Ok, now lets looked at failed hosts. Failed meaning, they suck and can't support their customers. They don't exist anymore. They provide a horrible service. etc. etc. etc.

Examples: Cyberwings, Alteia, and tons of others.

Then let's look at the ex-customers of those hosts....

They come on WHT, and ask for exact or lower pricing for what they got on those servers or more.

Don't they learn?

Originally posted by jayjay
Don't they learn?

No.

Originally posted by jayjay
Don't they learn?

they do...it just takes them a couple of hosts to figure it out

I'm not so sure they learn.
I think they go to the ad forums, and take the biggest "words" for the smallest price, time and time again.

I don't think so either, countless times I've watched people come to this forum after 4 or more hosts. Requiring the same things or more for the same or less cost.

WTF? Low prices can be offered, there's different atmospheres and budgets etc, traffic etc. You can't say that just because a web host has lower prices they will fail.

WTF? Low prices can be offered, there's different atmospheres and budgets etc, traffic etc. You can't say that just because a web host has lower prices they will fail.

Depends what you mean as low, and what they offer with that package and price.

Originally posted by ultratorture
WTF? Low prices can be offered, there's different atmospheres and budgets etc, traffic etc. You can't say that just because a web host has lower prices they will fail.

I think Jason is talking about the customers that want everything for a nickel and the hosts that provide it....

I think Jason is talking about the customers that want everything for a nickel and the hosts that provide it....

Thanks! That's correct.

But what I really want to know is.. Did you think of a name for your book yet?

$1.95/yr hosts RULE

some of them dont understand that the company is at a loss or little profit providing service at that price.. so they think its regular and they were unlucky to get a bad one..

1.95/year lol sorry I misinterprated you uh, you cant buy a candy bar for a cheeseburger for 1.95 that's just too low now I see what you mean.

Some people don't care.

Many of Cyberwings' ex-customers were folks with personal sites moving from free hosts. The $3.95 deal he offered let them get off the free hosts without paying a lot of money.

Some people don't care.

A lot do though, hense we hear them moan about it here.

Many of Cyberwings' ex-customers were folks with personal sites moving from free hosts. The $3.95 deal he offered let them get off the free hosts without paying a lot of money.

But you see how deals like the "$3.95 deal" didn't help the company last.

Cheap is fine, but there is such a thing as a sound business model, which several companies didnt have.

Jay,

You're right. It didn't help the company at all.

I think there's still a market for that as Shawn proved, but you have to redo the expectations to make it work.

Do you remeber the specs of the "$3.95 deal"?

I did not follow cyberwings, that's why I'm asking.

Originally posted by pgrote
I think there's still a market for that as Shawn proved, but you have to redo the expectations to make it work. Certainly there's a market for reliable $4/year hosting... but it's not the expectations (if you mean customer expectations) that are the problem.

Cyberwings, from what I know of the story, is a great example: they offered spectacular pricing, and got a lot of signups as a result. But at the price they weren't making enough money to cover their costs -- not only the costs of providing the service, but the costs of running the business. Salaries, advertising and marketing, rental cars (apparently :) ), etc.

The real weakness, too, of focusing on annual subscription plans is that you have no sustaining income unless you continue to grow your sales pace: the more you sell, the more facilities you need, and the more you build the more you have to keep selling. One common side effect of that is that an organization becomes more sales-focused and less customer service-focused.

Obviously, to make any business work you have to have to more money coming in than going out, or a reasonable plan to get there in the future. And if you're taking that second path, you have to have both the financial reserves and the resolve to withstand big losses for an extended period of time. Cyberwings clearly didn't have the financing, and a company in that situation once faced with either a negative cash flow or even having not enough cash to finance the needed pace of growth isn't going to be around for long.

Of course, your cash flow can be from any source. A workable business model might be run something along the CW lines that is on paper losing money, while using the large membership base or site traffic to direct people to another site where your profits offset the first loss.

But the point is that if you're looking for a web host or any business and looking for stability, you should look for one for which you'd have a reasonable expectation that they're profitable. And the oft-seen claim that "xxxxx is a privately held and profitable corporation" on many hosting websites isn't very strong evidence, by the way. :)

I see some customer bashing on this forum from some owners and maybe that’s justified I know there are a lot of nuts out there who expect a lot for nothing.
Who knows maybe your charging too much and you don't know it.
I have seen a lot of ridiculously high prices for some basic plans on this board and others.
I’m with a host right now and have been for the last year and I’m getting a deal that I’m sure not many of you could touch. I’m not one of these cheep people but I do expect value for my dollar and allot of the plans advertised on this board don’t meet that.

I was going to post my plane and see how many of you could match it but I decided not to incase it was frowned upon by board staff.

By the way I’m not in the business in a customer.

:)

Originally posted by jayjay
Ok, now lets looked at failed hosts. Failed meaning, they suck and can't support their customers. They don't exist anymore. They provide a horrible service. etc. etc. etc.

Examples: Cyberwings, Alteia, and tons of others.

Then let's look at the ex-customers of those hosts....

They come on WHT, and ask for exact or lower pricing for what they got on those servers or more.

Don't they learn?


Couldn't agree more!

Well the problem I see is that people really believe that WHT is the market.
Customers and host alike come here see the stuff in the advertising sections and set their pricing using that as a gauge.

Talk about a plan for failure!

The request section has become nothing but a dutch auction with the last one posting getting the low bid in. It is stupid the customer is not to blame here it is hosting companies that are so desperate to get a customer they will give it away. As long as host are willing to do that can you blame the customer for asking?

Everyone should get out of the belief that WHT pricing is real, it is not, host offering the low low pricing are going to go down, how long and when is the only question. Customer and host both suffer because of it.

We rally so hard against the unlimited host but we do not say anything except "Nice offer" when we see someone on a RackShack server offering 100 gigs for $29.95 a month. Same thing in reality, it is a lie and we all know it. They can't deliver for long.

yea people ask me all the time hey i found somone cheaper then you all i say is i'm not about offering the cheapest prices out there but please dont be upset when you get ripped and i give them this url to read about all the cheap hosts and most of the time they do signup.

so yea people do expect quite a bit for nothing once they've had a cheap host

I do not know Cyberwings deals, but for $3.96 a year, why would you even bother complaining when they went under, its pretty obvious they would.;)

This is a good topic - pricing is very important in all aspects of business. I've learned that sometimes if you go with a cheaper provider, it ends up being MORE expensive in the long run, due to aggravation, downtime, and other unforeseen problems.

When it comes to a difference of $10 / month, you are much better off going with a quality, experienced provider. However, if you are an experienced, quality service provider, hosting is not the best business to be in, because there are so many inexperienced, fly-by-night providers who undercut prices.

If we ever start hosting, our value proposition will most certainly NOT be low price, but instead the usual like stabilty, reliability, as well as some unique custom solutions.

This is a good topic...

This thread was 4 years old.

This thread was 4 years old.

....obviously the situation has not improved. :gthumb:

"unlimited hosting is dead.....long live cheap hosting"

and it still holds true

Never hurts to validate things we knew four years ago.

There are many hosts that are cheap, but still provide a good service.

I discover that those who claim unlimiteacy are kinda lying when you read their AUPs

Peace,