I've been doing my research looking for a webhost for my e-commerce business, and I am wondering...what is wrong with those offers that cost < $20/month?

all i need is:

2GB bandwidth
50MB disk space
full cgi access
php forum support
mySQL db
Perl

with option to upgrade

and this is my minimum req. i'm finding webhost (all of them were recommended here) offering all that and more for < $20, yet a lot of you dont recommend host charging <$20/month for legitimate businesses. other than the possibility of subpar tech support, any reasons why?

I think WHT folks are skeptical when people offer unrealistic services for the price. Many reputable hosts offer plans such as the one you describe for less than $20 per month.

20.00 a month for 50 megs and the bandwidth requirements you are asking for is much more than you need. You should be able to find a plan like that for <8.00 a month. It is the 20.00 per YEAR hosts that everyone bashs due to the fact that us honest hosts are left up to pick up all the peices and ultimately end up paying the price. Good luck in your search..

perhaps one thing i am concerned about is your opinion that plans that cost $9/month or less will give me more problems than the cheap cost is worth, but most of the plans I find cost that much, between $8-$15/month is exactly what i need (i.e. i do not need 100MB of space, maybe in the future but 50MB is more than 50% over my alloted need)

are you saying i should go for plans around $15-$20 to be on the safe side?

Originally posted by lokidog75
perhaps one thing i am concerned about is your opinion that plans that cost $9/month or less will give me more problems than the cheap cost is worth, but most of the plans I find cost that much, between $8-$15/month is exactly what i need (i.e. i do not need 100MB of space, maybe in the future but 50MB is more than 50% over my alloted need)

are you saying i should go for plans around $15-$20 to be on the safe side?

No you will learn over time price really means nothing EXCEPT when it looks good good to be true.. For example 20.00 for a year of hosting you ARE going to get what you pay for.. There are plenty of 5-10.00 plans out there that will meet your needs.. Like I said it might be a good idea to email a couple hosts support teams just to see what the typical response times are going to be. Peoples problems nowadays is that they want everything for nothing so they see host A is 9.00 a month and host B is only 22.99 a YEAR and think they are going to make out better with host B due to the price.. which in the long time they will make up the price difference in aggrivation..

I dont think there is anything wrong with buying a cheap package, as long as the company provide good support and have good uptime.