"Our resellers have the ability to host UNLIMITED sites."

[tonyxcom]

I've had a shared account with HG for around a year and have been extrememly pleased with it. So much so that I converted to a reseller account a few months ago.

The very first sentance on the the reseller page says...

"Our resellers have the ability to host UNLIMITED sites."

This is simply not true as HG does not allow you to oversell on the reseller accounts, and no where during the sign up process or in the TOS does it state that overselling is not permitted on reseller acounts.

What this basically means is that if you buy a 40GB plan you can only host 4 10GB sites, or 8 5GB sites, or 40 1GB sites, of 80 500MB sites.... you catch my drift. I guess if you give everyone 1K of storage you can host somewhere aroun 40,000 sites, but still nowhere near unlimited.

I feel this is deceptive marketing on HG parts and am considering leaving HG all together. If HG can oversell our reseller accounts then we should be able to do what we please with our allocated space. If we oversell too much and run out of resources, then that should be our problem to address with our customers.

So should I decide to stay, I'll have to continually nickle and dime my resources from one customer to another so that they can use the resources they need.

When I read that I could host unlimited sites, I read that "I can host unlimited sites" and that I would be able to oversell my resources by a certain amount so that my packages appeared somewhat competitive to the shared market and that I would be able to cover my hosting costs and make a few bucks in the end.

But I don't feel like having to charge $1 for a 1GB hosting package that I can sell to 40 people in order to break even every month. Had I known that I wouldn't be able to oversell by any amount I would have never signed up for a reseller package, a dedicated IP, SSL cert, and a few new domain names..

This blows.

[GatorPatrick]

I don't believe that is misleading at all. You *DO* have the ability to host unlimited sites. You can host literally as many sites as you can possibly fit into the disk space that you buy.

I apologize if this was not clear in the first place however I do believe our reseller packages are fair and competitive. If you need a better cost to diskspace ratio then it would most likely be better to go with a dedicated solution. You can find our dedicated offerings here: http://hostgator.com/dedicated.shtml

[tonyxcom]

yeah that seems to be the standard reply around here... "move to dedicated"... or "buy more space".

You should update the reseller page to say that you CANNOT oversell by any margin. I am almost $200 and 2 months into this project and just found out today that you can't oversell.

Something is wrong with that picture. It clearly isn't unlimited. It is very much limited by the amount of space you buy and the size of your packages.

You'd have to give everyone 1K or less to get anywhere near "UNLIMITED" which is emphasized in bold and caps on the reseller page.

If I missed the part during sign up where it says you aren't allowed to oversell with the reseller plans then accept my apologies, but until you update the reseller page then I think this warning is fair for potential customers that might think that "UNLIMITED" means just that.

[GatorBrent]

Hi Tony,

Did we ever tell you can oversell?

If this is a requirement we will be happy to issue a full refund for you. Nobody is forcing you to stay hosted with us. We would hate to you see go but understand if this is a requirement for you.

We aren't able to fill the servers up using all of the servers diskspace or bandwidth if we did the server would have more uptime then downtime. Because of this we definitely can't allow our customers to do it. I do not believe allowing overselling is a viable business plan which is probably why we've seen 100's of our customers go out of business over the years. There's a reason we are the worlds largest reseller hosting company with over 15,000 resellers, and that's because of our amazing uptime, support, and staying in business.


This thread will be moved to suggestions in 24 hours. Giving a negative review for something we never advertised as offering isn't fair. Please pm me if you would like that full refund.

Thank you for understanding.

[smp]

Originally Posted by GatorBrent

We aren't able to fill the servers up using all of the servers diskspace or bandwidth if we did the server would have more uptime then downtime.

Reverse that.

Regards, Steve Xx

[Serenade]

Can I get a refund as well? I was not aware of this.

[YukonMaster]

Originally Posted by smp

Reverse that.

Regards, Steve Xx

I read it like 4 times, and was like, that can't be right

[slapshotw]

Originally Posted by Serenade

Can I get a refund as well? I was not aware of this.

Just email sales.

[ikite]

Dear Brent,
I think Tony is somewhat right. Let me explain. I have signed up your reseller account just 15 hours ago. I never thought, repeat never thought that overselling WILL BE AN ISSUE FOR RESELLER ACCOUNT. Bacause thats the bottom line of a reseller account. For the first time when I have logged in, I was surprised for sure. I had a reseller account with other host, who closed down and switched their business. So I had to find a new host. For over a month, I have studied Hostgator, read about the opinions. I was pleased and decided to end up with HG. By the way, my previous host was nice and smooth, had almost no downtime with the included facility of Disk Space Overselling.

I am disappointed but not frustrated. I am sure there is some way other than refunding. Mr. Brent You must know that avarage website does not even use its 50-60% disk space and bandwidth. However, there is database usage hazard which I personally restirct by limiting the maximum no for each hosted site. I think that is the smart choice for the resellers who want to make some profit in this competitive arena.

For example, 45 hosted sites of my previous account never used more than 8% of their allocated resource.

Sincerely Yours
Tarik

[danocorno]

The Oxford English dictionary states that the word "unlimited" is an adjective, defined as, "not limited or restricted; infinite.". There is a practical limit to the number of accounts that one can sell in a given amount of disk space. The use of the word, "unlimited", may be considered hyperbole. I suggest that HG choose their advertisement words more carefully.

[YukonMaster]

Originally Posted by danocorno

The Oxford English dictionary states that the word "unlimited" is an adjective, defined as, "not limited or restricted; infinite.". There is a practical limit to the number of accounts that one can sell in a given amount of disk space. The use of the word, "unlimited", may be considered hyperbole. I suggest that HG choose their advertisement words more carefully.

It is not limited, HostGator doesn't impose a limit on it in any way. The space is limited, this is a simple concept, those who have a chance in the hosting industry would understand that.

[Serenade]

It doesn't really matter about the disk space in the way you think honestly, the absolute amount of people you can host on the hatch croc plan is 24,000 accounts. Yippee, but they would only be 1KB accounts. And what's the point of that? I have found 3 MUCH MUCH MUCH X100 better reseller plans out there; pm me if you would like more information on them. Don't want to advertising .

[tonyxcom]

My frustration lies in the fact that I know that the reseller accounts are oversold on the servers that they are on. Under my shared account my sites were always fast. At least I hardly noticed any slowness.

Under my reseller account I frequently see my sites, all at the same time take more then a few seconds to load. But I understood this was a side of effect of shared hosting and never made a fuss. I just got lucky with the server that my shared account was on. I understand that in order to maximize the profits of each server it needs to be oversold by a certain amount.

But I am frustrated in the fact that I cannot oversell my 40GB of reseller space by any amount to maximize my profits. Most of the sites I develop will never exceed a gig, but I'd like to be able to "sell" my clients more space so they don't feel I am taking advantage of them.

After doing some research I think I am going to stay with HG, but would it be too much to ask that I be put on a "Better" server so that the daily slowness goes away. I would hate to be in a position to sell my clients a tiny amount of space AND have it work subpar.

But I really think you should clarify on the reseller sign up page that overselling is not allowed and stop using the word "unlimited" on anything but the dedicated server page. It is clear that I am not the only customer disappointed when finding out reselling isn't allowed.

[othellobloke]

I don't get what people's problems are - if you need more space, buy a bigger reseller.

If you need more than the reseller offers, ANY host with ANY sense would advise you to move to a dedicated.

Whilst technically what Hostgator said about unlimited hosting isn't true, I knew exactly what they meant the first time I read that, and GatorPatrick summed it up in his second sentence.

[jctwebsites]

Let's see. What is the word for the people that are fussing in this thread about unlimited domains....overselling.....? Ahh yes! Ignorant! There we go. Come on people. You remind me of the "Members of the Union" where I work. Unlimited domains mean your not restricted to 1 domain, 5 domains, etc... You can create as many domains as you like In the space that is given to you . You have to put the whole picture together. You have to be well, ignorant to think that a hosting company would give you unlimited resources in a reseller account. If that were possible, we could all make our own hosting companies off of hostgator...which would be crazy. You go ahead and buy a warehouse, fill it full of servers, use the electricity to keep them running 24/7, spend the money to buy UPS's, hire a staff to maintain all your servers, implement the required software to make everything work together, etc.... and then you would have the right to unlimited resources to resell space.....wait a minute....that sounds like what hostgator did to become a company and to sale space to us!!! Ding Ding Ding!!! Bottom line........get your head out of your @$$ and get real!!!

[tonyxcom]

with all due respect. get YOUR head out of your ass.

I am not talking about hosting unlimited domains. I am not asking for unlimited resources.

I was simply connecting the fact that "unlimited sites" really means "as many sites as your space will allow"

If I buy 40GB worth of space, I simply expected to be able to oversell that 40gb of space so that I could maximize the resources that I pay for each month. The SAME way the HG and every other host in the world oversells to maximize their resources. I am not asking for more then I paid.

So before you go and toss around insults, why don't you take time to read what everyone is ACTUALLY saying before making yourself and your company look unprofessional, even though your website does a pretty good job at it already.

[DannyD]

Im not on anyones side, but it says unlimited domains because you can HOST as many domains as you want. The webspace is a whole different thing. You can really host unlimited domains if you have the space. I dont know what to say. But it will be good if we are allowed to oversell because many people are overselling and the smaller companies cant compete. When you see someone with 500 gb space and unmetered bandwidth and you see someone with 7 gigs space and 50 bandwidth im sure you will choose the first one.

- Prilep

[ghpk]

I would say hostgator is Best for reseller hosting, Iam a customer here for nearly 3 yrs now, and reseller plans here are just great.

Not allowing overselling is a "FAIR" business practice, and thats what make hostgator servers outbeat the competitors' in performance.

You buy a 40GB allocation and you get it, so you should not expect them to let you sell 100GB when you purchase only 40GB.

would you eat at a restaurant which allows "over-eating allowed" if you do, you are probably eating junk as that of those cheap un-reliable hosting competitors. :-)

iKite (Tarik) wrote

I had a reseller account with other host, who closed down and switched their business

this is what happens when those hosts oversell.

[YukonMaster]

I was thinking, what about charging a certain fixed fee a month for overselling, I mean, it is clear people want it, so if you charged them more, HG gets something out of it, and so do clients?

[Dwight]

I am very happy with HG's pricing and policies, but I do think the term 'unlimited' is misused on the whole, just as the word 'free' is...

Nothing is unlimited, neither bandwidth nor disk space.. either would assume infinite resources which is impossible.

If something is advertised as 'free', then there should be no other conditions. If you need to buy something to get the 'free' item, then it is 'included with purchase', but not 'free'. I know this is a whole other issue, but it goes to illustrate how advertising can be misleading.

[kmaw]

If you want a host who will allow overselling, go somewhere else... there's lots out there...

Theoretically, if you alloted only 5MB per site you could host A LOT of sites... practically, probably not, but theoretically, yes...

You know you have XX of GB, so why assume you could host more sites than however you alot that space? You have the ability to host as many sites as you can fit in the plan... you're not restricted to '25' domains or something...

Besides, how else could they word it? "Host as many sites as you as you have space for?"

[slapshotw]

Originally Posted by tonyxcom

with all due respect....

With all due respect, there's no reason for this to continue on. Hostgator doesn't allow overselling on their reseller servers. Some reseller hosts do, some don't. If you don't like HG's policy, write an email to sales with the feature request, and find any one of a million hosts that do things the way you want.

It's a tradeoff. My experience is that reseller hosts that give their resellers more freedom tend to have more downtime. If you don't feel the same way, and overselling is important to you, then it's not hard to find a host that fits your needs better. Posts like this in the forum won't help you accomplish your goal of having hosting you're happy with.

-Matt

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by slapshotw

With all due respect...hosting you're happy with.

http://forums.clubrsx.com/images/smilies/yeahthat.gif

[mike240se]

wow i am sure glad i found this thread before getting my reseller account. I had no idea you couldnt oversell. And some of the people above were a little wrong in what they were saying, one guy said that you cant expect them to give you 100gb when you buy 24gb. that is not what overselling means, you only get your 24gb of space, but you can sell people plans with as much space you want so they see that space in cpanel and feel all warm thats it there, but no one will ever use it. and if they do, that reseller is screwed, not hostgator, his account will reach the max gb or bandwith and be shutoff. but thats the game, try to upload 600gb of data to your shared hostgator account and let me know what happens, something tells me a) it wont fit b) they will freak out and kick you off for some reason c) it wont sit there as long as you pay $10 a month. i could be wrong but...... like if i uploaded 600gb of backups to my account, hey its my space, i pay for it, i should be able to uplaod what i want, i highly doubt it will work withoit issue. but i am not bashing hostgator, i am saying i am glad i read this, reason? so i can buy a dedicated server OR deal with the reseller but now knowing that issue. so i assume hostgator wont let you set quotas in whm higher than your total quotas? i assume thats how they dont let you oversell?

[slapshotw]

Originally Posted by mike240se

so i assume hostgator wont let you set quotas in whm higher than your total quotas? i assume thats how they dont let you oversell?

Exactly. It's a setting in WHM for root users; you check a box to allow resellers to set package quotas higher than what they currently have, or not.