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Idea: Quality seal for no scam low end hosts
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Idea: Quality seal for no scam low end hosts

zero24xzero24x Member
edited June 2019 in General

hi,

maybe someone will pick up my idea, maybe someone can make a new quality seal.

.. so the end is not always so nigh for hosters!

as my title says, recommendations for a no scam low end host quality seal:

  • no yearly or longer in the future payments, i dont see a big reason other than getting money collected upfront for yearly payments anyways!

  • have an external auditor check and publish server load, hardware specs etc. reports to see you are not overselling

  • publish your finances & infrastrucutre you use so if someone bought a 100$ /mo servers and puts too many users this rule uncovers it (in simple words: if an unstainable business model is brewing..)

  • full money back guarantee for 30 days

Comments

  • MikeAMikeA Member, Patron Provider

    @zero24x said:

    • have an external auditor check and publish server load, hardware specs etc. reports to see you are not overselling

    • publish your finances & infrastrucutre you use so if someone bought a 100$ /mo servers and puts too many users this rule uncovers it (in simple words: if an unstainable business model is brewing..)

    No sane company would do this for a seal of lowend approval.

    Thanked by 1Gatto
  • hzrhzr Member

    Any single external audit will literally cost more than the host's revenue for a year.

  • deankdeank Member, Troll
    edited June 2019

    And it would get abused real quick.

    Come on, people, use common sense and you can avoid 99.9% of scammy hosts.
    Or is it rare sense?

    Thanked by 2vimalware Gatto
  • zero24xzero24x Member
    edited June 2019

    "No sane company would do this for a seal of lowend approval" be the first one lol.

    but yeah i know im dreaming and its unrealistic a bit...> @hzr said:

    Any single external audit will literally cost more than the host's revenue for a year.

    not if a trusted guy provides a well priced audit service, with audit i mean a simple form, so checking servers for some minutes a month and writing down inventory list and publish it.

    there is a fair trade seal for coffee etc. why shouldnt it be possible in hosting?

  • L

  • hzrhzr Member

    zero24x said: not if a trusted guy provides a well priced audit service, with audit i mean a simple form, so checking servers for some minutes a month and writing down inventory list and publish it.

    Then it's gameable scam by friends instead of a big 4 audit firm.

    Thanked by 1kkrajk
  • YuraYura Member

    @hzr said:

    zero24x said: not if a trusted guy provides a well priced audit service, with audit i mean a simple form, so checking servers for some minutes a month and writing down inventory list and publish it.

    Then it's gameable scam by friends instead of a big 4 audit firm.

    You casually mentioned the Big 4 on lowendtalk. The end is not only nigh, it's absurdly expensive.

    Thanked by 2kkrajk Blazing
  • joepie91joepie91 Member, Patron Provider

    zero24x said: there is a fair trade seal for coffee etc. why shouldnt it be possible in hosting?

    Margins on coffee are high. Margins on hosting are not.

    Thanked by 2Quinten vimalware
  • jackbjackb Member, Host Rep
    edited June 2019

    @zero24x said:
    there is a fair trade seal for coffee etc. why shouldnt it be possible in hosting?

    Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the 'fair trade' thing is a commitment by the supplier that they will ethically source produce. I don't think there's any auditing there, and if there is it won't be cheap.

    Naturally any summer host will state their commitment to xyz but getting it audited is not going to happen.

    @zero24x publish your finances & infrastrucutre you use so if someone bought a 100$ /mo servers and puts too many users this rule uncovers it (in simple words: if an unstainable business model is brewing..)

    If you applied this to say - DO or OVH it would paint a dire picture. Both are heavily in debt to investment funds. That doesn't mean they're unsustainable though.

    Thanked by 1FHR
  • SmartHostSmartHost Patron Provider, Veteran

    @zero24x said:

    • no yearly or longer in the future payments, i dont see a big reason other than getting money collected upfront for yearly payments anyways!

    Wrong.
    1. It assures a client sticks with you for atleast a year, and not gone in a month.
    2. Payment processing fees eat up alot of the monthly payment, whereas annual payments alleviate that issue. Many transactions have a minimum fee, which eats heavily into a $1-$2/month VPS payment.

    • publish your finances & infrastructure you use so if someone bought a 100$ /mo servers and puts too many users this rule uncovers it (in simple words: if an unstainable business model is brewing..)

    Yea, NO. Unless you are a publicly traded company, a company's finances are none of your business.

    Your idea is good, but implementation will be problematic.
    And let's face it 90%+ of buyers will not know what the seal is, how it works, or give a darn...they'll purchase anyways regardless of if it exists or not. All it would be is a status symbol amongst the regulars/insiders around here.
    .

  • "Your idea is good, but implementation will be problematic. " yeah i think you nailed it, thats the summary of my idea...

  • KuJoeKuJoe Member, Host Rep

    People will ignore the seal just like they ignore all of the warnings. The vast majority of clients on this forum shop strictly based on price, nothing else will have as much of an impact.

    Thanked by 2kkrajk Shazan
  • donlidonli Member
    edited June 2019

    @KuJoe said:
    People will ignore the seal just like they ignore all of the warnings. The vast majority of clients on this forum shop strictly based on price, nothing else will have as much of an impact.

    People buy stuff from hosts with "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau.

  • SmartHostSmartHost Patron Provider, Veteran

    Funny. Better Business Bureau is one if the biggest scams ever themselves. It is a for-profit business pretending to be a government backed entity.
    .

  • LeeLee Veteran
    edited June 2019

    Something like this is another case of taking the responsibility for a purchase away from the purchaser who should carry out their own research. "Oh, look they have a seal of approval, take my money" then a few weeks later, LET is to blame for me losing my money...

    Thanked by 1lazyt
  • uptimeuptime Member

    Thanked by 1ralph
  • vimalwarevimalware Member
    edited June 2019

    I am starting a Diamond Seal program for all the Gold Seal programs.
    It's worth as much as a piece of Carbon.

  • @vimalware said:
    I am starting a Diamond Seal program for all the Gold Seal programs.
    It's worth as much as a piece of Carbon.

    I'll take a piece of carbon as long as all of its atoms are stacked neatly

  • how about the JoeMerit Seal of Approval?

  • That's not business mate.

  • AMXRTAMXRT Member

    You must be new here thus underestimate the importance of paying all your countless idlers in time. It's very difficult to pay all your 100 idling VPS monthly using Bitcoin, so early payments are actually very important.

  • Yes, in the end ppl think they can buy diamonds with peanuts.
    The biggest bang for the smallest bucks..

    If there is a dirt cheap offer without a seal they might gamble and think they might win a good server by betting some peanuts (low price).

    But still I think if someone can make a quality seal programme even though its an unrealistic Idea like I described or something similar ppl can see if a host is is sustainable, server not oversold etc.

  • Here's an alternative, let people with 100 posts + 'endorse' providers here. Option to endorse/unendorse, possibly even leave a comment.

    Although the forum can be cliquey with active providers, associates in the field etc - seeing a provider being endorsed by genuine long-term forum members could carry some useful weight, and is low maintenance.

    The problem is who it'd be more useful for, generally newer / less experienced members who see low prices or don't bother to spend time looking farther than the offers.

    You get a gut feel before long anyways, but it'd be nice for an 'authoritative' community on cheap servers to knock something together about trust and value together.

    Thanked by 3joepie91 Lee jsg
  • deankdeank Member, Troll

    I am not fit to endorse any providers by the way.

  • Here's an idea. Buy with PayPal which offers a 6-month money-back guarantee. I've actually felt sorry for PayPal this year with 3 LEB providers going belly up. PayPal typically refunds the entire purchase price even if you used several months or more of the service. Worst case is you eat the first 6 months which you probably got to use anyway and, if not, it still was a bargain even at double the offered price.

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider
    edited June 2019

    I floated this idea in the past, it involved financial backing from other hosts to act as a 'buffer fund' to ensure no one lost out as such it fell apart very quickly :)

    It would be simple enough to do if it was based on simple confidence factors, so more of an indication than any sort of guarantee.

    5+ years in business, general indicators checked by 3 other hosts that are already qualified etc, not in a delux or ColoCrossing location, company registration verified and uncomplicated etc, history known i.e. not involved in previous scams/dodgy stuff.

    I would be willing to make the effort to get something together for the sake of general confidence with a bit of buy in (not financial) from @Francisco and @KuJoe not to offend anyone else but they are the only people I have contact with that have been doing this with a single brand longer than I have and I know have some opposing views which is good for fairness.

    Thanked by 1joepie91
  • @NerdUno: Yeah thanks, good idea, I heard with CC card you can chargeback for a longer time.

    @ricardo: Good idea, if we have this reputation system the a chargeback etc. is not even necessary, would be better!

  • NeoonNeoon Community Contributor, Veteran

    Good idea, but the execution needs to be good.
    Otherwise, you find yourself, stuck deep inside others peoples ass.

    The last time someone put that shit on food, you know what you don't buy.

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