mikie Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 (edited) Iv been with vps.net for about 9 months. Im still trying to work out how im going to sell VPS servers to around 75 people who need a windows server and make a profit. Here is the thing. The pricing model at VPS.NET is designed to make you fail. Look, i just cant see how im going to justify a $12 profit p/m, if i can pull it off, then offer 24hr techincal support and everything else that goes with hosting. Impossible!!!! Because when you do the numbers it just doesnt add up. VPS net charges you $13 per node and thats even if you pre paid 18 nodes. Most of my customers will want to buy a VPS withou at least 2gb of ram and why shouldnt they? While Windows can run on less its more logical to offer them a vps around the 2gb mark. Plus, they will need Windows. VPS.NET doesnt offer XP or any other Windows license which is FREE. All that costs me money. So lets see To deploy a decent server that customers can run tools on etc etc maybe even web hosting you would need to deply at least 4 nodes to get a ram total of 2048. Thats going to cost me; $13 x 4 = $52.00 NOTE: Even if i prepay 18 nodes, its going to cost me $234.00 out of which i can get 4 servers with a 2gb ram costing me 58.00? WOW! You would think, the most nodes you purchased the cheaper it was!!! Then, you will need to install a version of windows. VPS net charges you 7.50 - 10.00 per license. That means that in order to deploy a windows vps to a customer youll have to give them a free copy of windows. Another 7.50. You would think, that at least vps.net could give you a free installation of xp or something but no, they charge for everything. 52.00 + 7.50 = 59.50 So that already 59.50 that i have to spend and i havent even added my profit too it. Holy cow, are you serious? So i still have to add my profit. How much more can i add to $59.50? Not much more. With all the competition out there iv seen a configs like this going for less than $40. So how is anyone making any money by using vps.net????? As i see it, unless i start charging everyone for Windows and try to pick up some profit on extras like ip, backups it would be foolish of me to entertain the thought of making any real profits at vps.net. Edited March 2, 2013 by mikie 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 The latest vps files dated Dec 2012 dont work either. I downloaded it from my control panel. No matter what i do and how carefully i follow the docs it just doesnt work. The config options dont show, there is no docs on how to use the file vps-cloud.php and all in all its a mess. I have wasted so much time on trying to get this thing running iv just about given up. Just another failed attempt with vps.net 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex - Arvixe Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 (edited) This isn't the right forum for this (technical issues for WHMCS) but for your questions: I can't comment on who may be making a profit from them (I assume some sort of reseller program they offer?) though you can perfectly run a website on less than 2gb ram (to a certain point of course). Why not choose one of the other providers you hinted to that offer cheaper pricing? Edited March 2, 2013 by Alex - Arvixe 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHMCS Chris Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Hello, I'm not sure this is the correct place for such conversation. I've moved this to the general discussion forum. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 Hello, I'm not sure this is the correct place for such conversation. I've moved this to the general discussion forum. Sorry about that! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 This isn't the right forum for this (technical issues for WHMCS) but for your questions: I can't comment on who may be making a profit from them (I assume some sort of reseller program they offer?) though you can perfectly run a website on less than 2gb ram (to a certain point of course). Why not choose one of the other providers you hinted to that offer cheaper pricing? Im all ears. I would be very happy to get some pointers. Iv looked around but havent found anyone who is offer whitelabel vps hosting. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex - Arvixe Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Well to start what type of VPS do you want to resell? (Location etc...? - VPS.NET offers several locations by the looks of it). Why not get a dedicated server and sell VPS packages from it? That way you can set the prices, setup etc...? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 Well to start what type of VPS do you want to resell? (Location etc...? - VPS.NET offers several locations by the looks of it). Why not get a dedicated server and sell VPS packages from it? That way you can set the prices, setup etc...? Umm maybe you missed the point, Im saying its too expensive and you cant make a profit. Im wondering who else is with them and how they are making a profit because it will cost me over 50.00 before resell. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nesooo Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Most probably anybody serious will not use them or if those, then like you have said they will pretty soon go offline. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
othellotech Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Simple answer ... 1. dont aim for the bottom-feeders 2. be choosy about who you resell for 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex - Arvixe Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Most probably anybody serious will not use them Then again that saying comes to mind: You get what you pay for. To say anyone serious will not choose them, well.... Of course it will depend who you are targeting when you are pricing things up but as said before, don't go with the cheapest kid on the block as you will probably regret it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPS.net Reseller Manager Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Hi Mikie, my name is Mo and I am the Reseller Manager for VPS.net and will try to address your concerns and questions here. My comments are marked with ** - Iv been with vps.net for about 9 months. ** I work closely with all of the resellers, however your name is not familiar to me which suggests that you may not already be a reseller or are not aware that we offer this service, have a look here for more details: http://vps.net/resellers/ - Im still trying to work out how im going to sell VPS servers to around 75 people who need a windows server and make a profit. Here is the thing. The pricing model at VPS.NET is designed to make you fail. ** I can assure you, it is not designed to make you fail, we have a high number of resellers who are actively selling nodes and servers and are making a profit. Please bear in mind that this solution is a Cloud based VPS solution with failover support, its not like traditional VPS servers which essentially is a dedicated server with shared VM's. -Look, i just cant see how im going to justify a $12 profit p/m, if i can pull it off, then offer 24hr techincal support and everything else that goes with hosting. Impossible!!!! Because when you do the numbers it just doesnt add up. VPS net charges you $13 per node and thats even if you pre paid 18 nodes. Most of my customers will want to buy a VPS withou at least 2gb of ram and why shouldnt they? While Windows can run on less its more logical to offer them a vps around the 2gb mark. Plus, they will need Windows. VPS.NET doesnt offer XP or any other Windows license which is FREE. All that costs me money. So lets see ** As a reseller, you would not need 18 nodes to get to that price point. If you are charged $13 per node then ideally you should charge your customers up to $18 - 20 per node, that's a $5 - $7 dollar markup so if you opted to go for 4 nodes, that would cost you $13 x 4 = $52 so you would charge $72 - $80 representing a profit of $20 - $28 profit. You would markup your service based on who your target customer base is. There are no versions of Windows that are FREE, all require a license of some form including Windows XP, we charge our customers what Microsoft charge us. - To deploy a decent server that customers can run tools on etc etc maybe even web hosting you would need to deply at least 4 nodes to get a ram total of 2048. Thats going to cost me; $13 x 4 = $52.00 NOTE: Even if i prepay 18 nodes, its going to cost me $234.00 out of which i can get 4 servers with a 2gb ram costing me 58.00? WOW! You would think, the most nodes you purchased the cheaper it was!!! ** You can easily run a standard Web Hosting website using a single node, with VPS.net we offer you the ability to scale and down as and when you need to with no physical limits (unlike traditional VPS servers). If you require more power, simply add another node on. Also, depending on what kind of tool that you wish to run, in most cases 1 - 3 nodes should suffice. it should be noted that Cpanel and Windows Servers requires atleast 2 nodes for it to operate correctly due to RAM requirements. If you wish to become a reseller, I would be more than happy to discuss that with you to bypass the requirement of purchasing 18 nodes. - Then, you will need to install a version of windows. VPS net charges you 7.50 - 10.00 per license. That means that in order to deploy a windows vps to a customer youll have to give them a free copy of windows. Another 7.50. ** That is not correct, its widely known within the Hosting industry that Windows requires a license to run and always comes at a premium, this includes Windows shared hosting. Its your job to reinforce this idea to your customers, its as simply as pointing out that Windows on the desktop requires a license and a server environment is just the same. if they require a free solution, point them to Linux which is free. You would think, that at least vps.net could give you a free installation of xp or something but no, they charge for everything. ** As previously pointed out, Windows XP is not free, you still require a license for it. I should also point out that Windows XP is 10 years old and should not be recommended to customers. 52.00 + 7.50 = 59.50 So that already 59.50 that i have to spend and i havent even added my profit too it. Holy cow, are you serious? So i still have to add my profit. How much more can i add to $59.50? Not much more. With all the competition out there iv seen a configs like this going for less than $40. So how is anyone making any money by using vps.net????? ** This really does depend on who your target market is here, again VPS.net is not like a traditional VPS setup and therefore should not be marketed that way, don't forget that we offer Self-Healing Hardware, we offer nearly 200 preconfigured templates and the ability to store your own customised templates for you own applications. You can build your servers in 20 different locations and offer the ability to scale up and down when you need to. We also offer Free SSL certificates plus more and finally we offer full automation via our own whitelabel WHMCS module. As i see it, unless i start charging everyone for Windows and try to pick up some profit on extras like ip, backups it would be foolish of me to entertain the thought of making any real profits at vps.net. ** You should be doing this anyway! If you are not using VPS.net (or any reseller system for that matter) as a method to bring customers is and then upsell to, you are missing a major way to generate revenue and profits. Any addon that requires a license you should be charging for. If your customer requires to manage their Windows server you should be charging management fees and one-off fees. The same applies to IP addresses and SSL Certificates. The latter we offer for FREE which has up to $50 of value, you can charge whatever you want for this. Think of it this way: You have 75 potential customers, even if 30 customers took a 4 node VPS server from you, your job is to market your product and services to them. 30 x 4 nodes = 120 nodes, for this as a reseller you would get a better rate. Your cost would be $13 * 4 (as an example) + $7.50 = $59.50 You then charge the customer $18 x 4 = $72 + $7.50 (Windows license) = $79.50 per month giving you a profit of $20. Now if you have 30 of these customers that a profit of $600 per month. We have not even started to look at monthly Windows Server management fees yet which could easily be $99 per month, can you see where profit can be made? Feel free to PM me directly with your details and any questions and I would be more than happy to look into a reseller application as well as providing you with any advise with your reseller business kind regards Mohammed VPS.net Reseller Manager http://vps.net/resellers/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UH-Matt Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 You need to charge more to increase your margin. You can't expect to resell a service with zero investment and make a huge profit. You either need to look to add value and charge more, or increase your numbers in some other way to make the lower margin worthwhile for you. Reselling a service without adding value is not easy, and not highly profitable, otherwise EVERYONE would do it. You can't blame VPS.Net or accuse them of making you fail. You seem to be choosing to price yourself too cheaply with not enough margin. There are hosts with their own infrastructure and bigger margins, still charging more than you... Don't try to compete on price alone. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openmind Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Seems to me you want everything for nothing. If you are serious about selling VPS servers then you need to invest to do it right. You could in its simplest form get a decent server, slap SolusVM on there and begin from there or if you wanted to get creative, deploy a set of servers and use onApp which is what VPS.net use. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgruntled Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 To run a profitable business you need to do your research, of course as you start out your going to get some bum deals. Its par for the course im afraid. However, As your client base increases so does your power with these companies. once your base is around 50 vps/dedicated servers or whatever you will want to start looking at negotiating a new contract with your provider. Many of them will enter into talks and you can thrash out your requirements then. The larger you grow the more notice they will take of you. look at it this way, if your using 50 vps from them £30 each then your paying them £1500 pm, thats not a small amount to anybody even these large companies its £18,000 a year gross income to them. If you cant negotiate a new contract with them there are hundreds of providers that would bend over backwards to take that £18,000 off you. Money is power, The early days are hard but in the end they are worthwhile. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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