do most folks think that "CHEAP" is better?

Originally posted by SiteHoster
do most folks think that "CHEAP" is better?
Not better, just better for them. :rolleyes: :D

They get it cheaper and then they complain about poor service.

most people that want cheap hosting or reselling have never had it.

They are the ones that will never make it, their customers will all get mad and cancel and their business will die.

But for them cheap is good they think.

What do you define as "cheap"?

Gary

I think people use cheap as "Best Possible Price"

One of the entries in Dictionary.com says "Relatively low in cost; inexpensive or comparatively inexpensive." Yeah, I'd go with that. :)

Gary

I for one, dont go for Cheap Reselling.

I am planning on joining one and the total costs comes around 1,212 for the first year.

Yeah I have found that they usually go with cheap one or two times get screwed over and then realize they are going to need to spend a little extra $$$ in order to get a stable provider.. that is if they have any customers left to host.

Moreover, they come complaining about the Support which they get from their Reseller Providers.

One cant get everything at cheap rate. They also have to pay the persons sitting behind the desks for providing support.

Originally posted by OKIHost
Yeah I have found that they usually go with cheap one or two times get screwed over and then realize they are going to need to spend a little extra $$$ in order to get a stable provider.. that is if they have any customers left to host.

The opposite is also true in many cases. :)

Gary

Originally posted by SpiritAu
I think people use cheap as "Best Possible Price"

I think so, people trying to find best solution with the minimum price. Nobody's rich as much as to find really CHEAP solution.

Originally posted by Editor
What do you define as "cheap"?

Gary

cheap
adj 1: relatively low in price or charging low prices;

3: (informal) of very poor quality [syn: {bum}, {cheesy}, {chintzy},
{crummy}, {punk}, {sleazy}, {tinny}]
4: embarrassingly stingy [syn: {chinchy}, {chintzy}]


stingy, aww :)

I offer a lot of options and I am not cheap but I continue to grow bit by bit.

Cpanel is one of the causes, you can sell more bandwidth than you really have. Set and hope they never use it. None of my costumers come close to use 5 gigs a month and that’s a reseller with his customers, oh and a gamer he use's about 3 gigs a month. But when you shop the more you get the better, is the rule of thumb. I pick my customers up from the “been there done that” crowd.. If they buy 30 gigs they will get 30 gigs.
I have been here for short time and seen some big shots come and go with there great DEALS, and the resellers disparate to make a sale without as much as a merchant account. Think of it as a war of who can hang in there till they start to brake even then onward to profit...
My 2 cents :)

It's just that most people don't keep in mind all the other factors associated in choosing a provider beyond the cost.

Sometimes charging less covers up the holes in the providers service. (Potential customers are amazed by the low, low cost and jump in thinking it's the deal of a lifetime).

Furthermore, most customers are not aware of the pricing differentiation in the hosting industry. Many are under the impression that the companies charging higher rates are simply trying to increase their profitability. -And that is untrue in many cases. (They do not think of server/hardware performance, staffing, etc...)

So, most often the cheaper priced provider gains a higher level of acceptance, because in the potential customers' view their rates are more reasonable and fair.

I am planning on joining one and the total costs comes around 1,212 for the first year.

And then there is the other end of the spectrum ...

The fact is, cost has nothing to do with the service that is provided. You can find excellent hosts here in a wide price range, identifying them is the problem.

Cheap is different for everyone.

I believe that cheap for one person is different for another for example: One host has cheap bandwidth and is a one man operation running his server from a DSL line. he offer you hosting for $5 Monthly You think hmm that is cheap for what i being offered.

But then again there is another host selling the same specs for 15 dollars that has a good reputation for customer support and fast servers. The customer also things hmm cheap considering the service they are being offered.

Both customers have one thing in comment they think its cheap... One cheap is bad quality and the other is value for money.

You deicde if you are in it for the long run or just here for pocket money then a houdini act :)

Kind regards
Phillip

Smokie,

Are you saying that overselling (or is it over promising) is a good thing, because the law of averages says that most won't use it? I don't think it's just because of CPanel.

Do any panels stop you from overselling? Will they stop you and say "Dude, you've already sold of space, but a new server or upgrade this puppy?"

Just curious.

Pete Stoermer

If you supply hosting and can find good quality servers at good prices tested and true, then why not?

I think it's lazy to not shop around. Because why pay for the $400/USD per month server. If you can find the exact server and quality for $99.00/USD? You pass the other $300.00 to customers.


Or why pay $4.00 per bandwidth if you can find the same for $1.50 and find it at the same quality. I think it takes time to find a good host and affordable prices, but the combonation is out there.

And to just go for something that's more expensive because you assume it's better quality, seems lazy IMO.

Some people are better at finding more efficient ways to take care of business, and at better prices, and some people do pass that on to the customers.

I have used all sorts of hosts when I first started in this biz, sometimes you get what you pay for, but sometimes you pay a lot and it does not even come close.

The only way is to shop around, ask questions, do some research and yes a little bit of luck does not hurt.

Originally posted by sphere2


And to just go for something that's more expensive because you assume it's better quality, seems lazy IMO.

The only way is to shop around, ask questions, do some research and yes a little bit of luck does not hurt.

I totally agree with you, Sphere2. :)

Many entry resellers expect a quick buck. Something cheap that they don't have to support and just have money rolling in. Some of these resellers may utilize overselling to increase this 'profit margin'. Overselling may be a common practice to offer 'cheap' hosting, and although I may accept this practice in general, I feel that if someone gives me my allotment specs, then I should get that, no less. If a server is overloaded because of overselling and they can't provide the services offered then they need to upgrade and/or change hosting plan specs for re/new accounts to fit their resources. This includes customer service. If customer services is limited to cut expenses then I want to know what to expect from their customer service before I sign up for a hosting plan. And personally, I like to know what my limitations are so I know what to expect. Unlimited to me doesn't tell me squat and is useless if the host can't provide that.

Greetings:

“I think it's lazy to not shop around. Because why pay for the $400/USD per month server. If you can find the exact server and quality for $99.00/USD? You pass the other $300.00 to customers.”

Here is part of the problem:

1. How do you know it is the exact server?

2. How old is it?

3. Do you think the $275 or less in total cost servers used at rackshack.net compare to $4,500 Compaq DL 360 G2 dual Pentium 1.4 servers blah blah blah?

4. Do you think a guaranteed up time of 99.999% vs NOTHING is the same?

5. Do you think of an SLA where you start getting credits against what you paid after 25 SECONDS of down timeis that same as NO SLA?

6. The list goes on.

Shopping around implies that the consumer has done enough home work to know that they are buying the exact same offering. Then they can say they got a deal.

“Or why pay $4.00 per bandwidth if you can find the same for $1.50 and find it at the same quality.”

Excuse me, but Cogent consistently ranks in the lower 5% of the market in terms of performance, reliability, speed, etc.

Same quality as tier 1? No.

There are times you get exactly what you pay for. Don’t mistake getting a bargain on the same quality for not comparing apples to apples and paying 90% off for 90-95% off the quality.

Thank you.

Greetings:

"By reading the specs. You would know if it's the exact same server."

Hardware is only part of the picture in the monthly fee. So even if you have the same hardware specifications, you could be comparing apples to oranges.

RE: Getting old equipment for $99 vs. band new

"you buy it out right, from your provider it's hard to tell"

Actually, you can ask. We've found reputable providers reselling one to two year old equipment (sometimes older) at a discount.

It is hard to compare what appear to be the same specifications when something is new out of the box against what appears to be the same specifications but old and used.

"one has a way better reputation, but rackshack servers are not the only one's out there. (Again shopping around.)"

If you are going to shop around in the $99 market, most will have the same specifications for hardware, service, etc.

However, most of the one's in the $400 per month range are using better equipment (apples to oranges when comparing against the $99 market), have service level agreements compared to *** NOTHING ***, etc.

"Again. 99.9 guaranteed uptime, is only relevant once you've used the service."

I said 99.999% which is a night and day difference than 99.9%.

Furthermore, those that offer such guarantees (as 99.999%) often have service level agreements (compared to ***NOTHING*** from the $99 vendors) which offer compensation to the customer when service levels are not met.

Points of concern
============

If it is older / used equipment, then repairs may become harder and take longer due to parts not being available or otherwise limited. If warranties are no longer in place, then more of the onus is put on the data center.

White box specifications compared to brand name does not always equate to the same performance.

For example most HP Compaq line servers are engineered for performance so that even if you have a slightly more powerful CPU in another box like a Dell, the Compaq server is more likely to outperform the Dell.

Product and technology specifications are only a part of the shopping around work. What about service level agreements for up time? What about service level agreements for repair and replacement of bad parts? What about service level agreements dealing with outright replacing the server before it dies?

What about true multi-homed bandwidth where the primary provider is quality, and Cogent is not part of the picture (backup or otherwise)?

The list goes on.

Hi there.

Error. Thanks for your response and your feed back. I Appriciate it.


dynamicnet-To answer your question. Since my post was directed to web host managment and not so much to customers. I am expecting a bit more thought to have gone into purchasing equipment and bandwidth than the average consumer might have.

1. By reading the specs. You would know if it's the exact same server. (Which is where the shopping around comes from.)

But if you mean how do you know that the person renting the server is being honest, you don't. And you don't on a $400.00 server any more than you would on a $99.00 server that you are renting. (Buying out right is different of course.)

2. Again. How old is it? (Someone who has a $99.00 server might just replace a broken server rather than keep it around, someone who paid $400.00 for server might keep it around for more years and try to do repairs on it. (Unless you buy it out right, from your provider it's hard to tell.)

3. Whatever ends up working really well, and bringing home the quality is what works for me. Sure one has a way better reputation, but rackshack servers are not the only one's out there. (Again shopping around.)

4. Again. 99.9 guarenteed uptime, is only relavent once you've used the service. You know as well as I do that may companies claim that but few deliver. If you shop around and educate yourself however you will look for the uptime guarentee. (Again that's more for the customer side, my original post was directed at managment behind the scence providing the service.)

5. Again refer to answer number 4.

6. In agreement, the list probably does go on.

Again. I was not really refering to cognent. I was saying don't just go for the first person who waives bandwidth in your face, shop around, find the best deal for premium. If it's only available at $4.00 then go for it. But if you find a great deal for the $1.50 (After verifying in both cases that that is what you are getting.)then good business sence dictates and demands you go for the better deal.

I hope we can find common ground in there somewhere.