The FTDNA DNA Day Sale has started! Sale prices last until April 26.
Here are the sale prices for new tests:
For members who already have taken Y-111, the upgrade price to Big Y-700 is $229.
Upgrades from Y-37, Y-67, Big Y-500 to Big Y-700 is $209.
If you are a PSHG member interested in taking advantage of the sale please contact the administrator.
Happy DNA Day!
In a recent blog post (https://blog.familytreedna.com/2019-review-of-big-y/), FTDNA touted the success of their Big Y-700 test by summarizing the results. Big Y-700 is a NGS test that identifies high quality Y-SNPs, which results in building out the Block Tree (a graphical representation combining Y-SNP mutations from ancient times to the present together with membership groupings who share those SNPs).
According to the blog, the test in 2019 resulted in:
The PSHG contributed to the data with 4 Full Members and 4 Associate Members ordering tests. Thanks to the test results, we have identified our fourth Y-SNP unique to the PSHG Full Members, a new Haplogroup for an Associate Member Branch, and several Private Variant or Direct Paternal Lineage SNPs.
Coming off the success of the new product, FTNDA announced that the 2019 Holiday pricing was becoming the new regular prices.
It is not yet clear whether these regular prices will get slashed again during their normal sales periods, historically:
National DNA Day in April
Father’s Day in June
Summer in August/September
Thanksgiving in November
Holiday in December
If you are a PSHG Full Member who has taken Y-111, the $239 price upgrade to Big Y cannot be beat. One way FTDNA was able to reduce the price was to make the data-packed raw file sold separately. Contact an Admin if you’re interested in joining the Big Y wave in 2020.
National DNA Day is celebrated on Thursday, April 25 and FTDNA is celebrating with a Sale!
If you are a PSHG member interested in taking advantage of the sale please contact and administrator.
The Sale lasts until Thursday, April 25, 2019.
FTDNA’s Holiday Sale is in full swing with savings up to 40% on some products. The Y-111 test (needed for full PSHG membership) is currently only $219 USD (a savings of $140). For those interested in deepening their understanding of SNPs, including Direct Paternal Lineage SNPs, Big Y-500 is on sale for $499 USD.
Upgrades from Y-111 to Big Y-500 are $349!
FTDNA’s autosomal test, Family Finder, is also on sale at $49 USD. By comparison, AncestryDNA is on sale for $59 USD. Sales are ending later this month. If you are interested in a FTDNA purchase, contact an Administrator and ask about special pricing and holiday coupon codes.
Father’s Day Sales arrived last week:
In conjunction with the National DNA Day Sales, FamilyTreeDNA.com announced the Big Y test is now called Big Y-500 and will include approximately 500 Y-STR results in addition to the SNPs that were traditional reported via the Big Y.
Everyone who has already taken a Big Y will receive updated results showing a 6th Panel of results with markers 111 through 561! The additional panel was made possible by the recent Build 38 of the Human Genome.
According to the release notes to Group Administrators, “Customers who purchase a Big Y-500 will also have to purchase or upgrade to the Y-DNA111 test. However, customers do not have to have a Y-STR test already before purchasing the Big Y-500 since it contains the Y-111. Big Y without STRs will no longer be available.”
For PSHG members (or prospective PSHG members), where Y-111 is required for full membership, we can order the Y-111 test at a non-sale cost of $339 (normally $359). The Y-111 to Big Y-500 Upgrade is normally $449 (which does not reflect sale prices). This totals $788 for those wanting full PSHG membership + access to their “Singleton” or Direct Paternal Lineage SNPs. Since the Big Y-500 stand alone test is $799, there’s currently no benefit to recommend skipping an initial Y-111 test to go directly to ordering a Big Y-500. This could change in the future if FTNDA offers a Group Discount for Big Y-500.
It is not yet clear how useful these additional results will be from a genetic genealogical point of view. Support groups like the R1b-U106 project are not yet able to offer specific insight; however, Dr. Iain McDonald has made some speculations, as written in a forum post:
“- The new STRs are shorter and their mutation rates lower. Very, very preliminary(!) work based on STR variances suggests the mutation rate in the new sample is around one mutation per 14 generations. This contrasts with one per 3.4 generations for the original Y-111, and suggests an overall Y-STR mutation rate over the Y-500 STR set of once per 2.8 generations…
– There are some clearly useful, slow STR mutations in there that will define useful family branches in some cases where SNPs have not. There are also some faster markers that appear to flip back and forth between two or more states.
– On the basis of this information, we should be able to use these results in several aspects of U106 research, including the layering of family trees and more precise computation of ages…Proper research on this will take many months…”
As usual with DNA research, time & research reveals new types of analysis and new results to consider. The continued sharing of DNA information will enable researchers to continue their work to explain what it all means.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018 is National DNA Day! Details about the recognition of the day can be found on the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute website.
FamilyTreeDNA.com is celebrating by offering sales on several products.
The Y-111 test, a requirement for full PSHG membership, is on sale for $289 USD (normally $359 retail / $339 through project order).
PSHG Members who have already taken the Y111 STR test can upgrade to the Big Y-500 for only $349 USD (normally $449)! This is a great price for those interested in finding their Direct Paternal Lineage (DPL) SNPs below FGC-13609.
FTDNA has announced a new product called Big Y-500 which is a combination test of the traditional Big Y + Y111 for $649 USD (normally $799). We’ll explore the Big Y-500 test and the changes from the traditional Big Y test in a future Blog post.
Details for the sale can be found on their sale website (https://www.familytreedna.com/sale/dna-day); however, PSHG members (or prospective members) should contact an admin before ordering. FTDNA sales end 4/28/2018.
Other non-Y DNA tests are also on sale including mtFull Sequence and Family Finder (autosomal DNA). Not to be outdone, Ancestry.com’s autosomal DNA test is at it’s lowest price of $59 USD until 4/29/2018.
Happy testing!
The 2017 Holiday Sale has begun at Family Tree DNA. The Y-111 DNA Test (required for PSHG Membership) is on sale for $299 – a savings of $60 off of the regular price. Visit https://www.familytreedna.com/sale for sale details.
The sale will continue until December 31, 2017. As we draw closer to the holidays, Admins expect to receive coupon codes to further reduce costs.
UPDATE – 15 NOV 2017
FTDNA Users and Group Administrators are now receiving weekly coupons. As Group Administrators we have access to a collection of coupon codes, so contact an Admin if you’re interested in a specific test.
Coupons are ranging from:
The holidays are a great time to test if you’ve been on the fence!
FamilyTreeDNA notified Group Administrators that the “Friends & Family Sale” will start tomorrow, August 1st at 10 am CDT.
The graphic below (courtesy of FTNDA) was included in the notification and seems to indicate that the Sales are primarily targeted to Add-on & Upgrade Tests.
This is a great opportunity for PSHG Members who have already tested with Y-111 and may be interested in ordering the BigY test; however, it’s not yet clear if the Y-111 new test will also be discounted – which is potentially disappointing for pending members.
Check back for updates!
Update – 2 Aug 2017: Y-111 single test is not included on the summer sale.
April 25 is National DNA Day! What better way to celebrate than to buy DNA Tests – ON SALE!
FamilyTreeDNA is offering sales on all of their products:
PSHG Members will have already ordered the Y111 test – so Y37, Y67, SNP Backbone, and SNP Packs may not be of much interest. However, if you’re interested in your SNPs downstream of FGC13609 and FGC13609, now is a great time to order the BigY! I heard it reported from others that the BigY test has never been this cheap without a coupon code.
Stock up on Family Finder for Autosomal DNA testing or mtFull Sequence for mitochondrial DNA testing. Rumor has it that AncestryDNA (autosomal) tests will also be on sale, but I have not seen this yet (US market).
Don’t miss this one. We’ll have to wait and see if there will be sales around Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, late Summer, and Christmas.
Happy testing.
Peter Staple Heritage Group (PSHG) 