Thursday 21 April 2016

DNA Day sale at Family Tree DNA


DNA Day is celebrated on 25th April and commemorates the day in 1953 when the landmark paper detailing the structure of DNA was published in the journal Nature. It also recognises the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. In honour of this very special day Family Tree DNA have announced that they are holding a short sale.

The sale starts NOW and will extend until Tuesday 26 April 2016 at 11.59 pm Central Time (the local time in Houston, Texas). The current sale is limited to new tests and add-ons but I've been told that there will be an upgrade sale in June.

An e-mail is being sent out today to all group administrators at FTDNA to alert them to the sale.

Here is a chart showing the prices. I've included the equivalent sterling prices in the chart. If you want to check prices in other currencies use one of the currency converters such as the one provided by XE.com.

Product
Retail Price US$
Retail Price GB £
Sale Price US$
Sale Price GB £
Family Finder
$99
£69
$79
£55
mtFull Seq
$199
£138
$149
£103
Y37
$169
£117
$129
£90
Y67
$268
£186
$199
£138
Y111
$359
£249
$289
£200
BigY
$575
£399
$460
£319
SNP Packs
$119
£82
$109
£76





Not on Sale




mtDNA plus





If you haven't yet ordered a DNA test this is your big chance to do so. If you've got friends and family who are interested in testing you can encourage them to join us. The more people who test the more we learn.

If you are thinking of ordering a BigY test or a SNP pack I strongly recommend that you consult with the volunteer administrators of your Y-DNA haplogroup project to ensure that you select the best test for your individual circumstances.

AncestryDNA are also having a DNA Day sale but as far as I can make out the sale only applies to customers in the US and Canada. In the UK AncestryDNA seem to be experimenting with new pricing for their autosomal product. Some people are being offered the test at £79 while for other people the test is still being sold at £99.  Note that with the AncestryDNA test you also have to pay £20 for return shipping by courier. Family Tree DNA charge $9.99 (£7), but you also need to pay your own return postage though this only costs a couple of pounds.

For detailed comparisons of all the different tests see the comparison charts in the ISOGG Wiki.

4 comments:

Nick said...

Is it possible to do a big-Y if you have not done any previous tests (my son and father have both done Y-37 tests, which match well, but I want to do the big-Y on myself).
Thx
Nic

Debbie Kennett said...

Strictly speaking you are supposed to order an STR test first. If you ring FTDNA and explain the situation they might be able to let you order a BigY without doing an STR test. Alternatively you could just order a 12-marker test so that you can get the Big Y.

Ex DG said...

Not had any form of DNA testing done. Which is best for a start.
Terry

Debbie Kennett said...

It depends on whether you are a male or female and what your goals are. If you're a male then it's probably best to start with a 37-marker Y-DNA test. However, do check first to see if there's a project for your surname at FTDNA. IF there's no project then you won't get so much out of the test as there won't be people with your surname available for comparison purposes.

Otherwise I would recommend starting with an autosomal DNA test.