AncestryDNA - DNA Ancestry Test Kit

Product Description

DNA Results Make personal discoveries quickly with our clear, easy-to-read ethnicity estimate traced back to over 500 regions from around the world. Your DNA results will include a pie chart and percentages of your ethnicity, geographic locations pinpointed on maps, and depending on your regions, a timeline of historical changes with curated content. Some backgrounds may also include how and why your family moved from place to place around the world. DNA Matches Your results can identify potential relatives through DNA matching to others who have taken an AncestryDNA test. And we make DNA connections easy and effortless. Ancestry has tools like tagging, grouping, and custom labeling to help you organize the people with shared DNA. And remember, you can always opt in or out of DNA matches-your privacy and personal control is our top priority. Go Beyond Your DNA AncestryDNA has a unique ability to tap into Ancestry's family history resources-so you can fill in more pieces of your story. With an Ancestry membership, you can combine what you learn from your DNA with the added value of over 100 million family trees on Ancestry. By pairing your DNA results with a family tree you can gain even more insight on the who, what, where, and when of your unique background. How it Works It's easy to get started once you receive your kit. #1 Activate your kit at: AncestryDNA.com/activate #2 Collect saliva sample in the provided tube #3 Mail your sample in the prepaid package #4 Explore your results in roughly 6-8 weeks (we'll keep you updated)

Features

• TOP-SELLING CONSUMER DNA TEST: From your origins in over 2,600 global regions to the most connections to living relatives, no other DNA test kit delivers an experience as unique and interactive as AncestryDNA
• A FEW SIMPLE STEPS: Simply activate your DNA kit online and return your saliva sample in the prepaid package to our state-of-the-art lab. Your results will be available online in roughly six to eight weeks
• ETHNICITY ESTIMATES AND INHERITANCE: AncestryDNA provides a more precise ethnicity estimate with greater geographic detail. Our innovative SideView technology takes your results even further by showing your ethnicities and matches by parental side. *Some DNA features may require an Ancestry subscription
• BUILD YOUR FAMILY TREE: Combine what you learn from your DNA results with an Ancestry subscription and gain access to millions of family trees and the world's largest collection of online family history records. *Access to record collections varies depending on subscription level
• PROTECTING PRIVACY: We employ industry-standard security measures in every stage of our process. Using data encryption, secure databases, and easy-to-use controls, we protect your data and give you control over it

Top Reviews

my family is so sad that he never had the opportunity to learn his ...
by Amazon Customer (1 out of 5 stars)
November 28, 2017

Ordered two kits for my parents last year; they were so excited to learn their ancestry. They followed the instructions accordingly, and mailed in with the prepaid boxes. A year later, still no results and it's impossible to contact the company. This past August my father passed away and I am beyond furious that we will never know his results. More importantly, my family is so sad that he never had the opportunity to learn his results. He truly looked forward to learning. Total waste of time and money.
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DO NOT PURCHASE THIS IF YOU ARE ASIAN
by Don H (1 out of 5 stars)
April 24, 2018

I'm Korean, but I wanted to further understand my ethic background. I was curious if I have South Asian genes or ancestors from other East Asian countries.

But the test result only says I'm "100% Asian." One giant yellow pie chart just saying I'm just "Asian", nothing else. So, I paid 80 bucks to find out I'm Asian.

AncestryDNA only 4 Asian regions (Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and Guam/Philippines), whereas they have more than 100 European regions.

Is this some sort of sick joke? I understand that the company may have way fewer Asian samples. But then, they should've notified customers that they can't track Asian people's ancestry at all.

Don't waste your money on this, if you are Asian.
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DON'T BUY THIS>>>>>>>>>
by Grannaof5 (1 out of 5 stars)
August 25, 2017

RIPOFF - after finally getting the email results on this test I purchased for my daughter, I am very disappointed. There is nothing specific except the percentages of her heritage. Then they want you to purchase a membership to see anything else. Also the results are not printable - you can just read it once and you are done. DON"T INVEST IN THIS!!!!! if you really want any information about your genetics. I would give this zero stars if possible. For $79.00 I expected more genetic information, not having to spend up to $199.00 for six months of access to their website. The TV ads are bogus, very misleading. I wish I had read the reviews before ordering this and I would not have wasted my $$$.
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Helped Me Find My Sister!
by K. McDermott (5 out of 5 stars)
November 27, 2017

I HIGHLY recommend this!!! Being adopted, I've always been curious about my background and AncestryDNA helped me figure it out easily! However, the best feature in my opinion is that they then provide with information about potential family members. Because of this feature, I was finally able to connect with my biological sister after 25 years of dreaming about doing so! That right there means that I will forever say that AncestryDNA is worth every single penny and definitely earns and deserves 5 stars!!!
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Discovered I am adopted & have three full siblings via Ancestry DNA test!
by michellelriess (5 out of 5 stars)
December 5, 2017

I have purchased many of these kits over the years for family members. The information on the report is accurate and reliable, and you can learn a lot about your roots--even some very unexpected discoveries. Some complain that it is too vague, but this test should not be confused with the extensive type of test that you can get from 23andme.com for around $199, which includes health information and such. I think this (Ancestry) test is most useful if you have an Ancestry.com membership (or plan to sign up for one) so you can connect with your matches, and view Ancestry documents to fully investigate your history. Though I tested a few years back, a few months ago, I learned that I am adopted through a new DNA match who turned out to be one of my three FULL biological sisters. Long story short, I was adopted as a newborn because my parents were teenagers. My adoptive parents never told me the truth about my origins. My biological parents stayed together, finished school, married and had three more children together. It's been overwhelming learning this information about myself, but it's also been wonderful to connect with my family. I am so happy to know them all know and to have each other in our lives. I have also met with my three living grandparents (all in their 80's), my aunts, uncles, cousins and other extended family members. I grew up as an only child in a small family, so this has been a dream!
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some advantages over other testing companies
by Mrs Betty Turner (5 out of 5 stars)
November 13, 2017

I've done DNA testing with all of the major companies now. And I've been at this DNA stuff for almost 15 years now.
* I found the ethnicity estimate to be just about equal to everyone else. You can get more detail running your own models via gedmatch but for the curious or beginner, this is the easy result. If you just want to know whether you need a kilt or lederhosen or green beer for the next holiday seasons then this works as well, with many particular limitations, as any of the others.
* There's no medical interpretation - most don't anymore. You can get good medical results running your raw download through Promethease for a few bucks. If you want to know medical propensities then Ancestry won't help much on its own.
* The relationship calculations are pretty accurate and the database is huge. Compared to my other tests, this one returned far more and much closer connections. If you're looking for birth parents and such, this is the place to start. Just remember that the calculator is an estimate and other possibilities exist.
- The sampling process was simple "spit in a tube, mail it in" - I much prefer cheek swabs but this gets the job done.
- Time was super fast for me - 4 weeks from mail-in. I have a test out with one company that is nearing 3 months to process.
- The user interface is pretty simple for newbies but doesn't offer much in the way of analysis tools for those who have DNA experience. Gedmatch can makeup for the shortfall in analysis tools if you can get your matches to upload there.
- The ease of creating an attached tree makes for some particularly easy genealogical research to confirm/refute family connections.
- The ease of creating an attached tree makes for some particularly prevalent errors in family trees.
- yDNA and mtDNA predictive markers are hidden in these results if you want to make an effort to dig them out.
- The marketing of this tester has created a large database of folks who were only interested in ethnicity and admixture estimates who have no interest in and won't reply to genealogy queries. Many haven't logged back in since they got their results back.

There seem to be a lot of customers who forgot that molecular biology, human origins and migrations geography, and world history weren't their best subjects in school and were expecting this to return an easy result to "grasp it all" in a few minutes. The more you want to dig, the more complex the understanding will become. "DNA for Dummies" is a master's degree - "All You Ever Wanted to Know..." is a PhD. If you get hung up on needing to understand it all in a few short hours then you're going to get very frustrated. Take it in a little at a time.

Having spent many $1000's on this hobby over the years, I'm very pleased with this $70 investment into understanding who I am and where I came from. Your mileage may vary.
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Ethnicity is like any other characteristic/trait - a person may favor one ...
by Todd England (4 out of 5 stars)
November 24, 2016

Review by Kim England-Before you purchase this product it is important that you know a bit about exactly what ethnicity is. It is not nationality or not necessarily even country of origin. Most people don't understand that ethnicity is inherited RANDOMLY. For argument's sake, let's say you know for certain one parent is 100% (unlikely) Italian, and the other parent 50% Irish and 50% Mexican. This does not mean the the child will be half Italian and a quarter Irish and a quarter Mexican. The child could end up with only 25% Italian or any number of combinations - including part of a different ethnicity altogether from their "deep ancestry" from several generations ago.

Ethnicity is like any other characteristic/trait - a person may favor one parent more than the other. While everyone gets half of their chromosomes from each parent, this is NOT so when it comes to ethnicity. In fact, sometimes a part of one parent's ethnicity may not even get passed down at all. Likewise, it is possible to have a grandparent born in Germany (and for all practical purposes be mostly German), but not have any German passed down to the grandchild. Just like perhaps the eye color isn't the same or the height or hair texture.

Another thing to remember is that the county or origin or nationality is not the same as ethnicity. For example, many people left their homeland to emigrate to Holland. After a generation or so, they adopted the language and customs. Perhaps then they left again and went to America, leaving future generations believing they are Dutch. Then they have their DNA tested and no dutch appears. "How can this be?" they ask. It is because their true ethnicity is not Dutch.

Another instance could be that a particular ethnic group settled in a country and reproduced within their "own group" so to speak. DNA wise, the ethnicity would remain as such until another ethnic line is introduced. Examples of this occur in England, where some peoples tests show a high percentage of Norwegian. A reason for this could be that since the Viking invasion the generations just so happened to mate with others who shared similar Norwegian ethnicity.

Lastly is the "Native American" phenomena. While many people like to believe or have been told that an ancestor was a Native, often this is family lore, or, if indeed it is true, it is not likely to show up in a DNA test. The introduction of an ethnicity in one's ancestry will not likely manifest itself in a high enough percentage to be of significance, although it is possible.

With all that said, once you understand this, ask yourself what it is you are looking to get out of the test. Are you simply curious about your ethnicity? Do you have any interest in your genealogy (family tree)? For those who wish to learn about their genealogy it can be very useful. It is of benefit to have a family tree done and uploaded to Ancestry's website, even if you only know a little. Ancestry has access to so many records and more and more are being made available every day. The problem for many years is that the records weren't "searchable" because they had to be transcribed one by one.

My advice for anyone who wishes to test their DNA is to order the kit and then get a temporary membership or even a one month membership to ancestry (start with the US Discovery membership which is under $20). Then enter your family tree information (individuals who are living are not visible to others). When your results come in, you will be able to see DNA "matches", that is anyone who also tested their DNA and has shared genetic markers with you. Ancestry will tell you in what way they suspect the person connects to you and they are usually spot on. They can even see if a person is a distant cousin (5th through 8th). If your match also has a tree on line, you will be able to view it and see how you connect. I have had several family members test and every time Ancestry's "predicted relationship" was accurate. In other words, my mother came up as "parent/child relationship" and siblings came up as siblings. First cousin matches were accurate as well. One second cousin came up as a third cousin, but that is the only "error" if one can even call it such.

The ethnic portion is very interesting but should be taken more as a estimation. Advances in DNA testing will enable improved accuracy (like getting more specific than "British Isles" or "Asian") but the results are not just "pulled from no where". It is important to read the tutorials on the website. They are well researched and very informative. There is a load of information that would really enlighten many people and answer questions, but I'm not sure if this is happening. The test is quick, easy to do, and offers answers to many questions both on line and on the phone. Often there are sales but even at full price, the cost is worth it in my view.

What this test will NOT do: test for diseases or health conditions, nor will it show genetic mutations or if one is a carrier of a particular trait.This kit serves those best who are interested in genealogy, however, do keep in mind that with DNA all closets become unlocked, and more than a few have been made aware of some unexpected relations.
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AncestryDNA is not for East Asians.
by Tom (1 out of 5 stars)
December 27, 2017

My ancestors were from Korea. One of our daughters submitted her saliva to the 23 and me and discovered that she had Korean, Chinese and Japanese genes which wasn't surprising. Mine from the AncestryDNA, however, declared that I am 100% East Asian with a huge circled region encompassing Siberia to the north, Japan to the east, Indonesia to the south, and Bangladesh to the west. The map is attached. What a waste of money and effort! The Ancestry DNA should have a big warning that their test isn't for East Asians.
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I'm just an awesome result of that mistake
by WarriorChik (5 out of 5 stars)
March 12, 2018

Be prepared for surprises that might come up. I found out that my dad wasn't my biological father. The shocker came in Sept of last year when things in the DNA Circle were only showing my mom's family and the 3 cousins I messaged didn't have the paternal names in their tree, but other names. Once I found out and I got in touch with the man that my mom said was my biological father, I asked him to take the test. He did and 8 weeks later it popped up on Ancestry that he is my father. So just be prepared that one or both of your parents might have lied to you. I want to say I hold no hatred towards my mom. She is human and made a mistake, I'm just an awesome result of that mistake. No one is perfect and her keeping quiet along with my biological father and my own dad ( they didn't know he knew), they thought they were doing what was best for me. It's a huge burden to bare and I know it was difficult. The wonderful thing is I have 3 half siblings, 2 sisters and a brother and they like me! My biological father is a nice guy too. :)
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Ancestry DNA is the Only Test You Need!
by Barefoot In NC (5 out of 5 stars)
January 30, 2016

Ancestry DNA is the clear industry leader in the consumer DNA testing market. With more than 1.4 million people in the database, 23andme and Family Tree DNA just don't compare. I have tested at all three and I am able to confirm relationships with more people at Ancestry DNA than either of the other services.

Ancestry DNA is an autosomal DNA test and will provide an ethnicity breakdown, as well as relative matches to anyone in the database whom shares DNA with you. ALL of your family lines will be represented. Gender is of no relevance. An individual receives approximately 50% of their DNA from each parent; 25% from each grandparent; and so on and so forth. The further you move away from an ancestor, the lesser their genetic contribution to you. Autosomal DNA will provide matches reliably up to 5 generations. However, it is not necessarily unusual to have 6th, 7th and 8th cousin matches too, especially for those who are from endogamous populations. Autosomal DNA testing is, by far, the most popular test offering today.

A lot of reviews have complaints about the ethnicity breakdowns. It's an evolving science. The different companies use different algorithms and have different reference populations. While 23andme is considered the industry leader in this regard (and I totally agree with this assessment), Ancestry DNA is a very close second, while Family Tree DNA is a distant third. Having said that, don't take the ethnicity component too seriously. They are pretty accurate at the continental level but this aspect of the tests should be viewed, overall, as estimates.

The real value is in one's relative matches. These are the connections that will enable you to expand your genealogy. Or, connect you to your birth parents. Or, help you confirm that great-grandma immigrated from County Cork. Or, lead you to that lost branch of the family that was separated because Aunt Martha didn't show up at Cousin Mary's baby shower in 1974. Or, perhaps the break was due to the ravages of war or even slavery.

A few tips to get the most out of Ancestry DNA and your overall experience:

Do NOT forget to activate your kit before mailing! The code is on the tube and the pamphlet insert.

Purchase when it's on sale for $79 or less. If you do so through Amazon, there is no charge for shipping and it is expedited for Prime members. If you buy through Ancestry's site, try the code FREESHIPDNA.

If your parents are available and willing to test, test them BOTH! Even testing one parent will enable you to sort your maternal from paternal matches. If your parents aren't available, ask their siblings, aunts/uncles, test your grandparents. Testing multiple relatives goes a long way in isolating family lines. Also, always test the oldest generation first. Not only do you not want to miss out on the opportunity, but they are generationally closer to your ancestors and will have matches that you do not have.

Ask your siblings to test too. Even full siblings will have different matches beyond 2nd cousin. You will likely even see differences in their ethnicity breakdown.

Once results become available, transfer the raw data to Family Tree DNA for just $39. This will add you to their database for less than the $99 price tag and your results are available in days vs weeks.

Upload your raw data to GEDMATCH for FREE. Why? Unfortunately, Ancestry DNA does not provide a chromosome browser, which is a very important tool in genetic genealogy. Also, you will generate matches from 23andme and FTDNA, whom also uploaded.

Download the Jeff Snavely Chrome Extension. Your results will be far more manageable, especially if you are handling multiple tests. It takes seconds to download but the initial scan can take hours. Be patient. You won't regret it.

Don't overlook New Ancestor Discoveries (these are potential ancestors that aren't in your tree but Ancestry suggests them based on your DNA matches).

Ancestry hasn't yielded on the chromosome browser, but they did unveil the "Shared Matches" feature and now provide us with the amount of DNA shared (centimorgans). Don't overlook these tools to help you figure out your connection to your matches.

Build a public tree. This way you can benefit from DNA Circles and increase the likelihood of making valuable connections. Genealogy is about an exchange of information.

If the tester has difficulty spitting, have the person bite/chew on the inside of their cheeks gently. Then, place a bit of sugar on the tip of the tongue and/or offer a cut lemon to smell.

If you're an adoptee, or you're searching for a close relative and need help with how to get there using DNA, check out DNA Detectives on Facebook. It's a wonderfully supportive group with lots of knowledgable people and plenty of reunions to buoy your spirits and encourage you.

For more education on DNA testing and/or genetic genealogy, check out the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) on Facebook.

Those with colonial US roots tend to fare the best when it comes to matches, but the recent expansion of sales into the UK, Ireland and Canada have been a welcome addition to the database!

If you are interested in medical results like the ones 23andme formerly offered (the FDA offering is paired down considerably and not worth the $199 price tag), take your raw data and upload to Promethease for $5.

Ancestry DNA results can be accessed without a subscription. However, to maximize the experience, I recommend one. The Insight subscription is $49 for 6 months. You must call and request it since it isn't offered online.

Ancestry DNA's average turnaround time has been 2 weeks for more than a year. It has slowed down a bit in the last couple of weeks due to holiday sales but many people received results even on Christmas Day.

DNA testing for genealogical purposes is an incredible tool and the perfect compliment to traditional genealogy. I am so grateful to live in a day and age where this technology is available to us. Ancestry DNA has enabled me to make some incredible connections, that would not have been made possible otherwise. It is also wonderful to receive validation of years of research because the bottom line is DNA doesn't lie (but families sometimes do)!

The photos attached show ethnicity breakdowns for three different people that tested at my request. The first two collages show an individual's breakdown across The Big Three DNA testing companies from Left to Right: 23andme, Ancestry DNA and Family Tree DNA. I like the side-by-side for comparison's sake. As you can see, the differences between the three are negligible. The last test shows just Family Tree DNA, since unlike the first two people, this person tested at one company only.

I hope this helps you with your decision! Good luck and have fun with this!

Oh, I forgot one thing - there is NO DNA company that can tell you what Native American tribe you descend from. There is no such things as a Cherokee database. It's just a bogus claim designed to part you from your cash. Don't fall for it!

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*If this is not the "AncestryDNA - DNA Ancestry Test Kit" product you were looking for, you can check the other results by clicking this link.  Details were last updated on Dec 23, 2024 13:50 +08.