I have been on the phone for about the past hour discussing with ensim all of the amazing benifits of their product. My question is on their site they say $999.00 and you get all these amazing tools that allow you to manage over a hundred servers and drag and dop accounts manage windows linux solaris and so much more. You get a state of the art control panel that does all these amazing things but when I talk to the guy on the phone he starts talking about for just a one time fee of $10000.00 and $2500 dollars a month you get this my question is


WHAT ON EARTH?

Remember that that price they quoted you over the phone is retail price. But either way, at any price it is worth every penny.

I'm in business 3 months with ServerXchange and already made my money back...

Just as Matt said, don't forget its retail and some things are negotiable..
I was quoted around $5500 for the startup for their Webppliance software.

The $999 on their site is probably for the LS version, which is a standalone control panel for a dedicated server (which is what RackShack.net has implemented).

laterz,
raqworld

Yea they told me a a $5K investment. That part is actually reasonable considering it comes with the server. The only issue I had was the $2500/mth only got you 50 VPS a month so they were gonna cost me $50a month.

But that being said, I believe you can negotiate the price per VPS way, way down because remarkablehosting.com offers ensim VPS for as little as $35. I would probably assume he is getting VPS's for as little as $25/VPS but that is speculation.

I would haggle with ensim but I hate doing business with people who take the car sales approach to online sales. I know because I used to be a car saleman and the only concern is to get as much money out of you as possible. I like a set fair price that I don't have to beat someone over the head to get.

Originally posted by JeremyL
But that being said, I believe you can negotiate the price per VPS way, way down because remarkablehosting.com offers ensim VPS for as little as $35. I would probably assume he is getting VPS's for as little as $25/VPS but that is speculation.


I don't make money with this $35 account.. I loose money. At this time to attract customers and to get a higher volume I am willing to loose money in the short term. Remember, you are in a better position to get better prices if you can prove volume. The more you buy the less you can pay.

Besides.. I sell very few $35 accounts. Most people go with the higher accounts anyway. If anyone who has ever done retail sales knows that there is always a loss leader that you loose money on to attract the customers. Profits come from customer loyalty, referals, domain reg, SSL Certs and account upgrades.

I have heard this type of Ensim Discussion many times, and even asked it alot myself, while I was wrestling with the decision to buy ServerXchange myself.
When I first heard the prices I was shocked, as most people are. I almost hung up on Ken the sales rep (Actually I did the first time I called) and I thought ok this system is for the BIG ISPs with deep pockets, not for a small up and comer like me. After analyzing all the facts and crunching numbers, I came to the conclusion that it actually is a good investment, so I bought it.
(Should have had my head examined right?) Well to my surprise this system ended up being much more than I anticipated, and Ensim has become almost a partner to my hosting operation. The fact that I have support staff behind me alone, is worth investment. The tools they have to help market, and support your users is more geared to a small start-up operation than to a BIG ISP. You can create and manage your entire enterprise from a single point, and perform many administrative duties through web based interface (Version 3.0 gets rid of the OpCenter Application).....All of this equals a must have for the small start up. ROI can be realized in Months instead of years .

Bottom Line, don't let the initial price scare you, as a business owner, you owe it to your self to look into this and any other investments in terms of its value to your business. It really does end up paying for itself, and in a rather short period

Ray Collazo
ComputechZ Inc.

dawolf, Well said!! I don't think anyone has clearly expressed this point as well as you have. I'm sure Ken will see this and will want to quote you. :)

I have to agree. As a small startup host, ServerXchange gave me all the tools and everything I needed to offer services on a level of the 'big guys'.

:beer: