Hostgator competing with its resellers?

[robertolito]

Yep, have a nice rest.

[robertolito]

Striddy,
If you could please tell what that unlimited bandwidth and hd space plan is? I have just checked all the reseller plans and the dedicated and they all have limited things. It will help if you are specific.

[striddy]

Originally Posted by robertolito

Striddy,
If you could please tell what that unlimited bandwidth and hd space plan is? I have just checked all the reseller plans and the dedicated and they all have limited things. It will help if you are specific.

HG doesn't offer such a plan (that I'm aware of). You will need to look elsewhere. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to mention names on this forum, but some google searches should find you some alternatives.

Bear in mind, this will cost you a lot of $$$ each month to purchase and may not be viable for you.

[WEG0508]

Here's a workable solution: HG can stop offering the unlimited plans so as not to compete with you. Or.... maybe all of those customers on these unlimited accounts would move in mass to all of those other zillion or so providers who offer unlimited plans also.

Now here's the key... you now need to open a reseller account with these other hosting companies, go into their forums and argue your case for them to all drop their unlimited offerings. Once this is accomplished you can compete with the big guys!

[dewt]

I have a Reseller account and I do not think it is unfair that Hg offer unlimited accounts while I'm not allowed to. I fully expect that if I find some method of taking a significant number of customers from HG (not very likely) that they will look at what I am doing/offering and see if they can either match it or beat it. That is the nature of competition. It is up to me to constantly monitor my competition while at the same time try to find ways to make my customers so happy with me that they are not going to leave. How do you achieve that - it is going to be different for every customer but one thing will be common amonst them all. They must feel that I care about them.

As a small provider of IT services (not just hosting) I can give my clients a package that is tailored to match their needs. If I think that another company would be better suited to them then I will tell them so. My clients all appreciate the trouble I go to for them and they all are happy to give me any business they can.

Will I ever make a fortune from this? No. Did I think I would? No.

[virtvir5]

Originally Posted by dewt

If I think that another company would be better suited to them then I will tell them so.

Jeez! You're certainly a very honest "Grumpy Old Git."

As for the general complaint about HG's "competing with its resellers", one might as well ask if SoftLayer (and The Planet before that) is/was "unfair competition" for HostGator. As with any business involving "middlemen", unless the primary source refuses direct sale customers completely, value-added services and customer convenience must be the key.

[dewt]

Originally Posted by virtvir5

Jeez! You're certainly a very honest "Grumpy Old Git."

Honesty is the most important thing in life. It is also a lot easier than lying or cheating.

So far I have not lost a single customer. When I switched from giving them free hosting via my shared account to having their own cPanel they all voluntarily asked if they could now pay for the hosting.

[robertolito]

WEG0508,
In order to respond in a thread you should at least read all postings and understand well what the initiator was saying. If you knew the value of unfair competition, you would understand better. Put it this way: I give you a share of my business under the same conditions I do business. You buy your share at a convenient price and you see that it's good business for you. But one day I come to you and tell you: from now on what you are selling I am going to give for free. What would be your reaction? Wouldn't you feel like betrayed by a partner? I never said the solution is that HG stop selling unlimited accounts. It's too late now. I said that HG should put itself in the resellers shoes, and that the resellers have lost when they started offering everything unlimited, and we deserve some sort of compensation, like increasing the total bandwitdth available to us to distribute, reducing the yearly fees or any other kind of compensation. What is done is done. And there is no way back now. So your idea of HG cancelling the unlimited accounts sounds absurd and sarcastic.

[robertolito]

dewt,
We are not talking here about keeping your present customers. I have more than 30 and have not lost them either. We are talking about selling more. And to sell more you need to provide added value to your product. More value than your competitors are offering. What is left to me to offer and sell more to more people is forget about selling them limited hosting, sell other services I have and increase the value of those services with free hosting. Question is: how would HG see that I would be offering accounts totally for free to all those that buy my other services? I would be the only one offering first quality hosting with CPanel, totally for free. If you were HG, wouldn't you find my offer unfair competition?

[robertolito]

virtvir5,
For HG to start doing business with SoftLayer, can you imagine the sort of agreement HG and SoftLayer may have signed so the business will be profitable for both. To say that SoftLayer could be competing with HG doesn't make any sense to me. They wouldn't be doing business together. You do business with a partner that offers you special conditions to sell his services, not that makes you lose.

[quietFinn]

Originally Posted by robertolito

To say that SoftLayer could be competing with HG doesn't make any sense to me.

Yes they are competing. I buy my dedicated servers from HostGator, and I could buy them directly from SoftLayer, and the prices would be lower.
I buy from HostGator, and pay more, because I am getting more.

[WEG0508]

Originally Posted by robertolito

WEG0508,
In order to respond in a thread you should at least read all postings and understand well what the initiator was saying.

I did, and each post makes your reasoning or lack of same seem even more ridiculous.


If you knew the value of unfair competition, you would understand better.

Fortunately you are here to teach us all.

Put it this way: I give you a share of my business under the same conditions I do business. You buy your share at a convenient price and you see that it's good business for you. But one day I come to you and tell you: from now on what you are selling I am going to give for free. What would be your reaction? Wouldn't you feel like betrayed by a partner? I never said the solution is that HG stop selling unlimited accounts. It's too late now. I said that HG should put itself in the resellers shoes, and that the resellers have lost when they started offering everything unlimited, and we deserve some sort of compensation, like increasing the total bandwitdth available to us to distribute, reducing the yearly fees or any other kind of compensation. What is done is done. And there is no way back now.

There were many, many hosting companies offering unlimited plans before I signed up for my reseller account


So your idea of HG cancelling the unlimited accounts sounds absurd and sarcastic.

Absurd... I think ludicrous might fit the bill better, however when dealing when an absurd thought process

Sarcastic ....

At least 10 additional characters

[freeman]

Originally Posted by quietFinn

Yes they are competing. I buy my dedicated servers from HostGator, and I could buy them directly from SoftLayer, and the prices would be lower.
I buy from HostGator, and pay more, because I am getting more.

You are 100% percent right. I can say after all my experience that I found Hostgator the best provider on the market.

[jimmysupport]

I am a HG reseller - have had a diamond account since 2002. Also have a VPS account. I have other Reseller accounts with three other companies. nThe Internet is my living.
HostGator does things that are aimed at helping a Re-seller. Lots more tools and instant response for tech support. One of the other places I have some sites hosted don't even have a phone...it is all email.
They have always been very supportive and best of all is their up-time.
A measley 99 per month gets me over 1400 in return...month after month.
I see it from a Re-seller perspective and I think that HG is more than fair to us. Quit your bellyaching and get to work. HG owes us nothing because since they have advertised...I have made even more progress. Name recognition helps us re-sellers.

[striddy]

@robertolito - HG doesn't owe you anything other than to provide you with the services you are paying for. They provide hosting space and resources for a fee. That is what you initially signed up for and nothing has changed.

HG did double the disk and bandwidth some time back.... perhaps before you joined, but didn't raise the fees. That would allow resellers to sell twice as many accounts as before, or offer twice as much disk / bandwidth to their existing customers. My guess is that disk / bandwidth will likely be raised again soon, but not to unlimited.

To suggest that HG owes you something is showing desperation. Perhaps you need to rethink your business model and see how you can add value to your sales. A small reseller cannot possibly compete with HG or any other host selling plans with unlimited space / bandwidth.

[EarlyOut]

Originally Posted by robertolito

...we deserve some sort of compensation....

Oh, my. I think someone is expecting a pony. Maybe if you wish real hard.

[virtvir5]

Originally Posted by robertolito

virtvir5,
For HG to start doing business with SoftLayer, can you imagine the sort of agreement HG and SoftLayer may have signed so the business will be profitable for both.

No. I have no idea at all about their contractual arrangements, except that they obviously did not and do not prevent The Planet and SoftLayer from offering any of their facilities and services directly to others. In that sense at least, HG is a "middleman" just as you are having a primary source with which it must "compete."

It is your own agreement with HostGator, however, that is relevant (or not) to your complaint. What direct HG sales limitations (if any) were stipulated in your agreement to ensure your profitablity?

If no such legal or contractual restrictions have been violated, then you have no legitimate complaint whatever about HG's offering to its direct customers the best value that it can. Whether or not you can match it is immaterial. In fact, far from being "unfair competition", anything else could be considered as "restraint of trade."

Under the system called "free enterprise", if your competitor is also your primary source with whom pure price competition is impossible, you either learn to compete by providing something that your source doesn't or your business dies. It's really that simple.

[robertolito]

To all those that are in favor of HG policies and relationships with its resellers:
If you are really a reseller (and you are not a HG representative giving your support to HG here in this Forum), continue enjoying your profits.
If you are not a reseller and you don't know what it is being one: buy a reseller account.
As for me, I will continue my business the way I find more profitable. Thank you for participating in this thread. Your opinion has been very valuable.
I am now closing this thread because I don't have anyone to talk to anymore and I really don't believe that some of the opinions here are genuine.