I need advice...

[Josh Brown]

Hey Folks,

I have a question for my fellow paid hosts out there. Recently, I've been called a scam for what I offer (its sort of hurtful...heh) customers (lowest plan being $9.95/yr...for 2.5/10GB). What do you think?

Do you think it is proper for a host; if they can afford it to lower their prices to that standard, without losing any form of money, or support? I mean; those customers end up getting the same caliber of service that I would expect from my own hosting service.

http://hyperservers.ca

What do you think? Do you think it is a scam? That it is too cheap? We're profitable, and we're still making money; just our ultimate goal was never to make this really large.

[GeekRack]

With the majority of hosting companies overselling out there this is something that the industry is faced with. I wouldnt say that you are a scam your packages are a bit expensive in this day and age in hosting. When a user looks at a company they generally think how much bang for my buck can i get the more the better.

Whether we like overselling or not its becoming such a widely used tatic for marketing purposes that we will be forced to deal with it or be left behind by other firms offering more. We have to remember the average customer that shops hosting doesnt have a very extensive knowledge into the field to know whats overselling and what isnt. This are the people that are the large portion of web hosting customer base. So we will have to either conform to this new style of marketing or be left behind. Simple as that :)

[Josh Brown]

I suppose.

I was thinking the same thing. I went for $9.95 a year; because a lot of customers were wanting a low fee hosting account like that. Oddly enough, a lot of those customers decided to go for the more expensive paid accounts that I offer. It was strange.

Oddly enough, I've always been afraid of "overselling", its been something that I've tried to avoid. Like my question to you folks is this - what do YOU consider overselling? I'd consider it overselling what you have; but I keep the customers to a minimum on each server, and they divide 3/5 of what I have, with there plenty of left over in case I become generous.

Thanks for the advice, and knowledge. You're right. :)

[GeekRack]

No problem my friend its nice to exchange ideas on such a vital subject in our industry. To me overselling is when a host crams as many clients as they can on one box. Regardless of the package sizes server become oversold just from usage etc. Not from what the package offers. So it then appeals to me that ok maybe its not about the package size but whats actually being used that cause overselling. I have dealt with hosts that have really small packages at say 1gb space 10 gb band and it probably one of the most unreliable boxes i have dealt with.

To sum it up, Overselling isnt in the size of the package but the use on the server. If package overselling is managed correctly you wont have a problem with keeping your server and your clients happy.

[serverorigin]

Overselling is an overused term in my opinion.

I think most all hosts oversell to a moderation just to stay in business. There are borders you don't cross. Server load/network usage/Disk Space -- all can be oversold in a very reliable configuration as long as you have the $$ to provide the full extent of the offer.

If you sell a package with 1TB of disk space and 5TB of bandwidth, be prepared to provide it. Doesn't mean you have to have an XP10000 with 21TB of disk available at the time, but it does mean than you need to know the growth, watch the trends and have your capacity at least of 75% of the overall packages sold. The capacity doesn't have to be purchased and sitting in a pile next to the box, but be ready for growth and have it readily available if needed.

Noone explains it better than the kings of overselling (http://blog.dreamhost.com/2006/05/18/the-truth-about-overselling/) that have a truly successful business model.

[Darknight]

Overselling has become more and more acepted over the last 12 months, Its amazed me how much people have changed there views to "OMG OVERSELLER" now its "oh they oversell"..
Also this:
I've been called a scam for what I offer (its sort of hurtful...heh) I learnt along time again there will be people where ever you go forcing there views on you .... just ignore it tis part of life, humans dont agree on everything and never will haha.
I tend to sum the overselling thing up abit differntly, Firstly you have overselling.. People who oversell the servers by packages, 2nd you have retarded overselling, This is usaly done by overloading servers with to many clients... Thats the way I look at it

:P
BTW if you had posted a overseller thread like this 6 months ago it would of became a extream massive debate... Thats why I say its changed alot latley people are slightly more layed back about it now...

EDIT: Just read your post haha

Clearly, if you’re going to have a group of people, you better make DARN sure you’ve got (at least) one bathroom per person! Or else, you’re just another CRAZY OVERSELLER!
LOL

[utcrazy]

Overselling is a serious problem in the industry. You need to know what your limits are and more importantly, what kind of customers you are trying to tailor to. Does $9.95 a year really cover the hours of support time and care you (should) put into this client? DO you treat your $9.95 customers differently than a customer paying $500 a month?

It's all about how you want your business to be run and if you're just trying to compete for the sake of beating the other people. FWS is funny like that, dozens of people fight over $2.00/month clients. They spend hours a day just to be the first one to post, maybe they will win these $2.00/month clients over.

Oh well...Good luck.

[LSComputers]

Overselling is a serious problem in the industry. You need to know what your limits are and more importantly, what kind of customers you are trying to tailor to. Does $9.95 a year really cover the hours of support time and care you (should) put into this client? DO you treat your $9.95 customers differently than a customer paying $500 a month?

It's all about how you want your business to be run and if you're just trying to compete for the sake of beating the other people. FWS is funny like that, dozens of people fight over $2.00/month clients. They spend hours a day just to be the first one to post, maybe they will win these $2.00/month clients over.

Oh well...Good luck.

This statement is so true.. I am glad UT mentioned it. Both points. The only statement I really had for you Josh is your $70/month reseller package is basicly an dedicated server... The only issue is how many resellers are on a server and are they on the same boxes as shared clients.

[Josh Brown]

This statement is so true.. I am glad UT mentioned it. Both points. The only statement I really had for you Josh is your $70/month reseller package is basicly an dedicated server... The only issue is how many resellers are on a server and are they on the same boxes as shared clients.

True.

I try to keep only 5 reseller accounts tops on one server. That way it keeps things clean. They never touch any shared accounts; because that's insane.

@utcrazy. The support is never degraded, that's the thing. I work just as much as I would for someone who is paying 500$, however, the reseller accounts would have a higher priority in my list as they have their own customers to answer to. It's my only idea.

You folks are all correct about the overselling. That was my major concern about the plans to begin with - but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to offend anyone with any plan that I posted; or got flamed.

[andygen]

$9.95/yr is a very small amount.
I think you better trust on thouse famous hosting company.
But they will cost about $7 per month.:angel:

[Tapster]

Their prices are very cheap and it always makes me put on the guard.

[Josh Brown]

True, but then again we have different standards - like we're trying not to line our pockets with riches. That sounds strange, but we're making enough to cover all of the servers, and the support, and a little money in our pockets. That's all that I care about, really.

I don't need to make more than that, and that's why the prices are so low.

[visoads]

No that is not a scam, its low pricing and good specs and your at a profit so who cares what people say? you're offering quality product/service.

[TheDingy]

Overselling is an issue with the small hosts, the big hosts, the dedicated people and the datacenters.

The key is always how much a reseller oversells its product, not how many people are on a server/circuit/bandwidth pipe etc. The key is that you always keep resources available to everyone. At Zogmo we have an 80% policy when any resource is used to 80% we buy more weather we are making money or not on that resource, this is so we can deal with spikes etc. Also we buy all of our ports/circuits with a much smaller commit than the port size, this costs more but it is worth it when a customer gets a DOS or we need more traffic for a slashdot or dig effect, they don't bother us.

-TD