Hello everyone. I'm starting up a small business and am in the process of finding a hosting company. I want to channel sales through this website, so I'm looking for ecommerce (shopping cart, etc) features as well.

My question is- what would be a good price to pay per month? I know, I know- it all depends. But with some hosts having $100/month plans, and others, $30/month, is there that much difference? What advantages do you get when you spend twice to three times as much? Is it worth my while to spend close to $100 for my hosting company? Right now I'm leaning towards pair.com, which has received some positives discussions on this site.

Thanks!

For $100/mo you can get a hell of a service :)

Could you make a list of your EXACT needs plz?

Basically there isn't much difference at all. Some people want more profit than others, it's as simple as that.

Obviously there will be some differences between a $10/mo account and an $50/mo account. This is mostly noticed in the amount of disk space and bandwidth that you recieve.

Support is also an issue. If you go for a dirt-cheap host, the chances are that you won't get the service you would expect from a $50-100/mo host.

Just remember: There's not always a difference in features and general support between a cheap or expensive host.

Expensive does not always equal good,
Cheap does not always equal bad.

Choose wisely and you will be fine. :)

Pair is a great choice, regardless of your needs if you're choosing a shared environment.

With the amount you pay, with a reputable company, you get a much higher level of support and reliablity than you will get with the cheapest hosts out there.

Sticking around here, you're sure to get PM's from hosts that say that they can offer you the world for what you're prepared to pay for much cheaper. Don't fall for the Johnny-come-lately types. Go with the ones that have been around a while and have built a reputation like Pair has.

Basically there isn't much difference at all. Some people want more profit than others, it's as simple as that.


I disagree, and you contradict yourself:


Support is also an issue. If you go for a dirt-cheap host, the chances are that you won't get the service you would expect from a $50-100/mo host.

Thanks for the quick and detailed responses! As a startup, money is VERY limited, but I don't want to get screwed by going for the cheapest hosting company and getting unreliable service and uptime.

Originally posted by Reality Hosting
I disagree, and you contradict yourself:

Dead right.

It seems all too common nowadays for people to belittle "higher pricing", when they haven't taken into account the standard of service that comes with the pricing.

Depending on your specifications, i would suggest that you can get a reasonably large ecommerce based account for $30-40.

That should provide you with both good support and service, depending on the ecommerce store front you wish to use.

Originally posted by Coach
Pair is a great choice, regardless of your needs if you're choosing a shared environment.

With the amount you pay, with a reputable company, you get a much higher level of support and reliablity than you will get with the cheapest hosts out there.

Sticking around here, you're sure to get PM's from hosts that say that they can offer you the world for what you're prepared to pay for much cheaper. Don't fall for the Johnny-come-lately types. Go with the ones that have been around a while and have built a reputation like Pair has.

This was a str8 honest post... Well done :)

Hi Faz,

A good budget is 7 - 10 bucks a month. Also, don't look for mamoth amounts of resources.... 1 - 5 GBs of transfer (though you probably won't break 1) and 30 - 100 megs of space should do you fine.

You still need to do your homework, if you find a company in that range though.

You don't have to spend a lot to get good service. Some guys (not that any have posted so far) will try to get you to pay a lot of money for something that can be easily gotten for 5-10 dollars a month. If you're starting up a business, it's best to keep your costs low.

Originally posted by OhSoKorny
You don't have to spend a lot to get good service. Some guys (not that any have posted so far) will try to get you to pay a lot of money for something that can be easily gotten for 5-10 dollars a month. If you're starting up a business, it's best to keep your costs low.

This was why I asked his exact requierments to make an evaluation of the avrage cost of such solution (I don't even own a hosting comapany so I can't be suspect when it comes to sales) :D

Wow, this site is awesome! Thanks very much for the good advice. I was strongly considering pair.com, but the cost will be $49.95+. That price includes a shopping cart and SSL, but the more research I do, I find other companies offering the same thing.

Well, I just found 1&1's special promotion. I guess you can't beat that- in fact, I just might use them! Their "WebElements" ecommerce package - is that the shopping cart system that they offer? Sorry if this is *such* a newbie question...

Perhaps you should use the search feature a bit more if you're considering them. There are a few reviews of 1&1 around here.

I can assure you that hosts offering the same thing as Pair's $49.95 plan are most definitely not offering the "same thing".

Remember, this is your business we're talking about here. Are you going to leave that in the hands of the cheapest provider you can find or are you going to leave it in the hands of the most reliable?

Yugo and BWM offer the "same thing" as in a car. However, one is more expensive than the other for a reason.

All hosting is not the same. Business class hosting needs all the bells and whistles of a regular account plus a seperate ip for ssl, telnet/ssh access, 24 hour support, 24 hour server monitoring, and a quality server. A quality server has raid and daily backups of server files, user files, email, and databses. Your business future depends on choosing a quality provider that uses the best hardware available and knows how to run a server.

I'll give you the latest Mercedes dedicated server running the Hypersmurf operating system for $0.99 to the gallon :D

I'd second pair, they have a good reputation.

If you decide on a company, come back here and run a search first, before actually signing up. It could save you a lot of headaches.

If you decide on a company, come back here and run a search first, before actually signing up. It could save you a lot of headaches.

I second this one :gthumb:

on a side note: headaches:smash:

Originally posted by fazworld
...

What advantages do you get when you spend twice to three times as much? Is it worth my while to spend close to $100 for my hosting company? Right now I'm leaning towards pair.com, which has received some positives discussions on this site.

Thanks!

Here's the simple answer: It depends on what you need.

The costs web hosting companies must bear, as well as the level of service that they offer varies widely.

For instance, a company that offers a bargain basement price may be running just one web server on 3 year old hardware. They can afford a lower price because the only have the overhead of maintaining one server, and they probably have only 1 person working for the company.

A larger company, that operates its own datacenter, and hosts dozens, hundreds or thousands of servers may charge more. But, they have to pay for all the real-estate, equipment and bandwidth they utilize. In addition, they must maintain adequate technical staff to maintain all their hardware and networks. So, their costs are higher and they must pass them on to their clients + make a profit.

Granted, the size of the company alone doesn't dictate costs to the customer, but generally I have seen this to be true.

Size is just one variable to consider. Think abouit quality of hardware. Cheap, 3 year old Pentium 3 servers vs the price of a new Dual Xeon server. Network equipment varies widely in price, as does disk drives, and all other gear.

The old adage "You get what you pay for" is for the most part true in the web hosting business. Most of the time, you get better service the more you pay. Its not always true, but in many cases it is. The other adage "Too good to be true..." _really_ applies in the hosting industry. Don't fall for a host that gives away amazing packages far over and above what competitors can provide. If you want to know why, search for "Cyberwings" in this forum. They are a classic example of a host who was "too good to be true".

The best advice I could give is, if your looking to choose between a few companies, search on their name here, at WHT. Read any reviews that come up. Also, check the BBB to make sure they don't have complaints open against them - assuming they are a US company. A little research can go a long way. :-)

Take care,

Brian

When choosing an e-commerce host for your new business, also think realistically about your overhead comparison - monthly hosting costs for a full-featured e-commerce store that brings you leads/orders with little or no human intervention, even if that cost is $100/mo...is greatly more affordable than the lease of a physically store front.

As someone wisely mentioned above, this is your business, something you care about and want to present professionally to your customers - to do that, you will need to choose a reliable host with solid products on quality servers.

There is usually a difference between hosts that charge $30 for a package and a host that charges $100 for virtually the same offering - sometimes its a level of customer support, sometimes its some other "behind the scenes" factor.

I don't necessarily agree with the "bigger company means bigger pricing so they can cover bigger overhead". While this may is true in some cases, often the opposite occurs. For example, larger hosts with tens and thousands or millions of accounts can afford to pay 'high volume' prices for software licenses, and pass those savings onto their customers...smaller firms might use the same e-commerce software in their plans, but are forced to pay higher licensing fees to the manufacturer because they are only purchasing small quantities of licenses. Anyway, it's best to use reputation as a deciding factor over size.

Sometimes, companies do charge more for the added value of technical support, frequent upgrades/improvements to products, and reliable networks/bandwidth.

Originally posted by Coach
Pair is a great choice, regardless of your needs if you're choosing a shared environment.

With the amount you pay, with a reputable company, you get a much higher level of support and reliablity than you will get with the cheapest hosts out there.

Sticking around here, you're sure to get PM's from hosts that say that they can offer you the world for what you're prepared to pay for much cheaper. Don't fall for the Johnny-come-lately types. Go with the ones that have been around a while and have built a reputation like Pair has.
Coach has given you some good advice here and in his other post. So has jcwebii. Take thier advice and go with what is best for your business, not with the cheapist you can find. You'll be much happier in the long run.

Originally posted by fazworld
Hello everyone. I'm starting up a small business and am in the process of finding a hosting company. I want to channel sales through this website, so I'm looking for ecommerce (shopping cart, etc) features as well.

My question is- what would be a good price to pay per month? I know, I know- it all depends. But with some hosts having $100/month plans, and others, $30/month, is there that much difference? What advantages do you get when you spend twice to three times as much? Is it worth my while to spend close to $100 for my hosting company? Right now I'm leaning towards pair.com, which has received some positives discussions on this site.

Thanks!

You can't go wrong with pair.com They have some nice ecommerce packages. The ShopSite Manager they have included looks pretty slick. This is a new feature on those plans.

its like the saying goes ** you get what you pay for **