I /wish/ that $1000 got us a whoooooole lotta sperm! But a vial of sperm (and a vial is like one 'try') usually costs somewhere between $300 and $400, depending on which bank, what kind of preparation, etc. (I can explain more thoroughly if you would like a more detailed explanation.) When we dropped $1K, we bought 3 vials of unwashed sperm ($300 each vial plus $70something shipping - shipping was less because it was a local bank and we used a courier instead of overnight fedex). For these three cycles, we are using one vial per cycle - one insemination in the doctor's office. So we got three months out of it.

If you are buying sperm to do at-home inseminations, or if you want to supplement what the doctor is doing by doing at-home inseminations, you would probably buy more than one vial per month - at least two. So it adds up pretty quickly.

We're thinking of switching donors (we still have one vial of our current dude) and the new bank we're looking at charges like $400/vial and is in California so the shipping will probably be closer to $200. Pricey! (Plus we have to pay $300something/year to use space in our doctor's cryogenic freezer.)

Ch-ching!