I just checked my 2checkout account and, it looks like they've only held $160 in reserve for this week - instead of the usual $1000.

Also, I can't figure out why, but the bank deposit for this coming up week is about 25% higher than I think it should be (even taking into account the smaller reserve). :eek:

Anyone else??? :confused:

I'm afraid to submit a helpticket on this...as it may just be the only one they decide to do anything about...and then it might end up getting screwed up to their advantage! :rolleyes:

--Tina

Doh!

I'm an idiot. I just figured it out. Its the 5% thingy that they started holding for 90 days...starting in September.

Right????

--Tina

I think Tina needs a nap :D

Greg Moore

Right 5% per cycle for (IIRC 90 days?) if so by the end of the 90 days you're not gonna be very amused :) $160 per week for 90 days cumulative is about $2000 in reserve at the end of the 90 in total, because that $160 won't be released for 90 days and in that time 5% per payout gets held (right?).

Also yes I seemed to notice about $400 extra last week but I figure I just missed something.

Hmm I just looked at this weeks numbers and it really looks odd. It seems like it's high, in my favor too. Even accounting for the $1000 reserve added back to my account from last week there's still about a grand extra I'm not sure where it comes from this time, ok so maybe I can't add and subtract I'll see how next weeks goes.

Edit: oh and I had $183 in reserve held :D

Yeah, well...we had record number of Paypal payments because 2checkout wasn't always available. :mad:

Seriously, congrats on beating us in revenue!

I intend on giving my staff a bit extra in their holiday bonuses this year. Hope 2checkout doesn't suddenly swing the other way on me!

PS: I just got another bit of good news. EMS finally released all the funds they were holding since July, this past Friday. They froze our account for going over their 1% chargeback rate.

...but that's another story! :angry:

--Tina

Yeah I just (literally, this weekend got it working) got setup with TMS and now Burstnet posts his story about them and a couple other folks also mentioned problems then a couple others say they haven't had any and now I'm hesitant to migrate to my merchant account and that's after all the hassle of getting what I thought was a good one to begin with...

Actually revenue's been down the last couple of weeks but that's cool, as soon as I get out of my current COLO contract and can get all my servers to Atlanta life will be good. I've finally realized it's just too darn expensive to house my servers in North Alabama so I'm moving the works to DV2's data center over the first half of next year. My colo costs will fall by over $3000 a month (at current utilization, which as you know only goes UP every month). Man can do a lot with 3 grand a month in N Alabama.

We were in a DC that was very expensive...moved to a local provider (and then offshooted to our own DC, with the local provider's help)...and the revenue increased greatly. I think that, unless you are offering high-end non-budget hosting accounts, you can't afford to be with an expensive colo company.

BTW - I was in my 2checkout account this mornign and noticed the amount being held is actually 191.66....so, IN YOUR FACE DIXIESYS! :D :stickout: ;)

--Tina

Bah! There's always next week!

Yeah gotta keep them profit margins up and using $325 per mbit and $550 per rack hosting ain't gonna help the bottom line, it's doable but it's a lot MORE doable for $125 per mbit and $200 per rack at DV2 in Atlanta :D

Is that Cogent? That's pretty cheap!

Cogent, williams and verio I believe are the three routes, though I'm sure the bgp is heavily Cogent weighted.

Nice! Well, I think you're probably going to cut us out of the shared hosting market.

Guess I'll have to break the news to my daughter that she won't be able to finish college. :D

--Tina

No way, not after we triple prices in January :) (only for new business not for existing customers!)

Gonna offer an SLA though for those new accounts.

You are seriously raising your prices?

--Tina

My post about the future (http://forums.dixiesys.com/index.php?act=ST&f=1&t=2804)

No need retyping all that, but the condensed version is:

Dixiesys will restructure into a more premium hosting solution, much fewer accounts per server, guarateed uptime (monitored by www.alertra.com) and up to a 100% refund for missing the downtime too badly. At the cost of higher prices for new customers (I don't plan to modify, or change, anything at all about people already using us, they're gonna keep on getting at least as good as they get now, and even better because I'll be bringing in more support staff which will definitely improve tech support response times for everyone). 99.5% uptime guarantee with a 10% refund for each .1% we miss it to a maximum of 50% refund (99.4 = 10% 99.3 = 20% 99.2 = 30% 99.1 = 40% and 99% = 50%) and if uptime goes below 98% for any given month, 100% refund for any customer on that server. We'll then start to market more uptime sensitive customers, businesses in particular, people doing any sort of small time ecommerce, etc.

On the flip side, I'm partnering with others and creating a new budget hosting company that'll be actually a bit cheaper than Dixiesys is now with prices, that'll be the company that has the occasional 2 for sale and the awesome rates. But it's gonna be streamlined, no phone support, no irc channel, just a helpdesk, and emails and later a forum for support. We were gonna use nothing but rackshack servers but with this new deal with DV2 we're considering perhaps going ahead and using our own equipment since at $125 per mbit we'd probably pay less per server in the long run than we do with RS even.

So I'm not abandoning the market of budget hosts, just kinda refocusing my efforts into a more premium service while keeping the budget offering solid with a new branding and a partnership (where I'm more of the background man and less the front man).

(whew long winded)

Now that I have gained the size and what I hope is the reputation, I think I can make a good showing with a premium service. As a "newbie" to the hosting biz it'd be hard to make a go of making a living out of the gates with a really premium package because you won't get the volume needed (in my opinion). And when I started all this it was "make a living in 3 months or less or start delivering pizza" because the job market sucked hard (and stil does but it doesn't bother me anymore for obvious reasons haha).

Originally posted by AffordableHost
BTW - I was in my 2checkout account this mornign and noticed the amount being held is actually 191.66....so, IN YOUR FACE DIXIESYS! :D :stickout: ;)

--Tina

$226.15 this week :D

That's over $400 being held by 2checkout and it's only week 2. And they hold this for what, 90 days? That's nearly 13 weeks, that means the total hold back on us will be in the $2600 range by the end of the 90 days.

Though if it allows 2checkout to stabilize their business (HINT HINT) then I won't lament about it too much.

Pay Period
Ended

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sales Dollars
Processed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sales Minus
Fees

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Refund
Amounts *

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special
Adjustments

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charge
Backs

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Affiliate
Commissions

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cycle Total
(Columns 2-6)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Payment
Amount

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reserve
Held

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reserve
Released

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12-15-2002 $ 5,391.70 $ 5,034.84 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 5,034.84 $ 4,765.26 $ 269.58 $ 0.00


Still gotcha beat! I cheated though - we offered a 20% discount to our current customers for either new or renewed accounts. We had ALOT of customers renewing, who weren't actually up for renewal. :D

...and YEAH...that's alot of funds they're holding onto! I sincerely hope it helps them get back on track!

--Tina

Whoa, that copy/pasted funky. :stickout:

Yeah you should see what happens when I paste those cuts into IRC in our staff channel, get booted for flooding :) haha

We're having a 2 for 1 this week and next (until 1/1) last time we billed over 27K in a 3 week period, though this sale is a bit slower than the last one was so we'll see how it pans out. Last hurrah before the price increases and new site gets unveiled on New Year's Eve.

Got you both beat, 2Checkout held $631.22 in reserve for me this week -- and I am not even a 2Checkout customer :D.

you see, this is a joke, I just wanted to interrupt the love fest and tell Tina to respond to my e-mail :D

No fair :D

Those big sales are nice I've got 7 empty servers sitting here and in the DC waiting on customers, shouldn't have to buy any new servers for a while!