Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Lets talk about setup-fees!!

[Jonah]

Man, take a look at Burlees setup fee
on the plan 'Storefront Advanced'

http://www.burlee.com/webhosting/index.asp

ROTFLMAO - hahahahah


Okay, I just saw that the setup-fee includes manuals (wow!) and software, but quite expensive anyway!

To the serious part:

Im curious about how long time/work, it generally takes to set-up an account - not a dedicated server but an account in shared hosting.

Would some of the hosts out there share their experiences, please?

[JayC]

Originally posted by Jonah
Im curious about how long time/work, it generally takes to set-up an account - not a dedicated server but an account in shared hosting.

Minutes. Maybe seconds.

A setup fee could probably more accurately be called a "startup fee," which would carry less of a connotation that it's to cover a direct cost of setting up the account. In the case of those accounts at Burlee, the fee includes the StoreFront software. StoreFront AE, if you buy it from LaGarde, is $879. Resellers get it for $615 (though Burlee may have a different deal), so that's where most of the "setup fee" is going.


On accounts that don't include expensive software, though, it's still probably not the case that hosts that charge setup fees are making more money than those who don't; it's just another pricing model, another way of bringing in income for the account. Charging a setup fee frontloads the payment schedule; presumably the monthly or annual fee would be higher for a specific account from a specific host if there were no setup fee.

[Rewdog]

Man, take a look at Burlees setup fee
on the plan 'Storefront Advanced'

http://www.burlee.com/webhosting/index.asp

ROTFLMAO - hahahahah

[dektong]

Originally posted by Jonah

Im curious about how long time/work, it generally takes to set-up an account - not a dedicated server but an account in shared hosting.

With some sort of control panel, it can be done within 1 minute. I can setup an account with CPanel (pre-defined packages) in 15 seconds ...

It's just standar setup .. if you want to do something else beyond this standar setup, then it will take you probably .. another minute Anyway, I don't see the point of charging setup fee unless you really need to spent 20-30 minutes to do custom setups ...

cheers,

[DaveG]

On standard shared packages, I think it's just bad business to charge a setup fee. You want new business... that minute to setup the new account is the cost of doing said business.

To me, a charge to me for deciding to give them my monthly business is an insult and I assume it's there because they don't think I'll stick around.

I now only consider companies with no setup fee (been forced to move too many times thanks to companies like Webhosting.com and AIT).

[Angel78]

for dedicated ok but for shared plans no (unles there is some extra software instaled : shoping carts etc)

[kb@]

Shared hosting reselling with plesk, about 2-5 minutes.

[JayC]

Originally posted by DaveG
On standard shared packages, I think it's just bad business to charge a setup fee. You want new business... that minute to setup the new account is the cost of doing said business.

I don't know how you'd define "bad business," but it is a practice used by some of the largest and most successful hosting companies. That said, I agree that in today's market it's a marketing liability if you intend to compete on pricing terms. A few years ago, pretty much everyone had setup fees, for both hosting and for dialup access.

My point earlier -- and I've said the same in prior threads on the topic -- was that there's nothing evil or dishonest about the practice. It's just a different pricing structure from the one that's now more common, but it's at least upfront and open. If a potential customer doesn't like it, they'll go elsewhere. To me, all it says about a small or new company that uses it is that they have done no market research.

[Walter]

And something to add: different markets or countries = different approach.
In some European countries setup fees are very common even for small hosting accounts because some NICs require you to fax a signed confirmation for every change of nameservers for a domain (=work). Just an example.

[Jason King]

Originally posted by Jonah
Okay, I just saw that the setup-fee includes manuals (wow!) and software, but quite expensive anyway!

It appears they are charging for the cart system and other things in the setup fee.
If that's the case, I sure hope you own the licenses and software if you leave the host.