Choosing the right gamete bank can difficult and confusing. Websites can be vague, claims can be hard to evaluate, and significant details about donor care, sourcing and screening can be opaque or missing entirely. Here are the top 5 “must-ask questions” to guide your decision on selecting a gamete bank.
Some banks and individual fertility practices are importing gametes from off-shore, third-party, or untraceable sources. There has been a large influx from eastern European countries such as Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Cypress, and other locations, where many people become involved in selecting, screening, verifying donor IDs, retrievals, freezing, and shipments. There also is no data on the pregnancy rates from these countries, so these gametes are highly unproven, unpredictable and will be difficult to trace back to a donor. In addition, you will likely have to abandon any option to reach out to these anonymous donors in the future, should you need to. All our donors at The World Egg and Sperm Bank are from North America, and we guarantee donor care, safety and transparent screening.
If a guarantee is not met, most gamete banks indicate they will replace the purchased gametes, if approved. How often they must replace gametes is called the ‘replacement rate.’ The lower the replacement rate, the higher the chance that you will have good results the first time. For example, if a gamete bank has a 25% replacement rate, you have a one in four chance you will have to use the guarantee, select a new donor, wait to be rescheduled, and pay for your replacement cycle. The World Egg and Sperm Bank’s replacement rate is 6%. The best guarantee is the one you don’t have to use!
Your doctor’s clinic may receive a direct or indirect benefit from a gamete bank if that bank reimburses them for donor services or they are an investor in a specific egg bank. Ensure that you fully understand why your doctor’s clinic may recommend one gamete bank over another. The World Egg and Sperm Bank is entirely independent of all fertility clinics because we do not pay outsourced networked clinics to retrieve and freeze our donor gametes. This assures that our only focus is successful results for intended parents.
Some gamete banks add additional fees for a guarantee. The World Egg and Sperm Bank is proud of our transparent pricing. We have inclusive, upfront costs and do not want our intended parents to be surprised with any hidden fees. Some egg banks are offering 100% refund guarantees, which are laden with qualifying conditions and potential costs outside of the refund program. Click here to learn more about refund programs.
Pregnancy rates from different outsourced clinics may have better or lesser pregnancy rates than other clinics who freeze eggs in that same network for an egg bank. Since The World Egg and Sperm Bank conducts all donor procedures, including freezing, with our expert professional staff operating in a single state-of-the-art lab, our pregnancy rates are consistent and fully disclosed, because of our own in-house, end-to-end logistical control from donor recruitment to gamete delivery.