The Prices of Some Hosts

[Robert]

Ok.. I understand some hosts provide cheap cheap hosting with some nice features, but $2.95/mo. with:

Linux Redhat 7.2 Server
128 Bit SSL Server
500MB (Megabytes) Space
30 GigaBytes Bandwidth
PHP Support
Unlimited POP3 Accounts
Unlimited Web Users
Unlimited E-mail Catchall
Unlimited Auto-responders
Unlimited FTP Access
Website Stats
Password Protection
Perl Support
Online File Manager
FrontPage Support
IMAP Support
SSI
FrontPage SSL
Web Based Mail
24/7 Support
CGI Bin Access
Control Panel (Plesk)
Unlimited MySQL Databases
%99.99 Uptime Guarantee
Free Setup


I mean that's OUTRAGEOUS. After cc transaction fees or paypal fees, where does that leave the company?

I know they'll go out of business soon, but it just gets on our nerves. Hosting isn't a game. It's a business.

[Dapon]

Robert, I agree with you 100%. I laugh when I see this crap. To make even minimum wage at these prices you would have to host 1,000's of customers. I know I don't want the headache that goes along with 1,000's of customers for minimum wage.

Not to mention the fact that when they go out of business, and they will, the customers will scream they got ripped off.

[Robert]

The problem is that sure the client leaves the host because:

1) The Host couldn't afford to support them at 2.95 a month after fees
2) The Host was 12 years old and was in school between 9AM-3P
3) The Host has to be in bed before 9PM at night

Than the client comes to us and is sort of rude thinking we will do the same, saying they don't want to pay yearly, they want their account setup and running for at least a week before paying and what not.

[Living Media]

There are always going to be the rock-bottom hosts. I think they have a place: selling ultra-cheap webspace to people who are 1) hobbyists and 2) familiar with what they're doing, but not familiar enough to run their own server out of their home. In about another five years, more consumers will have a better idea of how to buy hosting and what's expected / needed for a business or a serious community effort rather than someone's "I'm just messing around over here" site.

It would be interesting to have a graph showing the price of plans compared to quality of support and length of time in business beyond nine months (startup window for any company - better to show longevity versus failure rates outside of the statistical "first year" in which the majority of startup businesses close their doors)

[Robert]

*sigh* Oh well..

[markblair]

The problem I see with these hosts is that people do sign up with them having this illusion that they are actually being given the world for only $2.95/month. Then when it fails, they're mad and it makes it harder for the good guys to do business. There are also those that would leave their host that may be doing fine and not having problems for one of these due to the lower costs. I know when I was less knowledgeable on the subject I did something similar but it wasn't for $2.95/month. At least now I know that it is true: "You get what you pay for".

[Robert]

I feel like grabbing these "so called hosts" and smacking them around a few times and asking "what the hell do you think you are doing CHILD?!".

I mean no doubt that the people who run these are 12-13 years old!

[Living Media]

I've dealt with some people who have been burned by other hosts. I point out to them the ways that they can take action to get their money back *IF* I turn out to be another scam artist, I describe our complaint procedure, I tell them that until they're comfortable with a host they shouldn't prepay and how wise a decision that is, and I repeat that I will not give them a free trial or give them a deep discount - I will, however, treat them the same as I treat all of my other customers. I have a few customers who, with a notice, can and have exchanged emails with prospective clients, describing their experience with the service. (Then if that person signs up I tend to give them the referral bounty - sort of a payback for letting me put a prospective client directly in touch with them.)

Hearing that I'm not going to pressure them to prepay, hearing from other current clients, and hearing me describe ways in which they (the prospective client) have power in the client / merchant relationship has helped me get signups without having to lowball.

I wonder how many of these uberinexpensive hosts have even thought about the relation between minimum wage and the equivalent hourly rate they're bringing in...? Probably none.

[Dapon]

As I read the comments here I also think of the tax consequenses that a lot of htese cheap hosts haven't thought of. (After all it is April 18). How can they possibly make a profit after taxes at these ridiculous prices? They can't. But they probably don't pay taxes.

I was fortunate to have worked for Verio in the sense that I never have been the cheapest so it doesn't bother me now. I have said it many times and I will say it again, "When you look at value for your money, I am the best deal out there". I don't ever want to be the cheapest though. They all know what there product, service and knowledge is worth. Who am I to say if they are charging enough? They know better than I.

[JeremyV]

Originally posted by Robert:

I mean no doubt that the people who run these are 12-13 years old!

You are correct, most of these are children. BUT, that is not always the case either. A friend of mine who will remain unnamed, he is 43 years old. He already has a full time job, he isn't the most computer savvy guy I know by any stretch... but just late last year he set up his own hosting "company".

He kept coming to me for advice, and I told him it isn't as easy as he thinks. He said he found this awesome reseller where he could get like 5 gigs of space and 200 GB of transfer for about 20 dollars a month. I was like... umm, ok, good luck with that.

So anyway, he set up his website (via a standard template in front page) and is using his personal paypal account to take payment, has a few ripped graphics on his site, copied a lot of my content, etc... THEN, he actually asked me if he could advertise on MY forum that he is a member of :confused: I was kinda like, um.. riiiight [/Dr. Evil]

Haha, anyway, his plans start at 1.95/month and max out at about 15/month for his biggest plan, which any real host would charge at least 35 dollars/month. Anyway, I've talked to him a few times, asked if he even registered for a DBA... he's like nope. He doesn't even report it on his taxes. I asked what he does about support emails that come in while he is at work? He just lets them go until he gets around to answering them.... The sad thing is he actually does have customers simply due to his rock bottom prices, yet lack of support, website, etc.

He's a great guy and a great friend, but it is people like this who think they can make a lot of money while doing almost nothing. I've tried to guide him and show him how to really do some things, he insists on trying to make easy money :rolleyes:

Sorry, I was rambling on again, but I just wanted to illustrate as well that although 90% of these terrible cheap hosts that aren't even real businesses, there are still quite a few older people doing the same thing with the same intentions.

[RADiSTAR]

Thanks for the laugh :D

[101sales]

Ya, it really is sad the way some people run their "companies".

The company I work for may have cheap prices but we've worked out the numbers on a spreadsheet to determine what our limits are. I should know because I built them.

It's really a viscious cycle. These small time hosting companies buy overly cheap reseller accounts sold by an overly cheap hosting company who's buying $50/month servers. Now when the $50/month server goes down the overly cheap hosting company suddenly has cancellations and can't afford the server anymore - the reseller is now left alone in the dark, however he can't let out that he's using a reseller to his customers or else they'll go to the hosting company for the cheaper price - hence the customer is once again the innocent naive victim.

These resellers or wannabe hosting companies simply pick numbers out of he air - 500MB, 10GB bandwidth $2/month. One only has to go to any webhosting directory and see that Ipowerweb is charging $7/month for that same plan - granted they have much more overhead but they can leverage the cost and have been in business for a couple years.

And then you have those who let their company sit - No support, no committment because it's a money machine, things will just happen automatically.

I'm submitting a new book: "Web Hosting for Dummies" It's not even going to be a conventional "Dummy" book. It'll be a collection of quotes from WHT that describe every possible reaction from clients who were screwed by their half baked web host provider.
Anyone want to join me - this is an ambitious project - 1,000,000 posts to filter through - with ton of crap the fish out. If only Andy Rooney got word of this industry and how badly some people run things. Of course he'd have to write a whole book on it. I'll bet it would sell millions - all he'd have to do is find a way to advertise on WHT without being lost in the bogus offers. :bs:

heh - long post, must be a holiday :D

[DarktidesNET]

I guess it works for some.

Unfortuantly, most times you need to be screwed on a host like that to realize it's not going to work out.

[101sales]

:eek2:

Robert - what is the address of that website? Plan info looks very similar to mine although the bandwidth and diskspace is 10 times larger. ;)



Originally posted by Robert:

Ok.. I understand some hosts provide cheap cheap hosting with some nice features, but $2.95/mo. with:

Linux Redhat 7.2 Server
128 Bit SSL Server
500MB (Megabytes) Space
30 GigaBytes Bandwidth
PHP Support
Unlimited POP3 Accounts
Unlimited Web Users
Unlimited E-mail Catchall
Unlimited Auto-responders
Unlimited FTP Access
Website Stats
Password Protection
Perl Support
Online File Manager
FrontPage Support
IMAP Support
SSI
FrontPage SSL
Web Based Mail
24/7 Support
CGI Bin Access
Control Panel (Plesk)
Unlimited MySQL Databases
%99.99 Uptime Guarantee
Free Setup


I mean that's OUTRAGEOUS. After cc transaction fees or paypal fees, where does that leave the company?

I know they'll go out of business soon, but it just gets on our nerves. Hosting isn't a game. It's a business.

[Robert]

Originally posted by 101sales:

:eek2:

Robert - what is the address of that website? Plan info looks very similar to mine although the bandwidth and diskspace is 10 times larger. ;)

I don't remember. It's not yours, but here is another one:

===== Taken from Fws =======

http://www.chronichosting.com

iX_raver we can offer you the following for $1.5/mo or $18/yr Note: This is a special deal that I am giving you.

300 MB Space
3GB Transfer
Cpanel 6.0
Up to Unlimited POP3 E-mail Accounts
Up to Unlimited E-mail Aliases/Forwards
Unlimited FTP Access
CGI Scripting
Up to Unlimited Subdomains
Unlimited MySQL Databases
Search engine submission
PHP 4 and PHP MySQL
ASP (ASP for Perl Module)
FrontPage 2000 Extensions
Password Protected Pages
Raw Access Logs
99.9% Uptime Guarantee!

==== End ===

$1.50/mo. umm.. that leaves the host with like $.25 cents?

[JeremyV]

lol.. the chronic site still has a generic "Your Logo.com" icon at the top :D

[Robert]

Originally posted by JeremyV:

lol.. the chronic site still has a generic "Your Logo.com" icon at the top :D

Need I say more?

[StarGate]

13 year olds --- bad support --- "here today gone tomorrow" companies --- blah blah

Bottom line is: The CUSTOMER is the problem. The customer that signs up for such crap and expects something good out of it. When I see too cheap servers I don't buy them cause I am in htis business for 5 years. There are no miracles.

[interactive]

Originally posted by StarGate:
When I see too cheap servers I don't buy them cause I am in htis business for 5 years. There are no miracles.

::cough:: tell me about it Robert ;)

[101sales]

^^^^ :D :D


Originally posted by Dapon:

As I read the comments here I also think of the tax consequenses that a lot of htese cheap hosts haven't thought of. (After all it is April 18). How can they possibly make a profit after taxes at these ridiculous prices? They can't. But they probably don't pay taxes.


I must have missed this when I read it the first time

Speaking of taxes - some don't pay taxes on hosting, depends where you live. I know if you're located in B.C. you don't pay taxes unless your client is located in Canada. And guess what - most of our clientelle is from the states and the UK ;)

.........Although you do still need to pay income tax. :D :D

[blue27]

Originally posted by Robert:

I don't remember. It's not yours, but here is another one:

===== Taken from Fws =======

http://www.chronichosting.com

iX_raver we can offer you the following for $1.5/mo or $18/yr Note: This is a special deal that I am giving you.

300 MB Space
3GB Transfer
Cpanel 6.0
Up to Unlimited POP3 E-mail Accounts
Up to Unlimited E-mail Aliases/Forwards
Unlimited FTP Access
CGI Scripting
Up to Unlimited Subdomains
Unlimited MySQL Databases
Search engine submission
PHP 4 and PHP MySQL
ASP (ASP for Perl Module)
FrontPage 2000 Extensions
Password Protected Pages
Raw Access Logs
99.9% Uptime Guarantee!

==== End ===

$1.50/mo. umm.. that leaves the host with like $.25 cents?

These kiddie clowns make me ill.

[Reality Hosting]

I don't let it bother me :)

[Robert]

Originally posted by Reality Hosting:

I don't let it bother me :)

That's understandable. But we have just changed our motto, it now says "Don't overlook quanity with quality" and seems to be doin the trick.

Hosting is a business - it's not a game. People depend on YOU, on YOUR SERVERS and your EXPIERENCE to keep their site up and running. These kids who are 13 and 14 they don't have, first off, the financial stability to provide hosting, they don't have the hours required to provide hosting, but most of all, they don't understand the concept of a business and the U.S. Laws.

[Reality Hosting]

I agree with every point. But it doesn't concern me, because I'm running a respectable business and that's what's important. My clients will speak up for the quality of service I provide. It's a free country, nothing you can do to stop someone from running lousy competition (whatever their age is)

No real reason to get blue in the face about it, because you can't do anything to change it. :)