More and more company's are using the 'zero overselling' or 'not oversold' slogan to attract customers. It looks like a new trend after the 'untlimited' plans.

However, if u take a close look on the plans they are offering they also look more than oversold. Same stuff under a new slogan.

How can a customer be sure zero overselling is indeed zero overselling ... When are company's going to deliver what they promise ?

Compare their plans vs the hardware they run vs the price they charge. Can they still turn a profit with those factors, including support, lease/rental/colo/repairs/etc?

Unfortunately it is very hard to see, if the company shows some thing like the load and you are able to check this from time to time and in general it stays far below the total of processors it has, it might be indeed a non oversold host.

Also i honestly believe a hosting company which does not oversell does not have any limits on what you store on your account (so even a backup of your home pc should not be a problem (some clearly forbid this in their TOS).

In the end i would go by customer reviews and check them out for some while (most offer a money back guarantee for a certain time) but even this does not guarantee everything.

Some companies get so caught up in gimmicks and stupid slogans that they forget what their core function should be , and that is providing a reliable ,redundant hosting service with great support for a competetive price. If you concentrate on that, the customers will follow.

Unfortunately it is very hard to see, if the company shows some thing like the load and you are able to check this from time to time and in general it stays far below the total of processors it has, it might be indeed a non oversold host.

Also i honestly believe a hosting company which does not oversell does not have any limits on what you store on your account (so even a backup of your home pc should not be a problem (some clearly forbid this in their TOS).

In the end i would go by customer reviews and check them out for some while (most offer a money back guarantee for a certain time) but even this does not guarantee everything.

I have to agree with you. You cannot base if a host is overselling because of what they offer with the account. Example a hosting provider charges $15 a month for 32GB of Disk Space, 320GB Bandwidth. Are they overselling? Thats for you to decide but I know of a host that does charge that, does not oversell, limits the number of accounts opened per QuadCore Server, make sure all base fees are paid, growth can be made and can turn profit.

However, if u take a close look on the plans they are offering they also look more than oversold. Same stuff under a new slogan.

There's "not oversold" in the sense that we have on hand what we promise to each customer, and if they all were to need it all today, we would have the space/connectivity waiting to be used. Then I've seen "not oversold" in a newer sense, which is basically "not overloaded". People/customers often equate the first with the second, as overselling's most evident side effect (when poorly managed) is overloading.

I've seen unlimited hosts (typically new, one man shows) claiming not to oversell. I suppose it's meant to be just another way to say "our service is great", because they heard that overselling is bad, and they certainly don't think that bad and their company go together. :P

How can a customer be sure zero overselling is indeed zero overselling... Typically, they can't. At best, the host could have a sort of audit done by independent organization which would be given full access to anything needed to assess overselling practices, and get their seal of approval. I know of no such organization.

Now... a problem with overselling is that it can be insidious. I get a server and it comes with say 2TB of data transfer. I split that in 10 parts and give each customer 200GB. Then my customers all want to use their 200GB in the next 30 minutes. Now I'm in trouble and can't possibly satisfy that sort of demand, even though I took such care to not oversell. Looks like I was actually overselling something, and did not realize it. To make an offer so specific as to address every single thing that could be oversold, would make hosting packages very technical, and would put the business at a marketing disadvantage due to the many restrictions that would have to come forth.

Are you all still competing on who can offer the most resources? The battle has shifted focus to who can provide a better service and better customer care, long ago.

Regards

I have to agree with you. You cannot base if a host is overselling because of what they offer with the account. Example a hosting provider charges $15 a month for 32GB of Disk Space, 320GB Bandwidth. Are they overselling? Thats for you to decide but I know of a host that does charge that, does not oversell, limits the number of accounts opened per QuadCore Server, make sure all base fees are paid, growth can be made and can turn profit.

Unless they're actually able to turn a profit on somebody using up the entire 32GB and 320GB bandwidth, and I'm not confident that they could unless there's a caveat, then I'd consider it overselling.

This slogan have been abused time and again. More startups are using it to show that they provide a great service, which is questionable.

Overselling can be of many ways. You cannot equate high disk space + low price = overselling and vice versa. There are many things that needs to be taken into consideration, eg. hardware, support, etc.

The best way to determine on which host is "good" is to check on legitimate customer reviews. :agree:

Absolutely every company oversells, whether its by providing 'unlimited' email addresses or by taking it back to their transit provider or power company.

It's all rubbish.

Unless they're actually able to turn a profit on somebody using up the entire 32GB and 320GB bandwidth, and I'm not confident that they could unless there's a caveat, then I'd consider it overselling.

I am sure they are making profit. The business is setup to make sure each hosting plan can do three things. 1.) Pay base company expenses (Billing Client, Phone, Base Server) 2.) Provide Growth (Able to purchase additional hardware) 3.) Provide profit.

Remember you cannot use the idea to make millions or thousands off your first server.

Also the company I knew offers so much disk space for a little price because they saw they were wasting to many resources. They limit the number of accounts they place on a server which allows the end user to have a little more resources.

Just because a host is giving you high disk & bandwidth, low price does not mean they are overselling, always take a look at their business plan ;)

More and more company's are using the 'zero overselling' or 'not oversold' slogan to attract customers.

There is nothing wrong with overselling, per se, and the "no overselling" slogan marketing practice based on fear and ignorance of customer. They rely on the false assumption by customer that overselling is the same as overloading.

However, if u take a close look on the plans they are offering they also look more than oversold. Same stuff under a new slogan. I haven't seen a host that does not oversell somewhere along the line - or if they truly don't, they are too expensive for most people

How can a customer be sure zero overselling is indeed zero overselling ... When are company's going to deliver what they promise ?You must have administrative rights on server to check for overselling. Thus there is no way a customer can verify.

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I haven't seen a host that does not oversell somewhere along the line - or if they truly don't, they are too expensive for most people



That just makes it plausible there are non-oversold hosts; if a host would be dirt cheap and delivers non-oversold hosting it would be rather impossible wouldn't you think ? That is the great thing about the market; you have different target markets.

That most hosts oversell somewhere is probably true; but i guess it depends in what they are overselling. i.e. take the unlimited email accounts; everyone knows this will not be unlimited; although chances someone creates unlimited email accounts is rather small, while that a user uses a lot of diskspace of bandwidth is a lot more common. Granted it would be still overselling if it is not clearly stated by the host.

Obviously the same counts for the great example of ldcdc on the bandwidth usage . Mostly the bandwidth is already oversold to start with at the datacenter.

I am sure they are making profit. The business is setup to make sure each hosting plan can do three things. 1.) Pay base company expenses (Billing Client, Phone, Base Server) 2.) Provide Growth (Able to purchase additional hardware) 3.) Provide profit.

Remember you cannot use the idea to make millions or thousands off your first server.

Also the company I knew offers so much disk space for a little price because they saw they were wasting to many resources. They limit the number of accounts they place on a server which allows the end user to have a little more resources.

Just because a host is giving you high disk & bandwidth, low price does not mean they are overselling, always take a look at their business plan ;)

That's true, but it does seem that profit margins would be very slim at those levels.

If the server held 2TB, then that's around $940 income the server could make max. You'd then need to work out whether or not $940 would be able to pay for almost 20,000GB bandwidth, the server and various running costs that any business has.

It doesn't seem too likely to me, but perhaps they had colocated machines stuffed with drives. The bandwidth costs would surely put them out of business though unless they were using an unmetered connection, but that'd be a caveat as I mentioned since I can only imagine it'd be pretty contended.

That just makes it plausible there are non-oversold hosts; if a host would be dirt cheap and delivers non-oversold hosting it would be rather impossible wouldn't you think ? That is the great thing about the market; you have different target markets. .

Not saying that it is not theoretically posssible. The cost of a shared account would be about the same as a vps. So I am saying I don't think there is one out there.

Not saying that it is not theoretically posssible. The cost of a shared account would be about the same as a vps. So I am saying I don't think there is one out there.
www.medialayer.com

www.medialayer.com (http://www.medialayer.com)

I don't get it. Show me their shared hosting plan with no overselling

I don't get it. Show me their shared hosting plan with no overselling
I cannot confirm whether they are oversold in any way but these plans doesn't seem to oversold to me: http://www.medialayer.com/hosting/application-hosting.html

There is no way to tell. Best to assume there is overselling then not. How much cpu do you thing they allow per site? Could not find anything in aup/tos regarding max cpu before termination/suspension.

Suppose its equal to X%. If there is zero overselling then the number of sites on the server multiplied by X must be less than 100. if like many hosts, they allow 15%, then the max sites on server is 6 sites with no overselling. Do you think that is true in this case?

Apply the same calc for RAM

If you add up all the allowed bandwidth for all the sites on a server is it more or less than the mb/s of the smallest port on network? What about all the allowed bandwidth for all the accounts on all the servers?

How big are their hard drives? Are they bigger than the number of sites on a full server multiplied by disk quota?

The fact is you don't know the answer to any of these questions. But we can speculate.

There is no way to tell. Best to assume there is overselling then not. How much cpu do you thing they allow per site? Could not find anything in aup/tos regarding max cpu before termination/suspension.

Suppose its equal to X%. If there is zero overselling then the number of sites on the server multiplied by X must be less than 100. if like many hosts, they allow 15%, then the max sites on server is 6 sites with no overselling. Do you think that is true in this case?

Apply the same calc for RAM

If you add up all the allowed bandwidth for all the sites on a server is it more or less than the mb/s of the smallest port on network? What about all the allowed bandwidth for all the accounts on all the servers?

How big are their hard drives? Are they bigger than the number of sites on a full server multiplied by disk quota?

The fact is you don't know the answer to any of these questions. But we can speculate.
One thing that we do know is that the performance is definitely much better than your average hosting provider. Sign up and test it if you do not believe. ;)

One thing that we do know is that the performance is definitely much better than your average hosting provider. Sign up and test it if you do not believe. ;)

I have no reason not to believe that. But that is not the issue

I cannot confirm whether they are oversold in any way but these plans doesn't seem to oversold to me: http://www.medialayer.com/hosting/application-hosting.html

Unlimited MySQL 5 Databases = Overselling

The whole no overselling or not oversold is the new unlimited in my eyes. It's blatant lying in almost all cases. I see posts on here and other forums like this:

80GB Space
800GB Bandwidth
Not Oversold
$8/month
Server Specs:
250GB Drive

These people talk how unlimited pray on the users are not knowledgeable. These people are no different they claim something and they are clearly lying. It's just another way to market to the users and nothing more.

Users should be looking at the quality of service of a provider and their requirements. All hosting has limits for CPU and memory as well no matter the space and bandwidth allocations. A lot of providers with more allocations also have more buying power due to their size. The host paying $300/month for a specification the larger host it might only cost them $150/month.

I'd have to agree with Tony. If you see a web host offering 50gb of disk space and 500gb bandwidth for $10 a month along with the No Overselling claim, it's all a marketing gimmick just like unlimited.

Almost every company oversells in one way or another. And the No overselling slogan has been used since before unlimited.

Unlimited MySQL 5 Databases = Overselling

All accounts are still limited in terms of disk space. Even if you create an astronomical amount of databases with no actual data, the directory on the server will be at least 4KB, so you're looking at a theoretical max of 125,000 DBs on a 500MB account. At that point, you'd hit the disk space limit, not a limit on the number of databases.

All accounts are still limited in terms of disk space. .

Its exactly that limit that defines the overselling. The configuraiton still depends that not all users will use what they are allotted

Its exactly that limit that defines the overselling. The configuraiton still depends that not all users will use what they are allotted

And if they do, it doesn't matter. We have no problem with a user reaching their disk space limit, but MySQL databases count towards the limit (along with email accounts), the same as they would at the vast majority of hosting providers. Due to this, there's no purpose to place a limit on the number of MySQL databases, so we don't do so. We could easily go ahead and place an artificial limit of say, 1000, on the number of MySQL databases, but this wouldn't make a difference in any respect.

I suppose we could argue regarding this all day (or night as it may be), but I believe a limit on the number of databases really isn't important in a discussion of overselling - what's far more important is disk space and bandwidth.

But that is never explained to customer. If you tell them they can have 500mb for web files, 500 mb for databases, and 500 mb for email (while calling it unlimited!), but not at the same time, you are overselling inside that slice of diskspace

But that is never explained to customer. If you tell them they can have 500mb for web files, 500 mb for databases, and 500 mb for email (while calling it unlimited!), but not at the same time, you are overselling inside that slice of diskspace

The customer is told they have 500MB for their account. It is never stated anywhere that 500MB is separated for web, email, or database, so I'm not sure what you're referring to.

Web, email, and databases, are all part of a hosting account, so naturally 500MB would be the limit for all items.

We have had some customers ask whether databases count towards the disk space limit, and of course we respond with the same clarification - we have nothing to hide here (it's a common practice after all), and at this point I'd be glad to add an FAQ on the site about it as well.

The basic point is, having no limit on the number of databases doesn't mean there's no limit on the amount of space they consume.

I know how it works. But its ok, even if I am correct....you don't have "we don't oversell" slogans plastered on your site or sig. That's the main issue here.

The basic point is, having no limit on the number of databases doesn't mean there's no limit on the amount of space they consume.

Correct; you can't confuse overselling with the package limits a customer buys. I think we all know that when someone points to an overselling host they mean those who offer a ridiculous amount of diskspace and bandwidth for a few dollars (or euros) and those those who balance and manage their server; and if needed moving customers to other nodes to make sure each server is working within the limits of the customer base on it.

In the end a customer does not look for a non-oversold host as in the exact definition (they would be better off to just buy a dedicated server if they did, and even then their bandwidth would likely to be oversold) but are looking for a host which keeps their site run smooth at all times while being able to use the basic resources (diskspace / bandwidth) which came with their package.