Old enough to sell hosting? According to yoohost...No.

[Corazu]

Alright guys.

codeblue and I were gonna start out a hosting company (XDrive)

Apparently yoohost.com said to codeblue that we are under 18 (which we are, both 14, but pretty experienced and mature) and that we could get caught etc for underage selling of goods or whatnot. Then apparently they said we were a disgrace to the hosting industry (I am getting this from codeblue..)

Basically what I want to know is if any of that is true (besides the disgrace part) and what yoohost's reputation is like..

Regards,

[Wojtek]

No, theres no rules telling you cant sell hosting below 18

BUT, if yoohost IS a registered company, and you are his official employees, he can require that you are responsible for you own actions, thus be 18. or something to this effect. There was a discussion about it a few months ago if I remember, maybe search for it.

But, yoohost could of just used that to get rid of you, wich is fine since he's the owner and he can decide who to employ or not.

But, if he just is your hosting provider, he could of just told you a tip. In the long run, it will be hard for 2 14yr olds to keep up the company running. There's been far too many counts of such hosting companies beeing created just to disseaper a few weeks/months after because of lack of motivation. Basically a maturity mather.

[ensimrocks]

Yeah, i knew a few 14 yr old hosting company owners, and they went downhill after a month. I bought hosting from them, and i never paid for it, because before i got the chance to they disapreared and their domain was gone *shrugs*

[tandoc]

too much is never enough. except when it starts to hurt.

i agree with yoohost tho, maybe not for the same reason, but i doubt a pair of 14 year old can successfully run a hosting company at a profit.

[Trel]

I started giving away webhost long before I turned 18. I would recommend getting your parents involved and getting your business registered if you decide to proceed though.

I say if you can manage your company and school, give it hell. :bandit2:

[eBoundary]

Being under 18 means you can not enter into any legally binding contracts which will slow down your "company". If you intend to take it seriously and not slip into the kiddie host sterotype of purchasing a $99 dedicated server, overloading it and then dropping the clients on their butt when school goes back and you have homework to do, I'd recommend your parents or some other adult be heavily involved in the development and planning of this project.

Frankly providing you do everything legally, register the biz (probably better off in your parents name), pay taxes and treat your clients professionally, I see no reason anyone needs to know how old you are.

[Wojtek]

Frankly providing you do everything legally, register the biz (probably better off in your parents name), pay taxes and treat your clients professionally, I see no reason anyone needs to know how old you are.
I for one, would not want to be hosted by some 14 yr olds. I'd prefer to pay 5 bucks more and be hosted by some responsible adults. Also, I guess maybe 80% of kids who start business have parents wondering how the internet works, so getting them involved wouldnt help either. And, kids aren't willing to waste money on legal ----. No business registration, no taxes, no nothing. It's basially a phase they'r in.

"Everyone has a host, I want one too! But I dont wanna spend a penny." is their motto

[InstaNet]

You should really state what relationship you have with "joohost.com". Well regarding to your question, there is no law or rule that states that you must be over a certain age before you can start a webhosting service. Therefore if you have thought everything over and have a decent business plan, there should be nothing stopping you. Also personally I do not agree with the "disgrace to the hosting industry" statement; I feel as long as you treat your clients and others with professionalism and respect then it shouldn't matter if you're 14 or 70.

By the way, don't you already own a webhosting service: http://www.Post2Host.com?

Good luck with your venture:)

[PremiumHosted]

I think if you find some intelligent 14 year olds who know how the business works and are very mature. I would not mind that at all.

They can probally put the same work in as a full grown adult in half the time, I bet they are very enthusiastic and can work very fast. Give them a chance if you ask me. If they provide you the best hosting. THEN THEIR WORTH IT. So what if they're 14, they can put up the same thing as a grown adult.

I agree with you guys on the following replies that everything should be legal and what not. What I recommend for the 14 year olds is go slow with it. Get a customer here and there but wait till your out of school to ge this done.

Hope that helps.

[Corazu]

Yea, we have discussed it, I think I agree with the fact that because we are only 14, the time commitment may be a tad more than we can handle. I think we are probably better off trying to find a job at a hosting company as a sales representative if we can (which I doubt I will be able to do :/)

And, Post2Host is not owned by me, I just administrate there (and now I help out giving the hosting accounts)

Regards,

[ResellerPlanet]

I think Yoohost gave that reaction because they don't like 14 year old host kiddo's since they mostly make cheap packages (with big overselling!!!), which isn't good for companies like Yoohost.

I must say: Yes, there are 14 year old kiddo's who don't even know what the word "server" or "marketing" means and they are trying to get money by starting a hosting company using reseller accounts. But yes, there are also 30 year old adults trying to do the same.

[Martie]

I am constantly amazed at threads like this. I guess it depends on where you live and what the laws are in your area.
I believe Paypal even has the rule that you have to be 18 to open a paypal account.
You cannot even obtain a business checking account without a business license that you obtain from the county clerks office.
My advice to anyone that is 14..do some voluntary work somewhere, work towardssomething for your future.

[Corazu]

I do, I work at Post2Host as an admin, for free ;)

I have a paypal account, that may only be for certain countries :D

Regards,

[Jeff H]

For reference, the minimum age for holding a PayPal account is 18; see:
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/ua-outside

It would be a nasty surprise to find your funds frozen if they decided to call you on that.

[Corazu]

Pssh, what funds? I never put money into there, too risky. echecks are the way I do it, its pretty hard for them to freeze it that way..I think ;)

Regards,

[ResellerPlanet]

Pssh, what funds? I never put money into there, too risky. echecks are the way I do it, its pretty hard for them to freeze it that way..I think ;)

Regards,

You see, that's 14 year old wrong behaviour: If they freeze your account, the only thing you think about is if you lose any money. Well, if they freeze your account, your customers won't be able to pay, you won't be able to pay your servers, and your hosting company would die, leaving your customers in the cold :shame: :shame: :shame: But as long as you have your money via eCheck, right?

[Corazu]

I wouldn't be using that paypal account for the hosting, anyway, I wasn't even talking about relating this paypal account to the hosting. I use paypal for general payments and etc.

Regards,

[Jeff H]

The point here is, you have demonstrated that you don't have regard for a legally binding agreement. There are lots of 'rules' for running a business; little things like registering and licensing your business, paying taxes, finding out what you have to do in your state to run a business as a minor, knowing your liability, etc, etc. What you've indicated by blowing off PayPal's user agreement is that you are not ready to handle these important responsibilities. If you feel that you are, you need to do a lot of research on the administrative aspects of your business before you even get started. Or like you said, start as an employee at a hosting company to get a good technical grounding before you start worrying about the business aspect.

Good luck!

[stu]

You see, that's 14 year old wrong behaviour: If they freeze your account, the only thing you think about is if you lose any money. Well, if they freeze your account, your customers won't be able to pay, you won't be able to pay your servers, and your hosting company would die, leaving your customers in the cold :shame: :shame: :shame: But as long as you have your money via eCheck, right?
excellent point! :biggrin2:

[Corazu]

Yes, very excellent point, depends on how you look at it. Almost anything you say on the internet can be taken in any way. That is unless you spend 3 hours revising your post so the person gets exactly what you mean, but then, that's just a waste of time. He didn't *exactly* get my point. But I suppose he can't unless I tell him everything, and I neither want to post it all here nor reveal it to him in person. Just too time-consuming to prove a point sorta.

Regards,

[ResellerPlanet]

Yes, very excellent point, depends on how you look at it. Almost anything you say on the internet can be taken in any way. That is unless you spend 3 hours revising your post so the person gets exactly what you mean, but then, that's just a waste of time. He didn't *exactly* get my point. But I suppose he can't unless I tell him everything, and I neither want to post it all here nor reveal it to him in person. Just too time-consuming to prove a point sorta.

Regards,

I just gave a reaction on your post and if I interpreted your post wrong then I think it is your fault :wink2: PayPal was just an example, and I wasn't referring to you I was referring to all 14 year old hosting companies: Be carefull with your payment processors, you aren't allowed to have them and if you have one they can be cancelled if they find out you aren't 18 yet, which results in choas within your company and customers.

[Corazu]

If I had have decided to go down that route, my payment options would have been thouroughly researched, but I did not. And yes, you had every right to react in that way to my post and was probably the best one ^^ I didn't explain it good enough, so it is my fault.

Regards,

[ResellerPlanet]

If I had have decided to go down that route, my payment options would have been thouroughly researched, but I did not. And yes, you had every right to react in that way to my post and was probably the best one ^^ I didn't explain it good enough, so it is my fault.

Regards,

Well as long as you don't get me wrong, I have nothing against you, I was just pointing how things "mostly" go with 14 year old people trying to run a hosting company. Sometimes I get angry at them, since it's mostly because of them that people think "it's hard to find a good hosting company" and then they are afraid to purchase hosting. Also the average prices of hosting packages are going down drastically because kiddie's are overselling like ---- and bigger hosting companies have to follow a bit to stay alive. I think there should be laws for this, to protect the hosting scene.

[idleserv]

Should you be sucessful in gathering a good customer base, will you be able to support it well being that you have school, etc?