Wow, I like this reply so much. This is probably the best advice. Let me share ONE experience (not mine but a friend's to you).

Originally know a girl who is a professional through a friend. The girl shows genuine interest like sharing photos of her routines etc.

Then came a time when suddenly she said to him it's not working out and she can't go on.

Found out it was because of her parents not approving of the guy's outlook and appearance. Apparently the girl disregarded the parents' words once on her ex-bf and the ex-bf gotten the best of her and now she is very wary of what the parents say cannot.

Man, all the ads saying dating ads are free free free... in the end, I still need to pay to see who like me... or am I doing something wrong here???  :confused:

I been using dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, Coffee Meets Bagel, OkCupid, Badoo, and Omi for past few months... feel like average looking guys like me can never get a match.

CMB like no luck for me..been using it for a week now and no matches at all like zero..Bumble is decent tho got quite a few matches there..and yes tinder is horrible nowdays..mostly hookup and scammers in that app

Any advise on how to get matches on CMB?

I don’t get any matches on cmb while I get tons of scammers and low quality girl, prove that cmb is scammer-proof

Putting my job title and education on my profile apparently didn’t help, I still get zero matches on cmb. My photo is a company mugshot and a workout photo, anything I can do to my profile more appealing ?

I’m 28 already, if working on myself works it would have worked a long time ago, I’m also very introverted nearly autistic, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m diagnosed to be on certain level of autistic spectrum. I concluded that my disadvantages are not solvable but I think I’m still dateable considering that I’m able to provide for a family

To be honest I would rather have high quality girls who are after my wealth than having nobody

The agency told me that my chance is on the high side and already have some matches in mind, not sure whether is sweet talk or truth but I think they think that way because of my career and income, I was approached by them via LinkedIn which is probably how they source “educated professionals”, high quality girls won’t resort to these services but if the agency approached them to deliver a sales pitch like better matching result than ‘matching by pure chances’ in daily life then is another story

Do you know better alternatives? 5k without success guarantee could be a scam like you said

Hi guys, I need your advice. I signed up for OKC a few days ago and I got a match today. We started chatting. Then she gave me her tel no which is a Taiwanese number and ask to continue at Whatsapp. I smell a scam, any experiences you can share here?

Yes. Not worth it anymore. When CMB was free, successful rate for dating in real was slim for normal folks. Not sure about girls side, now every guy needs to pay to chat with match. This is another new hurdle to meet up in real.

For me, I don't use online dating anymore.
But it depends on your condition, case by case basis....

lets say if you are good looking and successful at age around 30, I will encourage you to pay and try CMB.....
If you are a normal appearance guy with an "okok" job at around age 30, you can pay and try CMB for one month and see the result.....
If you are a normal appearance guy with an "okok" job at around age 40, forget about CMB, try speed dating or seek help from agency is much better....

Have you guys tried Facebook Dating? It worked for me... I think if you spend a bit more time to just quickly swipe out the scammer(foreigner) profiles, you might find someone real to chat with.

Not sure from guy's perspective but on my side when I used it during pandemic, it was a lot more effort to spam swipe left cuz a lot of African/middle eastern/"US/SG expat ultra good looking Chinese" profiles but the good thing is, there's no limit whatsoever, and it's also interesting to see mutual friends occasionally. Note: FB dating will not recommend* you direct friends for privacy reasons, in case you don't want your own friends/family to know you're in it. *IIRC this is configurable to turn on/off, not sure if still true or not.

Profile quality was generally lower also, because many created their profiles based on their Facebook photos that are generally older, so it might be off putting... But I try to see that as a plus point like, "at least they're real Malaysians".

I tried a few days ago and did not really like it. The experience was just no different from Tinder

I think they are still similar also. I mean Tinder and Bumble....
I got some matches but most are silent. I guess those silent profiles don't subscribe. For these girls, they could just be there to kill time, not serious at all....

How long you have been using Bumble???

Yeah, really no different from Tinder....
Yesterday chat with a Trans in the app. As an extra conservative guy, I was a bit disappointed with all the matches....

lol....I will just talk to anyone who swipe right on me. Sometimes we can learn from each other even though we don't vibe.
And yeah, conversation without emotional attachment to protect myself.....

After swiping CMB & Bumble everyday for 1year+ (both premium) since Oct 2022, here are some personal stats:

Me 35yo/Male/KL
Total physical dates (meet ups) around 30 (20% from Bumble and 80% from CMB)

CMB
CMB Settings: preferred location within 40km, most of the time ages 27 to 32, with the exception that they were never married, not Hindu & not Hispanic.

CMB total 260 chats to date over a period of 430days = 0.6chats/day = 1 new chat every 2 days

CMB Cost:
Premium subscription for CMB (went with 6monthly plan) = roughly around RM1100 for 1 year

Saverpack 3000 beans for RM92.50 (roughly gives you total 8 extra swipes for hinting girls outside their search criteria, unless you do it during Thursday happy hour, where bean cost per swipe is less)
Purchased the saverpack beans probably 3 times = total RM280

Estimated Total expenditure for CMB (premium subscription + Beans) to date = RM1400.

CMB Value vs Performance:
RM1400 for 25 meet-ups = RM56 per meet-up (rough figure)
BUMBLE
Bumble Settings: no specific preferences for all girls aged 26 to 32 (increased the age range since it has always been unlimited swipes)
Bumble total 150 chats over a period of 430 days = 0.3chats per day = 1 new chat every 3 to 4 days
Purchased Bumble Superswipes a few times. During 2022, Bumble Superswipes were expensive (5 Superswipes for RM 30). But since March 2023, they became cheaper (30 Superswipes for RM 45). Even now, the lifetime app service subscription is only a one-time-off payment of RM250.

Sadly, I had been blindly paying the monthly Bumble subscription without being aware of the lifetime option.
Total expenditure for Bumble (subscription + SuperSwipes) = RM2000
(RM1570 for subscription and RM430 for SuperSwipes)

Bumble Value vs Performance:
RM2000 for 5 Bumble meet-ups = RM400 per Bumble meet-up

* Even if i had been a premium Bumble subscriber from the very beginning (ie. RM250 premium sub + RM430 for all the SuperSwipes = total RM680), the performance is still poor (ie. RM680 for 5 Bumble meet-ups = RM136 per Bumble meet-up)

Do note that I used the same set of pics (the best ones) for both CMB and Bumble.
Total Dating Expenditure for 2023:
Each meet-up estimated around RM100 (say 2 cocktails + share 1 or 2 plates)

So, 30 dates x RM100 = total RM3000 (but definitely more than that because there were a few second dates with the same girl)

The most expensive date was a 2-day staycation, burnt a hole in my wallet about RM1000 (golddigger girl from Bumble with average looks, job crisis and badly managed finances. Even my stuffs end up becoming her prop for Insta pics.)

Total dating expenses (app/meetups) = RM7400
If to include the Misc stuffs like movies/billiards/and second time dates, i think around RM8000+
App Review:
Bumble has overall degraded over the year, that they had to lower their cost for purchasable swipes.
Even verified profiles are suspicious, the pics do not seem native for the stated/spoken language.
The superswipes are a waste of money (yielded a chat response of maybe less than5% whom i didn't even get to meet).
However, the interface is a lot better than CMB (bigger pictures and less laggy).

CMB still the best app in 2024. It's even better after the recent changes: unlimited suggestions.
It feels pleasant especially for guys to receive flowers from girls now (a better indication that they are interested)
Average looking  girls (average face appearance with decent profiles) still get a lot of likes per day from guys (as long as they dressed to reveal a little more than the norm - confidently expressed.)

Other things that i have observed:
Girl pics without body shots are likely to weigh heavier
Faces with symmetry problem (example one eye higher than the other) tend to take pics which are tilted/rotated/distanced.
Body pics showing deco/neck/sideview to show breast/butt outlines are good enough to generate many likes without a face pic.
Interested girls will ask you out and follow up with conversations/whatsapp (reciprocal) etc.
Splitting the bill on the second date is bad - very often the end of the encounter.
You'll remember the girls you met because either they were attractive or they pissed you off.

Overall, for me meeting pretty girls via dating apps is very hard, not to say a total failure but the money could be put to better use.

Any guys here with 30-50 active chats on CMB at any one time maybe can share some tips, or any success stories. How about speed dating? Anyone been to one with many girls?

I got a match on CMB last week. She literally asked me for a lunch this week as we both worked nearby. I was surprised and a little bit cautious about it (thought she might be an mlm seller etc).

Anyway, I accepted her invitation and she was late to the lunch 20 min lol. And what follows was not something I expected in the 1st meetup.

She was very direct in her questions, its basically talking terms. Ie What is my plan for the relationship, What restrictions I have (vegan, religion etc), What do I want in life.

Honestly, I gave the crappiest answers that can ever be    and she definitely was not impressed. She also kept telling me to meet more girls.

Well, there's that then. Is this kind of meetup via dating apps normal moreso in the 1st meetup?

You are so lucky... I want to go out with my CMB match also cannot... cause they are in KL and I am in SG...  

Maybe you can introduce her to me. I have very good and clear answers to her questions.

My early dates with girls are always light and easy. Less interview, more shared experience n feeling.

The serious "i want to know you values" stuff can be done via text, after the dates.

Try this out.