23andMe DNA test on sale for $49 until Sep. 19 [closed]

Question

The 23andMe autosomal DNA test is on sale for $49 until Sep. 19:  https://www.23andme.com/?utm_source=cj&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=us_evergreen_sales_prs&utm_content=Affiliates&utm_term=Chris+Whitten&cjevent=ab668db3183511ec832f01190a82b832&sub=ver2 (Ancestry + Traits).  It hasn't been priced this low for a while.  I've found that the vast majority of matches aren't found on the other sites.  Since they don't accept DNA uploads/transfers, it's a great choice for a second DNA test.

Comments

U.S. military members and veterans get free shipping through ID.me:  https://hosted-pages.id.me/23andme-military-discount.  I haven't checked to see if this works with the sale.

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The non affiliate link (which Kerry forgot to mention) is this one: https://store.23andme.com/en-us/cart?ancestrykit=1

What's the difference between this one and the one posted by Kerry you ask? Kerry will get a provision if you order through the link, in both cases the price will be the same for you.

But for transparency, affiliate links should be mentioned as such!

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The "affiliate link" I posted is Wikitree's.  For some reason it is cut off as displayed in the question (broken up here so the whole thing shows): 

 www.23andme.com/?utm_source=cj&utm_medium=

affiliate&utm_campaign=us_evergreen_sales_prs&utm_content=

Affiliates&utm_term=Chris+Whitten&cjevent

=ab668db3183511ec832f01190a82b832&sub=ver2 

I don't see how that's unethical as commented by the flagger.  I originally posted the standard 23andMe link but then thought it would be a good idea for Wikitree to benefit.  Another case of no good deed goes unpunished.

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Anyone wondering what got cut off only needs to copy and  paste it -- where it CLEARLY shows "Chris + Whitten", not "Kerry + Larson" --  www.23andme.com/?utm_source=cj&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=us_evergreen_sales_prs&utm_

content=Affiliates&utm_term=Chris+Whitten&cjevent=ab668db3183511ec832f01190a82b832&sub=ver2 

Thanks for posting the link, Kerry.   If I were into doing the dna thing,  I'd take advantage of it.  (It might be a good time to buy for others, though, such as 'Thon prizes.)

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It's been seen as unethical not to put up disclaimers for affiliate links. Doesn't matter who participates from it.

It's all about informed decisions, people can still click on it if they want that the person behind the affiliate link should benefit from it.

Hope this clarifies it.

For those interested, Google has more info like this one: Affiliate Link Disclosure - An introduction and best practice

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It is neither spam, nor vandalism -- and who decreed it unethical?

Would it make a difference if posted as "23andMe autosomal DNA test is on sale for $49 until Sep. 19;  (Ancestry + Traits)" -- so nobody saw it at all until after they clicked?

Kerry did a service to this community by posting the link, and alerting those of us who might be interested in getting a bargain deal.  

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Leaving aside any discussion of whether it is or is not ethical, I would have appreciated an initial mention that it was an affiliate link so that I could make sure to use it.

I did a bit of messing around after discovering that the postage on 3 kits to Australia would double the cost - using separate browsers to check the costs of one and two kits. Ordering the kits separately can get standard shipping on each, which is cheaper than 3 kits in the one order, which offers only "express" shipping (for a fairly loose definition of express).

In the end I don't know if I finished up using the affiliate link or not, because I was not alerted to it.

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Every link to a DNA company under DNA Connections on  Wikitree profiles is an affiliate link.  That's where I got the link I used.  Even every link to Ancestry.com in general is an affiliate link.  I don't see any WARNING messages for those.  Wikitree even provides external link templates for the testing companies, but they can't be used in G2G:  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:External_Link_Templates.  Anyone savvy enough to worry about affiliate links knows how to check.  Chris Whitten mentioned the links back in 2015:  https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/169239/where-would-i-find-affiliate-links-benefitting-wikitree

Answer 1

Many thanks! I’ve been looking for this very thing!  Now I can make a super kit on gedmatch and Borland generics!!

Comments

Thanks for pointing that out Deborah.  As you alluded, the 23andMe test doesn't have a lot of overlap with the SNPs tested on Ancestry, FTDNA, and MyHeritage.

Answer 2

This is a great price. I notice that you have to use the kit within twelve months of the time you buy, so my plan to buy two, and keep them in stock for someone later, becomes a little bit iffy. I can't see any reason for this proviso.

Answer 3

Once you have a fully genotyped 23andMe DNA test consider to trial the "your DNA family" app for free (Disclaimer: I'm the author of the app).

We have versions for Windows, MacOS and Linux available but are currently only supporting 23andMe (with raw DNA data import hopefully coming in a couple months time).

If you haven't heard or seen our app, here's a quick live demonstration