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Comments
Yes/no depends on a ton of factors
I would stick to pay on what I can get within minutes to hours at most.
Cheers!
Depends on the product and the seller.
Yes if chargeback is supported
Well ya there's all sorts of variables, but generally speaking..
I either buy production-level stuff on known schedules or I spring for gimmicky cheap yearly deals I just can't resist adding to my flock of silly shitboxes for wireguard/dante in which case the instant gratification is part of what I crave.
What's the benefit to the user doing this pre-order stuff? Honestly I'm a little surprised it's even allowed but my pov is probably just skewed.
High risk high return 🤓
If it's cheap enough and from a reputable provider then sure.
Hi,
bad idea. Just dont do it.
Going pre-order with pre payment, to maybe, or maybe not receive something in maybe 1 month or 2 or never.... nice crowd funding idea but usually solid providers who are long term in market wont do that, and with all other providers you do not really want to make such arrangements.
It might be something to go with, if a provider would like to offer something but is unsure how much real demand in the market exist. But if ever that goes usually for some exotic configs. Something like doing a SPARC CPU based offer or similar.
For everything else, there is enough stock hardware on the market -- a provider should not need this crowd funding thing to offer it or not.
So in short: Just dont do it under normal circumstances.
many things depends.
No if you are impatient and/or provider not famous.
Yes if you think the product worth the price and the time you wait.
pre-order for things like vms and $7/yr deals are a bad idea.
for custom deployments or built to order dedicated then pre-order is pretty standard across the industry. not gonna pay for someone to build a server to your specs and you not even use it for the first month kind of situation
As other said depends.
My take, custom order or dedi? Yeah pre-orders are normal (unless it's like months time and it's not large volume).
For VPS, if it's a provider that been around a while and has good rep, than your probably okay.
New provider or deal to good to be true? Probably too good to be true tbh. Also if the wait is a few days/a week, not a huge deal.
i probably would not purchase any sort of pre-order for a service that does not yet exist. I also feel pre-order and custom deployment/ built to order are two completely different things so I'm not sure why they are being referred to in regard to eachother.
I propose a simple solution:
New rule: Preorder offers are allowed but payment needs to happen after service is deployed. No paying before services are delivered.
That way providers can judge interest and buyers can save their spot in line, without any risk.
But it'll never happen because nothing changes in this place. Post your invoice # for double bandwidth
Pre-orders from an established, trusted brand? Sure, I'll bite. Especially if its a new or unique product, or something they've not offered before.
Pre-orders from a business less than two years old, or one who seems to rely entirely on LET and low pricing and unsustainable offers? Going to be best to avoid.
It also sort of depends on the context of pre-ordering. If it's an established or semi-established brand who is being completely transparent and saying they're doing pre-orders to expedite the purchase of new hardware or something, may be willing to risk it. If it's just some, "hi pls order now, $7/yr 12GB VPS 10GBPS delivery by next week i promise" type of offer, then... no.
Won’t people just back out at the last moment since there’s no payment involved? 😆
That also happens with paid preorders, people refund/chargeback all the time (seeing the comments in threads with preorders)
I see 😅
Since I'm a provider I may be a little biased but I agree with many here regarding VMs/yearly deals. I did mine on a whim but I don't think I'll do another with VMs again.
As @wadhah said "That also happens with paid preorders, people refund/chargeback all the time (seeing the comments in threads with preorders)" we had plenty of people who couldn't wait more then 2 days for their VM before doing a refund/chargeback.
I do think dedicated servers are great for preorders though ( even though I'm botching mine a bit on the provision time ). New hardware as @MannDude said, bulk purchase discounts are a thing, etc. Though more like a once in awhile thing, a provider doing preorders all the time sounds a bit off to me.
For our presale of the N100 NAS Units it was more about marketing than anything else; And from the engagement it seems this worked
These were anyways planned, we have even internal use for them.
We've been in the business for more over 15 years (and me personally i have been in hosting business for 24 years), so for our customers this is relatively risk free (the risks being the nodes underperform OR their money is tied for a while) -- and good marketing for us, ensuring at least some of the nodes are sold before they are even racked.
Besides, people get to watch some of the R&D process and partake in the fun of birthing something this unique
For us, this was a blatant marketing gimmick like our "free as in beer" seedboxes (9cents for 1month -- but very restricted resources etc.) -- or like when we used to auction seedboxes years ago (hmm, that could be a fun event to redo!)
Just a chance for people to jump in early, and now that we are sharing the R&D process partake in the fun and excitement to see what uniqueness our mad minds in the lab are concocting. Our efficiency metrics are through the roof with the hardware.
Oh well, some summerhost preorder 🤷🤷 But established business? Why not. See Tesla and Cyber truck? That was huge marketing benefit, and the events? I bet the Tesla guys, and preorder participants at the events had a blast!
yeah with dedis i have no hesitation preordering when i have an established trust with the company and they provide a sane timeline. with pulsedmedia i bought their n100 preorder because ive used their products for years
i even had a couple of PMs from others asking me about PM because i posted in their thread which proved the post above mentioning the marketing angle
the only issue ive ever had with "preordering" has been custom built boxes from another provider being delayed beyond the timeline provided, but that too has been ironed out and i continue to have a good relationship with them
and the preorders ive done that fell through (also with providers from LET) have always been refunded so as long as youre giving money to someone with a good reputation i see it as very low risk
this is where i see the value LET provides, it makes filtering providers very easy and if youre quick you often get ridiculous deals youre not gonna find anywhere else
For a very unique product, I can see it happen like a crowd-funding kind of thing. But we are talking products that require heavy investments here, not typical low end business.
For a $7 vps, no way. If the provider cant deliver it right away there is something fundamentally wrong with that provider, and there are literally thousands of others that can.
This is low end. The answer is a better deal is always available so no.
No.
If the service provider doesn't have their servers ready, then they shouldn't be selling them.
Pre-orders can work if you're trusted and transparent – but personally, if the servers aren't ready yet, I wouldn't do it. Too risky for your rep.
I don't prefer pre-order deals. Maybe only from reputable, long-time operational providers, with acceptable reason. Usually you will didn't get working services until you pay. So if you pay for something it better if you get something for it (and not once, and if .... or maybe not). Lottery is fun if you has money and time for it.
My invoice number is #534657. I look forward to the extra bandwidth that I’m not even going to use on my idler.
Customer needs to put down credit card authorization.
Cancellation is possible but there's deadlines.
It's just like booking a hotel room.
This work !
The same example: Elon Musk, before turning to banks when launching the Cybertruck, accepted advance payments of $100 for two years just to be on the waiting list. He didn't pay interest. He had no problems with banks. His budget was based on the customers, and he only generated profits. But of course, his Cybertruck wasn't sold at the price of a Toyota or Nissan.
We see companies offering unprofitable plans. Pre-order means they don't believe in their product. See if it's profitable. Customers order, pay for their node for a couple of months, and then continue like a chain. But profitable isn't whether you give at cost or at a loss.
I remember that people had pre-order Cyberpunk 2077 and built a huge hype about it. But the game release was delayed and the game quality was not up to the hype in the beginning, it was kind of failure launch (not money wise, quality wise), hence now I never pre-order games...