With the new line of hosting i will be offering i will have to go in and set up all the accounts by hand, and i was wondering if it is realistic to charge a set up fee, atleast for the smaller accounts? Or will this turn customers off to my service?

Thanks

There are way to many companys that dont charge a setup fee.

I never charge to setup an account.

d00t

You enter information in a few boxes and click create...it doesnt take much time.
There is no need for a setup fee for a reseller account, IMO anyway :)

nah, be grateful for the extra business dont charge them for your privellage. im sure even on smaller accounts you are grateful that they join you.

Points well taken....Thanks

I don't get the setup fee anyway, I mean it takes what... 10 seconds in WHM.

Setup fees on any shared or reseller plans should make a customer think twice about a host these days.

Originally posted by bigwrench
Setup fees on any shared or reseller plans should make a customer think twice about a host these days.

I will disagree with that statment :D
While most co. do not charge a setup fee there are still some that do and most would have logical reasons behind doing so.
Some of those may be to cover server expense. I certainly wouldnt cross a host off of a list if there was a small setup fee involved. :rolleyes:

Scenario:
Sales support agent picks up new order
Order goes through manual fraid check process
Customer is called, etc etc
Account manually set up after check is finished
Tech support agent double checks setup was correct.

Yes, there is a genuine excuse for setup fees. It can also be a way to partially drop your monthly fees, but still not take too much of a dive. Not only will the drop in monthly fees pay off for the customer in the long run, it will help your company be able to provide a price freeze on monthly fees, staying competitive, but will also help your company pay technicians for manual checks/setups.

It is also very well known that the majority of questions come in the first week. With reseller accounts, a technician can literally spend hours answering those "what's this do?" questions in the first week, with support dropping back to normal after that initial settling in period. Techs need paying, period.

For those that say "it takes 10 seconds in whm" or words to that affect, I would warn you.. that attitude is just asking for a spammer, infact, it's begging.

Simon

Originally posted by IHSL
Scenario:
Sales support agent picks up new order
Order goes through manual fraid check process
Customer is called, etc etc.......For those that say "it takes 10 seconds in whm" or words to that affect, I would warn you.. that attitude is just asking for a spammer, infact, it's begging.

Simon


well said.

Setup fees = good source of revenue, in a price-driven market they can
help off-set the costs involved with a lot of things. Fraud checking is a big
one. I say charge away.

Setup fees...

1. If I am unhappy, I don't get that refunded even if there is a money back garantee...

2. If the host disappears, there goes...

So, conclusion is that I will think twice about signing up with a host who charges a setup fee...

I totally agree with simon's statement.
We don't charge a set-up fee on our shared hosting plans however we do on 2 of our reseller packages.
For our first to reseller we have realised that the client maybe on a budget and just starting off, so we give them a break and not charge a set-up fee.

However, with our reseller 3 and 4 plans, we charge a set-up fee. The process we go through in setting up a reseller account is:
1. receive order
2. manually check for fraud
3. Fill out a form to get 2 dedicated IP addresses
4. Assign IP addresses to server
5. Assign IP addresses to reseller
6. Set-up nameservers from server side
6. Configure reseller plan
7. E-Mail reseller with info
8. Answer a lot of questions

In cases where we purchase the domain the process is extended because we have to assign nameserver IP's to the domain and configure the whois.

We have to do all that for every reseller customer. It can take us about 30mins 1hour to fully get a reseller up and running (including answering questions).

All the reseller accounts we have set-up, we have spent hours on live support with every single customer answering every single question in detail. Although we don't mind doing this, and its our obligation to provide quality support, it does cost us money and in order to maintain such a high standard, we do have to pass a small percentage of the cost to the client.

As mentioned before our shared hosting packages don't involve any input from us as accounts are set-up automatically, thus we don't charge the client a set-up fee.

If the client is not satisfied with the service and asks for a refund during the money back guarantee period, then the set-up fee is refunded. That's just our policy and approach we take.

Rameen


Originally posted by IHSL
Scenario:
Sales support agent picks up new order
Order goes through manual fraid check process
Customer is called, etc etc
Account manually set up after check is finished
Tech support agent double checks setup was correct.

Yes, there is a genuine excuse for setup fees. It can also be a way to partially drop your monthly fees, but still not take too much of a dive. Not only will the drop in monthly fees pay off for the customer in the long run, it will help your company be able to provide a price freeze on monthly fees, staying competitive, but will also help your company pay technicians for manual checks/setups.

It is also very well known that the majority of questions come in the first week. With reseller accounts, a technician can literally spend hours answering those "what's this do?" questions in the first week, with support dropping back to normal after that initial settling in period. Techs need paying, period.

For those that say "it takes 10 seconds in whm" or words to that affect, I would warn you.. that attitude is just asking for a spammer, infact, it's begging.

Simon

I think that it's better to not charge a set up fee but if you are going to check for fraud etc you should

Hello,

We charge a setup fee for our "premium" hosting brand. The lowest fee is $75 for the cheapest plan.

It certainly helps us easily "weed out" the customers who aren't serious about their needs. If they are prepared to pay $75 (minimum for our cheapest plan), then they are likely very clear about what they want and what they expect.

None of our current customers has every complained about the setup fee. If a potential customer emails us to complain about the setup fee, then we politely explain to them that it is to cover the cost of setting up the account, implementation of security for their account, etc.. which is all true. We do not work for free, and it costs time to create each account.

But mostely, the high setup fee is to discourage people from signing up. We have a very specific market, and that market does not mind a setup fee. It is peanuts compared to the monthly cost we charge.


For my budget brand, I do not charge a setup fee. This is something I run myself on the side, and I use cpanel/whm and have a custom script to create the accounts.. so it takes a whole 1 minute to approve a new account. So I will not charge a setup fee since it isn't realistic if I wish to compete in that marketplace.

Just my 2 cents but it seems to me that using a setup fee kind of discourages people from signing up for your service.

Originally posted by cartmanrules
Just my 2 cents but it seems to me that using a setup fee kind of discourages people from signing up for your service.

Or it might show them that you place a high value on your time.

It really depends on the what target market you are trying to attract.

If you are "high end", then it is very unusual to NOT have a setup fee.. and anyone looking at your hosting plans and comparing you with a competitor will think you are crappy and don't respect yourself.

Consider that if a potential customer is considering payment of $100+ per month.. then a $35 or $50 or even $100 setup fee is probably not going to bother them.

But if you are trying to attract a customer paying $4.95/month, then even a $1 setup fee might push them to your competitor.

You can use setup fee (much like pricing) as a tool to attract and repel whichever customer you want or don't want.

On smaller reseller accounts, setup fees is good. We also do it. On Linux accounts we have setup fee but not on windows accounts :)

I would say have a setup fee but then run a promo (indefinitely) that gives free setup. You can choose to make them enter a coupon code or just say it's offered on every package for a "limited time". This makes it seem like they are getting a better deal than if you just don't mention a setup fee at all.

But that could also be said for the $4.95 you paid for hosting...

Originally posted by freak
Setup fees...

2. If the host disappears, there goes...

So, conclusion is that I will think twice about signing up with a host who charges a setup fee...

Stay away from the set-up fee. I wouldn't get hosting from someone that charges a set-up fee and I don't charge a set-up fee.

If your target market is business clients, then a setup fee is appropriate, and often times expected. If you target personal websites, then setup fees are often a detractor from your services.

Setup fees can be a great revenue generation tool that, as mentioned before, offset lower monthly costs, pay for the support that is often higher in the beginning, cover transition support, etc...

Also, if you are trying to build up an "image" or a "buzz" about your company being an elite hosting entity, that caters to the serious website or higher end clients, a higher setup fee can actually help foster that "image". Clients see the higher setup fee, the higher monthly costs, and if you come through with exceptional service and support, perceive a higher value to your service. In 8+ years of hosting, we have found that as a small hosting company competing with the big boys and girls of hosting, this fostering of an image is quite an effective tool for growing profits and market share for prolonged longevity in the hosting industry. Especially for those clients who have grown disillusioned and unhappy with their "big name" hosting company.

One day I'll put all this together in a howto for success as a small hosting company in today's world. For now, I'll just throw my support behind setup fees for certain hosts who target certain types of clients.

- John C.

Originally posted by JohnCrowley
One day I'll put all this together in a howto for success as a small hosting company in today's world.

Ack! No way! Don't do it!

Then even MORE 12 year old kids will think they can start a "real" business.

;)