Many hosts offer discounts if you pay for a whole year or two ahead. Seems attractive. On the other hand, as those hosts grow, they get purchased by bigger fish, and the bigger host now provides services that are lousy. The problem is that you can not cancel your payment now, because this new bigger host can not (and does not want to) reimburse you for the transaction that was conducted by the previous smaller host. I have encountered such a situation two times by now :uhh:. So, does it make sense to pay monthly and make sure that you can cancel at any time? This way, there is no discount, but more freedom.

I think you have already answered your question......

Only pay yearly with the hosts that have been around for a while and have very good reputations......

I do sympathize with you! too bad that smaller host didnt work out something for his clients, where they could/would be honored under their original contract.
I do think 2 years is too long to pay on a hosting plan though.

I think that until you know the host, you shouldn't sign up for that long of a term anyway. Get to know them on their monthly or quarterly payments, then think about going for a year. But I wouldn't suggest a 2 year with anyone. The Internet is just too unpredictable now days.

Keep your site your top priority... not saving a little money without knowing full well what your getting into. ( their stability)

Good luck with your site,

Tim L :cool:

My advice is sign up on a monthly basis to begin with and then change to a quartely or yearly payment cycle after three months or when you are satisfies. Also try to find a host that has it as a policy to refund any unused whole months. Note they might refund you on a basis of how many months you have hosted with them. eg If you ask for a refund 3 months into a yearly prepaid cycle they might charge you the quartely price.

I'll never pay a full year in advance unless its really cheap like cyberwings or webguyz.

What if the host goes bust?
I am somehow not sure I'll get my money back.

And I totally avoid hosts which only has yearly payments.
My thinking would be "Is that really necessary"
It makes me a little suspicious

I agree with the other posters. Basically if you're in doubt with a host, just pay monthly because it's not worth the risk.

Originally posted by serega
I have encountered such a situation two times by now :uhh:.

Let me know if you decide to switch hosts so I can save myself first. ;)

I do wish I hadn't paid for a full year for my first host, though. I was only with them for a month when I found out they didn't have what I wanted. It's been more than a year since I cancelled and I still haven't gotten my money back. :(

The money may have been credit to your card. I'd call them up again.

If you want to pay for several months at a time, I'd recommend like 3 month payments until the host has proven themselve to you before you pay yearly.

Yearly, monthly...
IMHO daily billing is much better because it gives absolute freedom to customer.
Yearly is good choice when you trust your host.

Originally posted by HostOnFly
Yearly, monthly...
IMHO daily billing is much better!

Wonder if this is allowed???:D :D :D


Anyways, my thought is that prepaying for hosts is fine, so long as you look into their cancellation and refund policies. My basic policy is to charge the customer the normal monthly price for the months used, subtract this from the balance already paid, and refund the rest...

As an example lets say a customer signed up for one of my yearly plans at $118.20. The normal price per month for this plan could be $14.35/mo. The customer decides 4 months into the year to cancel it would be 4x $14.35 ($57.40), subtracted from $118.20 to give a refund of $60.80.....

Generrally though, I'll handle a refund on a case-by-case basis and refund various ways..:)

Not all prepaid web hosting accounts don't allow refunds, even if they're discounted. It really depends on the host.

I can't believe that a host would be able to not provide the services that they promised and still keep your money. I definitely wouldn't have signed up for that.

Read the the billing policies before you sign up. If it's not in your best interest, don't sign. Please.

Thank you everyone for your excellent comments and suggestions. I now need to digest all this information and make my decision :spiny:

serega