Y-DNA Upgrade Sale

FamilyTree DNA have announced a short upgrade sale for Father's Day:
----

From June 12, 2013 through June 19, 2013, we will reduce the following prices.   Y-DNA 12 to 25 was $49 Now $35 Y-DNA 12 to 37 was $99 Now $69 Y-DNA 12 to 67 was $189 Now $148 Y-DNA 25 to 37 was $49 Now $35 Y-DNA 25 to 67 was $148 Now $114 Y-DNA 25 to 111 was $249 Now $224 Y-DNA 37 to 67 was $99 Now $79 Y-DNA 37 to 111 was $220 Now $188 Y-DNA 67 to 111 was $129 Now $109

To order an upgrade at these special prices you may log into your personal page with your kit number and password. Click on the "Order Upgrade" button located on the right side of the menu bar. Then click on the "Special Offers" button. ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY 11:59pm, JUNE 19, 2013, TO RECEIVE THE SALE PRICE.

So, if you aren't up to at least Y-DNA37 or 67, here's your chance to refine the closeness of your matches.

Caithness (SCT)

No sooner had this Caithness DNA post been posted than an official Caithness-Sutherland DNA project sprang into being.
Those interested in the DNA of either county are encouraged to join the official project to help us all understand the genetic heritage of our Caithness (or Sutherland) ancestry.
Should your surnames match those of interest appearing on the DNASurnames Caithness page, you are welcome to get in touch and be listed there as well.
Further details on the specific families of particular interest are available on Lorna's personal webpages.

Caithness (SCT)

DNA Surnames has been updated.
Main changes are the inclusion of a link in the surname projects list to the MANSON project, and in the Lineage section, the inclusion of a catch all Caithness "project", which contains a MANSON result for my MANSONs - another being searched for to validate the signature.
Another BAIN result has also been included.
The Caithness page is not an official geographical DNA project, merely a convenient place to group those DNA tests for surnames of interest to me, where some may not have a surname project of their own. 
Hopefully there are also a few less broken links as yet more of the background renumbering for easier maintenance has been done.

Y-DNA12 success story

As a project administrator of several Y-DNA Surname projects, whilst welcoming their interest in at least beginning the fun of testing and exploring the history locked inside ourselves, I admit to inwardly groaning when someone who has only tested Y-DNA12 joins.

So although any price reduction is great, the recent drop in prices for the Y-DNA12 tests were met with another inward groan that more time would need to be spent convincing people to upgrade to at least Y-DNA37 IF their interest is in genealogical time frames.

That said, I did actively promote this price reduction to someone who had been teetering over whether or not dna testing was for him.

His story can be read on my personal blog and is a tale of coincidences and lucky finds that has connected him to his maternal grandmother's family, all previously unknown to him, and had identified his potential biological paternal grandfather's family.
However the doubt still existed that he didn't really know if his father's surname by usage from his (step) father, was indeed his biological surname, his grandparents having married in the year following his father's birth.

The price reduction was enough for him to decide that he would begin the journey.
He was cautioned that at 12 markers it was more likely that he would get a number of matches from a variety of surnames, and that it really was only the start of the process, unlikely to be at all definitive.

The Y-DNA12 results arrived today.
How many matches - one.
Surname - his.
Most distant ancestor - the same as that identified in the research of his assumed step-grandfather.

I'm not sure I want to suggest further testing and see this match fade away as the markers increase!

Family Tree DNA pricing update

	IMPORTANT PRICING UPDATE
	FAMILYTREEDNA HISTORY UNEARTHED DAILY
	Dear Group Administrators, With the end of the DNA Day promotion, we (Bennett and Max), considered how to continue offering the best prices, yet keep control in the lab to avoid delays from high volume. Since demand is directly related to prices, we decided to implement a temporary price rollback whenever lab capacity allows us to do so. Despite an extremely successful sale, we believe that with our increased lab capacity, we are able to continue offering reduced prices on several tests. While the prices are not as low as they were for the DNA Day promotion, you will notice that these temporary reductions are extremely attractive, and should be a real incentive to anyone that did not take advantage of the sale to order now, while the prices are reduced. With this system in place, prices may go up on different tests at any time based on lab volume. Additionally, on April 1st when we permanently reduced the price of the Y-DNA12 to $49, we mentioned that our R&D team was working towards a price reduction for the equivalent mtDNA basic test. Good news! Not only did we manage to achieve this goal, but we did it for the mtDNAPlus test that covers both HVR1 and HVR2. Therefore, we're discontinuing the HVR1-only test. Our basic mtDNA test will now be the mtDNAPlus (HVR1+2) at the $49 price point! We hope that with the basic Y-DNA and mtDNA tests very reasonably priced, a whole new group of people will be tempted to begin their own DNA experience and increase the size of your projects! You are welcome to spread the news, and as always, we thank you for your continued support.
	Max Blankfeld Bennett Greenspan Family Tree DNA

•• NEW LOW PRICES ON THESE AND MANY MORE ••
Full Mitochondrial Sequence: $199	Family Finder $199	Y-DNA37 + Full Sequence: $368
Privacy Policy | About Us © All Contents Copyright 2001-2013 Gene by Gene, Ltd.

Family Tree DNA Sale April 18th to 25th (CDT)

Family Tree DNA have advised that they are having a "DNA day" sale which originally finished 11:59pm 22 April 2013 CDT.
It has been extended to the 25th April, with the following explanation:
----
This year we began our commemoration of National DNA Day on April 19th. This coincides with the celebration by the National Human Genome Research Institute and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History's partnership to celebrate the 1953 discovery of the double helix and the 2003 completion of the Human Genome Project, which was April 19th.

However, DNA Day is celebrated worldwide on April 25th. Therefore, we've extended our sale! The usual conditions apply - orders must be made and paid for by 11:59 p.m. CDT on Thursday, April 25th. 
----
Great time to be in.
Excellent Family Finder & mtDNA full sequence pricing, and news of Y-DNA upgrades being available on Father's Day. Here's the original notification, with the prices:
From their advice to administrators:

"While the special pricing features all the major tests, we’re placing particular emphasis on the Full Mitochondrial Sequence and Family Finder. We’ll offer Y-DNA upgrades during a Father’s Day sale and will give you those details at that time.

By carefully choosing the sale options and limiting the length of the sale, we will be better able to focus our resources on processing the tests efficiently and avoiding delays in delivering results.

We are proud to announce we have successfully moved our mtDNA Full Sequencing line from Sanger DNA sequencing to what is called Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). This gives us much greater capacity to process tests, to reduce costs without sacrificing quality, and to ensure shorter turnaround times.

We must run the entire sequence every time we process an mtDNA full sequence test, even for upgrades. However, in recognition of your prior investment- and National DNA Day – we’re offering our lowest price ever for the FMS and upgrades.

Rather than the 8-10 weeks first generation sequencing required, we expect results to be completed within 5-6 weeks. This does depend on the number of orders received though. If their DNA is already at our lab, those who order first may expect even shorter turnaround times.

For a limited time we will be selling the FMS for $189 and whether you’ve tested HVR1 or HVR1+2, you’ll be able to upgrade to the Full Sequence for just $129!

In addition, we are also lowering the Family Finder to $169 for this sale!

Here is the list of all tests under the promotion:

Full MtDNA Sequence…. $189
Upgrades to FMS….$129
Y-DNA37 (new and add-on)…. $119
Y-DNA67 (new and add-on)…. $199
Y-DNA37 + Full MtDNA Sequence…. $308
Y-DNA12 + FF…. $218
Y-DNA37 + FF…. $288
Y-DNA67 + FF…. $368
Family Finder.... $169
Family Finder + Full MtDNA Sequence…. $358
SuperDNA….$388 (Y-67 + FMS)
Comprehensive DNA…. $557 (Y-67 + FMS + FF

The sale will begin tonight, April 18th, at 6PM CDT and will conclude at 11:59PM CDT on Monday April 22nd. All orders must be placed and paid for by the end of the sale to receive the promotional price.

There will be no need for a coupon - all prices will be automatically adjusted on the website."

Site update

DNA Surnames has been updated.

The main visible changes will be to the Y-DNA haplogroup tree where some participants have been undergoing SNP testing and thus are advancing down assorted branches.

Background tidy-ups include some more of the person/page renumbering for easier maintenance, so some bookmarked links may no longer work. These will mainly be in the FAIRBAIRN and their ELLIOT(T) subgroup.

As always, check individual project diaries for surname specific changes.