Tests, first, in almost every case. Both partners: a semen analysis, ovarian reserve, a hormone panel, a check that the tubes are open and the uterus is normal. It takes a few weeks, costs a fraction of a cycle, and often points somewhere simpler than IVF. Start Here walks through what gets checked and the ladder of treatments above it.

Age is the dominant variable and nothing else comes close. Using your own eggs, live birth per cycle started runs roughly a third under 35, declines through the late thirties, and falls into single figures by the early forties. Ask any clinic which measure its figure uses; most quote pregnancy per transfer, which flatters. Start Here explains the difference.

More than the quote. Self-pay IVF is commonly quoted around $12,000 to $20,000 in the US and £5,000 to £8,000 in the UK, and that figure usually excludes drugs, ICSI, freezing, annual storage, later frozen transfers and any add-ons. Ask for the all-in cost in writing. Start Here lists what to check line by line.

It depends on your age when you freeze and how many mature eggs you bank. Frozen eggs are not babies: they have to survive the thaw, fertilise, become a usable embryo and implant, and each step loses some. Done early it buys real options; done late it buys fewer than the marketing suggests. Start Here sets out the honest chain.

Donor eggs change the odds substantially, because success then tracks the donor's age rather than yours, and donor sperm is the standard route in for single women and female same-sex couples. The law varies enormously by country: anonymity, payment, family limits and surrogacy rules all differ. Start Here covers it, and ask me if you are comparing countries.

Yes. A male factor is involved in something like a third to a half of cases, on its own or alongside a female factor, and a semen analysis is one of the cheapest and fastest tests there is. A workup that tests only one partner is half a workup. Start Here explains what the result changes.