As a possible new reseller (one of these days) I'm trying to get a handle on the actual costs I might have to pay to a hosting service for disk space and data transfer if I get one of their 'reseller' type accounts. Unfortunately with all the apparently inflated 'overselling' numbers out there these days I don't know where to begin to get this kind of info -- except to ask here at WHT.

Can those of you with experience give me a hint on the realistic value of disk space and data transfer in a typical reseller account? For example, is disk space actually worth $1 per GB per month in a reseller plan, or is it worth more like 10 cents per GB per month, or only 1 cent per GB per month, or even less??? And the same type of question about data transfer. Thanks.

Well we can't really give you any tips on how to price your plans, only because the depends on your spendings etc. time put into it, costs for support and software.

Draw yourself up a business plan with those and you should be able to get a fair idea

Okay, I guess I did not explain myself clearly so let me try again ...

I do not want you to suggest the prices I might charge my customers. What I'm looking for is the actual value of these items.

You know, someone is going to charge me $XX.XX per month for a reseller hosting plan and they will include YY gigabytes of disk space and ZZZ gigabytes of data transfer, so how do I figure the 'real' value of each of these in terms of what I'm paying?

Probably still confusing, right?

What I'm assuming here is that you're asking that say, if ABC company offers you 10GB of space at $1/month, how much is the 10GB actually worth if they do not oversell?

Say, it depends on the host actually. Depends on their server specs, quality of service, etc etc. A non-oversold host will probably request $50 for 10GB/100GB? I'm not too sure either since the hosting field is clogged full of overselling hosts.

Maybe some one here can enlighten us, I hope the question is clear enough.

Regards :D

What I'm assuming here is that you're asking that say, if ABC company offers you 10GB of space at $1/month, how much is the 10GB actually worth if they do not oversell?You got it Neavix, thanks for saying it more clearly than I did!

Say, it depends on the host actually. Depends on their server specs, quality of service, etc etc.I can understand this, but surely someone must have a general idea or a ballpark figure that would provide a reasonable estimate for the 'average' don't you think?

I'm not too sure either since the hosting field is clogged full of overselling hosts.That's been my problem, the overselling figures throw me off.

Maybe some one here can enlighten us, I hope the question is clear enough.I hope so too, thanks for the help.

I'm going to go out on a limb and make some gross generalizations. I'm not even going to try to tackle the data transfer question, but so far as disk space is concerned, here goes nothing.
For both scenarios, lets assume the server has 2 to 3 drives in RAID 1 or 5, as these are both solid configurations and every host with any sense should be using some form of RAID. Lets also assume the servers are not oversold.

Assuming the server specs include SCSI drives, $5 to $10 per GB, depending on your level of plan commitment. meaning you should get a bit more for your money if you commit to a reseller plan with a higher dollar value.

If the host uses SATA drives, more like $1 to $5 depending on the same factors as above.

Also consider that resources are worth a bit more if the host provides separate physical servers for different services (ie. one server for web, one for MySQL, one for mail, etc.) instead of a single server configuration.

There are just so many variables, but hopefully I have covered my bases well enough not to upset anyone that may read this. I kinda wish I had a suitable disclaimer for this sort of post. :D

Hi Dustin56,

Thanks for the reply, but if you feel the need to add a disclaimer to your post I guess I asked a rather 'dangerous' question, didn't I? :)

I appreciate your answer because at least it gives me some place to start. But before I make any assumptions here, maybe I should ask this follow-up question first:

Shall I figure that your numbers represent the value "per month" for disk space? Or per year?

In other words, if I were to purchase a SCSI drive reseller plan from a provider with the configuration you described above, are you suggesting that a fair price for the "disk space" part of the plan might be $5-10 per GB per month? Or is this an annual figure you've provided, and not a monthly one?

I probably shouldn't even have to ask this question, but based on the apparently 'really low' rates I've seen lately (which are undoubtedly skewed by overselling offers, although I don't know by how much) your numbers seem rather high to me for a monthly rate. So I just want to clarify this one little issue before I make an 'order of magnitude' mistake here.

I was referring to monthly rates.

You don't really have to worry about upsetting people around here with a question. My only concern is that, as you said, rates vary so widely, and there are some perfectly good providers charging rates outside of what I have mentioned.

Assuming that most hosts rent their servers from a data center, you could find out where your future provider gets its servers from and see the prices there (for a server config similar to the one you'll be hosted on).

As a big provider they might be able to get sensible discounts, but they also have other costs to cover, some of which are pretty hefty, like staff wages and advertising (in some cases). You can consider the price you come with as a bare minimum (I'd still see it as a level where they would still be losing money, with no overselling).

Well, as a reseller I have packages like 250mb / 5gb - 90% of my clients stay well under 50% utilisation - only a few are using more.

Normal business sites do not require much space/transfer - they just need reliable service.

With the calculations we use (payoff of all equipment investment in 6 mos., with a 3 - 1 escalator for Current Value) our Cost is $.96/mos/Gig for SCSI in a single drive and $2.88/mos/Gig for RAID (One Controller with two drives). SATA is $.15/mos/Gig in a single drive and $.45/mos/Gig RAID.

This is for a dedicated server configuration. Don't ask me to sell it to you for that, but that is my calcualted cost. Minimum margin is 100% for large customers, as high as 500% for small.

We sell shared a twice the dedicated number. But as you can see the cost of storage is cheap, and getting cheaper all the time. If you tap into our NAS we can offer bargain basement rates. Oversellers (we don't) can cut things even more.

Hi ThomasB,

Thanks you, your input is invaluable to me!

Not only have you given me some real costs to think about and use in my calculations, but you've also explained your markup policies which helps me to consider my own for potential future hosting customers. How can I learn more about your shared services and tapping into your NAS? Feel free to email me, kengrome (at) gmail (dot) com if you wish, and thanks again for the details.

Now that I'm beginning to see some 'true value' numbers for disk space, I hope someone will post similar information about data transfer values ... :)