Money-back guarantee
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What is a money-back guarantee?
A money-back guarantee is a guarantee that the merchant will refund the purchase price in full or in part if the client wants to terminate the service or return the product. The guarantee may depend on specified conditions.
Having a money-back guarantee is common for many industries, including the web hosting industry. It benefits web hosting clients by creating less risk if they choose not to stay with a particular provider, and it benefits web hosts by making their services more attractive to potential clients. While free trials used to be common in the web hosting industry, their abuse by spammers contributed to the shift toward money-back guarantees instead.
Money-back guarantee conditions
Time period
In the web hosting industry, most money-back guarantees are for 30 days or for 15 days. A 30-day guarantee offers more to potential clients, and a 15-day guarantee puts web hosting providers at less risk of having their services abused. Some money-back guarantees are for longer or shorter periods of time.
While a 30-day guarantee gives clients more time to decide if they're happy with a web host, most web hosting clients can find out what they need to know about a particular host within 15 days if they spend that time setting up their websites, testing to make sure everything works, and using customer support.
Restrictions
Some web hosting money-back guarantees are of the "no questions asked" unconditional variety. Most, however, have some restrictions on when they provide refunds. Examples of restrictions to web host money-back guarantees:
- The guarantee applies to only some packages and not to others.
- The guarantee applies to some types of payment terms, e.g., monthly, but not to other payment terms.
- Certain methods of payment are non-refundable, such as checks or bank wire transfers.
- The refund is for the time remaining for the account and not for the full amount paid.
- A client has used the web hosting account for illegal purposes, such as spamming.
- A client has content on the server that is harmful to the server or to other sites on the server.
- A client uses more than a specified amount of resources, even with an unlimited package.
- A client has violated the web host's Terms of Service in any way.
Some web hosts explain the restrictions to their money-back guarantee in the description of the guarantee. Others explain in their Terms of Service or other policy pages any factors that void the money-back guarantee.
How to evaluate a money-back guarantee
Not every web host offers a money-back guarantee, and all money-back guarantees are not the same. If you are looking for web hosting services, read money-back guarantees carefully and balance what they offer with other factors, such as web hosting packages and web host reviews.
Also read the Terms of Service and any other user policies for a web host you're considering. The complete information about a money-back guarantee may be on other user policy pages, and all the policy pages contain information that's important to know before choosing a web host.
See also
Web Hosting Wiki article text shared under a Creative Commons License.
