per additional kit in same order
*sale ends 27th November at 23:59 GMT
USA: Price reduced by $40 from $99 to $59
Shipping $9.95 per kit
*sale begins 23rd November at 21:00 PST and ends 27th November at 20:59 PST
UPDATED: Amazon have made AncestryDNA kits a Cyber Monday Deal of the Day! They're selling kits for $54.99 plus free shipping - best deal I've seen for Ancestry by far but US only - see HERE
Australia & New Zealand: Price reduced by A$50 from A$149 to A$99
Shipping A$29.99 for first kit and A$10 for each additional kit
*sale ends 27th November at 23:59 AEDT
Canada: Price reduced by C$50 from C$129 to C$79
Shipping C$19.95 per kit
*sale ends 27th November at 23:59 ET
Ancestry are also offering subscription discounts depending on your geographic location
The price of the AncestryDNA test in the UK has been reduced by £30 from £79 to £49 for Black Friday
(please note that this does not include shipping which is £20 for a first kit and £10 for each additional kit in the same order - maximum ten kits per order)
*sale ends 27th November at 23:59 GMT
AncestryDNA are also running Black Friday sales in Ireland, the USA, Australia and New Zealand:
Ireland: Price reduced by €36 from €95 to €59
Shipping €20 per kit and €10 per additional kit in same order
*sale ends 27th November at 23:59 GMT
USA: Price reduced by $40 from $99 to $59
Shipping $9.95 per kit
*sale begins 23rd November at 21:00 PST and ends 27th November at 20:59 PST
UPDATED: Amazon have made AncestryDNA kits a Cyber Monday Deal of the Day! They're selling kits for $54.99 plus free shipping - best deal I've seen for Ancestry by far but US only - see HERE
Australia & New Zealand: Price reduced by A$50 from A$149 to A$99
Shipping A$29.99 for first kit and A$10 for each additional kit
*sale ends 27th November at 23:59 AEDT
Canada: Price reduced by C$50 from C$129 to C$79
Shipping C$19.95 per kit
*sale ends 27th November at 23:59 ET
Ancestry are also offering subscription discounts depending on your geographic location
FTDNA are offering a Black Friday sale on their autosomal (Family Finder) test. It is being sold at the reduced price of $49 plus shipping until 27th November when it will revert back to the regular sale price of $59 plus shipping until 31st December. Shipping has also been reduced down to $4.95 for US customers and $8.95 for International customers.
More importantly in terms of FTDNA, however, is the fact that their annual holiday sale is now in full swing! Each year this sale runs from mid November right through until 31st December and it is by far the best time of the year to buy kits from FTDNA. There are fantastic discounts of up to 30% off on most of their testing options.
Here are all the FTDNA holiday sale and upgrade prices in full:
More importantly in terms of FTDNA, however, is the fact that their annual holiday sale is now in full swing! Each year this sale runs from mid November right through until 31st December and it is by far the best time of the year to buy kits from FTDNA. There are fantastic discounts of up to 30% off on most of their testing options.
Here are all the FTDNA holiday sale and upgrade prices in full:
If you've been thinking about taking the plunge on Y-DNA or MtDNA testing then this is the time to do it. There is a $40 saving on the Y-37 test and a $30 saving on the Mt FMS test. For Y-DNA it is cheapest to start at Y-37 - if you want to test to Y-67 it is better to buy the Y-37 test and then upgrade to Y-67.
In addition to the regular sale prices FTDNA also send out special holiday reward codes to existing customers during their holiday sale; you will receive one holiday reward code per kit each week on a Monday up until the end of the year. These codes can be used in addition to the sale prices bringing the cost down even lower. If you have existing FTDNA kits then all you have to do is sign in and click on "Holiday Reward" on your homepage:
In addition to the regular sale prices FTDNA also send out special holiday reward codes to existing customers during their holiday sale; you will receive one holiday reward code per kit each week on a Monday up until the end of the year. These codes can be used in addition to the sale prices bringing the cost down even lower. If you have existing FTDNA kits then all you have to do is sign in and click on "Holiday Reward" on your homepage:
The reward codes look like this:
If you don't want to use your gift code you can share it with someone else or add it to the FTDNA Coupons 2017 Spreadsheet. I will be publishing a selection of codes from my own kits on my Genes & Genealogy Facebook page each week so keep an eye out for those if you're looking for a particular code.
Here are my codes from this week (valid until 26th Nov):
Here are my codes from this week (valid until 26th Nov):
If you use one of my codes please comment on the original post HERE so others know it has been taken
Also if you have been thinking of upgrading to a Big Y test this Holiday sale offers the best deal I've ever seen! Firstly there is $100 off the regular price ($475 instead of $575) and you can also use a reward coupon on top of that - there are a few $100 and $50 off coupons so if you're very lucky you could get it for $375. The best bit though is that anyone who orders a Big Y during the sale will have their Y-STR test upgraded to Y-111 for free! In order to take advantage of this offer you have to already have taken a Y-STR test but if you haven't done that you could buy one in the sale and upgrade once it registers on the system. For full details on how much this deal could save you check out Maurice Gleeson's calculations on his blog post HERE.
Don't forget that FTDNA also have an autosomal transfer option so if you have tested at Ancestry, 23andMe (V3 and V4 only) or MyHeritage you can transfer into FTDNA and get all of your highest confidence matches for free. If you would like access to all tools and FTDNA's ethnicity estimate you can get those by paying a small $19 fee.
Don't forget that FTDNA also have an autosomal transfer option so if you have tested at Ancestry, 23andMe (V3 and V4 only) or MyHeritage you can transfer into FTDNA and get all of your highest confidence matches for free. If you would like access to all tools and FTDNA's ethnicity estimate you can get those by paying a small $19 fee.
Living DNA have also announced a Black Friday sale for the UK and US:
UK: Price reduced to £89 plus delivery
UK Standard Delivery (5-7 working days): £9.95
UK Premium Delivery (2-3 working days): £14.95
US: Price reduced to $89 plus delivery
USA Standard Delivery (5-7 working days): $9.95
USA Premium Delivery (2-3 working days): $39.95
The Living DNA test gives a detailed regional breakdown of UK Ancestry and also includes Y-DNA (male testers only) and MtDNA haplogroup information. Please note that Living DNA currently do not offer a matching database but this has been promised by August next year. It is also now possible to transfer into their database to get the matching when it goes live but you will not get the ethnicity breakdown or haplogroup designations unless you test with them directly.
UK: Price reduced to £89 plus delivery
UK Standard Delivery (5-7 working days): £9.95
UK Premium Delivery (2-3 working days): £14.95
US: Price reduced to $89 plus delivery
USA Standard Delivery (5-7 working days): $9.95
USA Premium Delivery (2-3 working days): $39.95
The Living DNA test gives a detailed regional breakdown of UK Ancestry and also includes Y-DNA (male testers only) and MtDNA haplogroup information. Please note that Living DNA currently do not offer a matching database but this has been promised by August next year. It is also now possible to transfer into their database to get the matching when it goes live but you will not get the ethnicity breakdown or haplogroup designations unless you test with them directly.
MyHeritage have also announced a Black Friday sale. Their autosomal DNA kit has been reduced to just £39 in the UK (shipping costs £12 for one kit and is free if you buy two or more). The price in Ireland is even lower at €39 (shipping costs €12 for one kit and is free for two or more) and the price in the US has been reduced to $49 (shipping costs $12 for one kit and free if you buy two or more).
It is also still possible to transfer into MyHeritage for free from any of the other major companies - HERE is a link to upload your results to their site. MyHeritage is one of the newer offerings on the market but as more people test with them their database will grow and you will begin to see unique matches there. It will, therefore, start to become more important for everyone, especially those with mysteries to solve, to be in this database in addition to the others. Be aware, however, that there is a serious problem with MyHeritage's matching algorithm and this means the amount of DNA shared with matches on there has to be treated with great caution for now. MyHeritage are aware of the problem and promise it will be rectified soon. For further information on this issue see CeCe Moore's recent post HERE.
It is also still possible to transfer into MyHeritage for free from any of the other major companies - HERE is a link to upload your results to their site. MyHeritage is one of the newer offerings on the market but as more people test with them their database will grow and you will begin to see unique matches there. It will, therefore, start to become more important for everyone, especially those with mysteries to solve, to be in this database in addition to the others. Be aware, however, that there is a serious problem with MyHeritage's matching algorithm and this means the amount of DNA shared with matches on there has to be treated with great caution for now. MyHeritage are aware of the problem and promise it will be rectified soon. For further information on this issue see CeCe Moore's recent post HERE.
23ANDME
23andMe was the only major company not to be offering a Black Friday deal but on the Friday morning this changed so I've updated this article to include their offering. In the UK it is a Christmas sale that runs through until 26th December that is being offered; £20 off either the Ancestry only service or the Health + Ancestry service. Shipping costs £9.99 per kit (Standard 7 working days) or £19.99 per kit (Express 2-3 working days).
A similar Christmas sale has sprung up for the European site (these kits are sold in Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and The Netherlands). The sale runs until 26th December and offers €30 off the regular price of both the Ancestry only service bringing it down to €69 and the Ancestry + Health service bringing it down to €139. Shipping costs €9.99 per kit (10 business days) or €19.99 Express Shipping (2-3 business days).
In the US they are offering a Black Friday deal which ends on Sunday 26th November: $30 off the Ancestry only service bringing it down to $69 and $50 off the Ancestry + Health service bringing to down to $149. Shipping costs $14.95 per kit (Standard 5-8 days) or $41.95 (Express 2-3 business days). If you are in the US and want to get the Health + Ancestry test, however, there's an even better deal for Black Friday on Amazon - they're selling it for $99! This is just a 24 hour flash sale for Black Friday; you can see the deal HERE.
There is also a Christmas sale now up for Canada and it also runs until 26th December; C$30 off per kit for both the Ancestry only service bringing it down from C$129 to C$99 and the Health + Ancestry service bringing it down from C$249 to C$219. Shipping costs C$19.95 (Standard 5-8 days) or C$29.95 (Express 2-3 business days).
A similar Christmas sale has sprung up for the European site (these kits are sold in Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and The Netherlands). The sale runs until 26th December and offers €30 off the regular price of both the Ancestry only service bringing it down to €69 and the Ancestry + Health service bringing it down to €139. Shipping costs €9.99 per kit (10 business days) or €19.99 Express Shipping (2-3 business days).
In the US they are offering a Black Friday deal which ends on Sunday 26th November: $30 off the Ancestry only service bringing it down to $69 and $50 off the Ancestry + Health service bringing to down to $149. Shipping costs $14.95 per kit (Standard 5-8 days) or $41.95 (Express 2-3 business days). If you are in the US and want to get the Health + Ancestry test, however, there's an even better deal for Black Friday on Amazon - they're selling it for $99! This is just a 24 hour flash sale for Black Friday; you can see the deal HERE.
There is also a Christmas sale now up for Canada and it also runs until 26th December; C$30 off per kit for both the Ancestry only service bringing it down from C$129 to C$99 and the Health + Ancestry service bringing it down from C$249 to C$219. Shipping costs C$19.95 (Standard 5-8 days) or C$29.95 (Express 2-3 business days).
Michelle Leonard is Ancestry Hour's resident DNA #genesgenius! You can catch her on Twitter as @GenealogyLass and you can follow her business page Genes & Genealogy on Facebook. She is usually on hand to answer #DNA queries during #AncestryHour each Tuesday evening 7-8pm GMT.
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