When is the best time to buy a home DNA testing kit?

If you’ve been considering buying one of those home DNA testing kits like 23andMe or AncestryDNA that have become so popular in the last few years, don’t make the big mistake of paying full price.

According to Charis Brown, Managing Editor of Clark Deals, these kits go on sale often enough that it’s worth waiting for a deep discount before you make the plunge and purchase one.

When to buy a home genetic testing kit

Whether you want to learn more about your heritage or find out if you have a genetic disposition for certain diseases, home DNA testing kits can tell you more about yourself than you could possibly know otherwise.

But they’re not cheap, which is why Charis says timing is everything when it comes to making your purchase.

“These kits tend to go on sale around holidays,” she says. “That is particularly true around Black Friday, when pretty much all of the kits are discounted.”

Black Friday falls on November 29 this year. If you don’t want to wait that long, Charis says, you’re not out of luck. The key is checking in around the holidays or following a site like Clark Deals that will alert you when there is a price drop on one of the kits.

“Just recently, around Mother’s Day, Ancestry dropped their price from $99.00 to $59.00. That’s a 40% discount! Typically, when one of the kits drops in price, one or more of the others will cut theirs, too, so you need to check around.”

Which DNA testing kit should you buy?

Not all genetic testing kits are created equal — so which one you buy might depend on what, specifically, you are looking for out of the test. To that end, PCWorld has reviewed and rated the most popular kits and recently rounded up their “Best Of” list for different preferences. Here’s what they found, along with our notes on regular and sale prices:

	Kit	Regular price	Recent sale price
Best overall kit	23andMe Ancestry Service	$99.00	$69.00
Best bang-for-your-buck kit	MyHeritage DNA	$79.00	$59.00
Best for kit for privacy	Family Tree DNA	$79.00	$49.00
Best kit for adoptees and for genealogy	AncestryDNA	$99.00	$59.00

Final thought

A home DNA testing kit can give you amazing insight into your past and possibly even into your future. But let’s face it, your genetic make-up isn’t changing, so this shouldn’t be an impulse buy. Wait until the kit that works best for you goes on sale and then grab it at 40% off or more!

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