Why Annual Only

Some companies sell their most basic plans on annual pricing. This is usually done to encourage the person to buy a more expensive product. Other companies do it to make a quick buck. It just depends.
 
Has anyone here done a lifetime hosting? Can you share your experiences with us. I have seen on ebay and other auction websites lifetime hosting and people are buying it. I wonder how popular lifetime hosting is in this market.
 
well . yearly payment is just a quicker way to raise funds as well as to lock a customer in . they will offer promotional pricing for those who are willing to commit to the company for a long period of time .

on the other hand, lifetime hosting is not possible as there will be recurring operational costs for any hosting company and a one time will not be able to cover such costs.
 
ldcdc said:
I recall Asmallorange having a lifetime offer (running for a limited time only), and the stated reason was basically, to raise capital. It can be a way of borrowing really, in the hope that profits will more than cover the repeated and potentially never ending costs. Can it really work? I suppose it can, if accounts are not upgraded in any way, at some point they become deprecated. With technological advance, they will be ever cheaper to host too. It's less risky for the host in a way too, for lifetime is usually defined as the life of the company. Company fails, lifetime ends, end of story, no banks chasing to get the debt.
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I agree, at the same time these lifetime plans only mean you get hosting as long as the company stays in business. It also mean if you violate there TOS they can terminate your account without refund :D. Make sure you read there TOS before purchasing anything.
 
ldcdc said:
I recall Asmallorange having a lifetime offer (running for a limited time only), and the stated reason was basically, to raise capital. It can be a way of borrowing really, in the hope that profits will more than cover the repeated and potentially never ending costs. Can it really work? I suppose it can, if accounts are not upgraded in any way, at some point they become deprecated. With technological advance, they will be ever cheaper to host too. It's less risky for the host in a way too, for lifetime is usually defined as the life of the company. Company fails, lifetime ends, end of story, no banks chasing to get the debt.
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This is true. Asmallorange is a repeatable company to say the least, and hosted a few websites for a friend of mine a few years back. He to this day is still on his "lifetime package" and asmallorange continues to support him and honor him as if he was still a paying customer.
 
in short, you can say it is easier to management, better ROI,and client no need to handle alot of BILLING stuff.
 
I also agree that buying life time hosting is nothing but taking a huge risk. Even extremely fit companies can get sold to someone else and turn into something terrible in a single day, we've seen such examples in years.

Annual hosting is something we do as well. As we sell affordable hosting plans, smaller plans are inexpensive enough to be sold annually. As the plans get bigger, we shorten the contract periods but to tell the truth, most customers still choose to save money and pay annually even for the biggest hosting plans.
 
Although we do NOT force annual payments, there are definitely several benefits for the hosting company when the client does pay in advance.

I know that most shared/reseller plans are priced with the assumption that the client will stay for a period of time. It can take months to return a profit on a single customer, so if they pay ahead of time, then it guarantees that they are not a loss from the start.

Also, as others have said, there is much less hassle for both the host and the client in regards to billing for an annual plan. Its much easier to collect once every 12 months rather than every 30 days.

But, as a client you must be sure that you are not paying annually to a 12 year old who is running a hosting company out of his basement, who will close up shop 3 weeks later :rolleyes2
 
HivelocityJJ said:
Some companies sell their most basic plans on annual pricing. This is usually done to encourage the person to buy a more expensive product. Other companies do it to make a quick buck. It just depends.
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Ok now this above all things makes the most sense to me. Thank you for that reply. The idea that it is a way of forcing their upselling, well its a simply technique that really has little in the way of draw backs.
 
Many hosts need the money up front due to their high affiliate payouts. With $100 or more in payouts, it can take up to two years worth of hosting fees just to pay off the affiliate commission, not to mention support/server costs of the actual account.

It does also reduce in monthly billings, billing management, client retention, etc.
 
Are affiliate schemes common within the hosting industry? I'm not sure in truth that I've even seen companies offering the chance to sign up as an affiliate-reselling yes, but not affiliate schemes.
 
ldcdc said:
Some companies also have high paying affiliate programs - up to two years worth of hosting fees or so. They might need the funds in advance, to pay the affiliates.
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Nailed it! Give this man a prize!

AbbieRose said:
Are affiliate schemes common within the hosting industry? I'm not sure in truth that I've even seen companies offering the chance to sign up as an affiliate-reselling yes, but not affiliate schemes.
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This is one thing I never got about customers. Why call it a "schemes". Even though it may seem as the host is taking you for a ride if they take 1 year or more payments, but think about it. Most of the larger hosts, who have been in this industry for yeaaaaaars... aren't really going anywhere. I mean, sure a business can fail, but it has nothing to do with the payment frequency.

Think about it, they are paying more than you are paying them for you to be a customer of theirs. It's an investment. It's in their best interest that you stay happy with them so that they can realize that investment.

I've done it in the past. Will I do it again? Not really and not because it wasn't a good method. It's because it doesn't fit our business model.
 
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Actually if you pay monthly the processing fee to collect that money will be more or less equal to the amount you pay, so many want yearly in shared hosting, but dedi and vps offers monthly payments only
 
I never will do it agane... I did it and the seccound day my provider that I bought it from closed down what a nightmare it was I spent 80$ into the garbage
 
Well 1 year plans don't really make sense for shared hosting, but if you are renting out high end dedicated servers then 1 year rentals provide a lot more security to the provider
 
123ABCHosting said:
I never will do it agane... I did it and the seccound day my provider that I bought it from closed down what a nightmare it was I spent 80$ into the garbage
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This is the sort of thing that worries me a little bit. There are places that go through this kind of downfall and they trade as though they were a healthy company up until they close the doors. No warning, no refunds, and you are just out of luck. Its terrible, and unless the company goes into receivership you'll see nothing back.
 
This happens if you choose a wrong company choose companies who are in this field for years and decide, closing the companies no one can decide big corporations are closed this days why not a small hosting company.

Select some good companies, read reviews and then decide
 
I have noticed that some hosting companies only offer hosting for a period of a year. Why is this? Are they not so good and want to lock you in for a year no matter how unhappy you are?

It seems to me that a good hosting company would win its customer's loyalty and not need to do this
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This is not something I am particularly keen on however if the company has a good long reputation then I see no problem with this.
 
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