Basically I am wondering, should I offer dedicated servers as a service from my company.

Currently we offer:

» Share web hosting plans
» IRCd Shells
» Web development

Before you ask can we provide support for the dedicated servers, yes we have the knowledge and, also, I am friends with the owner of the data center I plan to resell for.

Let me know some feedback, both possitive and negative.. thanks in advance.

Hey, if your friend owes the Datacenter then why not?

Thats what I was thinking.. but I am worried about fraud..

Didn't you offer them before Gordy?
Thought I saw it on your site around a year ago, could be dreaming that though

Fraud shouldn't be a problem if you bill properly like you do with the shared and shell hosting, there are other things to think about also though.

I am still considering this myself to be honest..still not 100% sure what to do.

John

Yeah I DID before, had a fraudulant order, but the thing is, it was almost two months before they took the money out, really screwed me over..

Its a risk I am thinking I might go back to it..

I htink when offering dedicated servers you have to have a lot more money to fall back on just in case anything goes wrong, more money is changing hands, and you will need a lot of backup if you have customers that can't, don't or won't pay.

You need a good business plan, just like with any other part of the hosting industry.

Gordy, what you said about that order, you will get a lot more of those if you stick with it and you have to be ready for it, if that kind of thing puts you out of business, don't even consider providing dedicated servers..
I think you need at least 6 months of money to keep you going without making any profit. IF you have that, then you can start thinking about getting into offering dedicated servers.

If you don't, you can get into some serious debt when a few clients do chargebacks for a few months and you are left to foot the bills for the servers, support, chargebacks and everything else associated with it.

I started offering dedicateds. Slow business. But, popular. Lots of leads for colocation, I sold a dedicated a week or two ago. He is pretty great and since PayPal is the only way I accept cash, it's tough to get a fraud with PayPal.

It isn't that tought to have fraud with paypal, it is actually easier than with most companies.

If they paid via credit card, they can do a chargeback.
Also, paypal always favors the buyer, the seller is guilty until proven innocient.

Yeah, I hate that how the seller gets the ****ty end of the deal.. you are left without anything and the buyer gets the product for a period of time and his money back.

It depends who you go with. If you're going to do something that involves a large amount of money, don't waste your time with PayPal, 2CheckOut and PaySystems. Then you're bound to get the bad end of the stick. You're in Canada correct? Hmm... no idea what good banks are there. In the U.K. there is Barclays, but they don't operate in Canada. Barclays are a great bank - it's always their client (i.e.: me, or any other Barclays client) who gets the better end of the stick. Barclays is one of the largest banks in the world as well.

If I were you, it's best to go with a bank that is in at least the top 20 of world banks. Barclays was 16th I think in 2001 or was it 2003? Don't know what rank they are now.

The thing is, in web hosting, people are always going with 2CO or PayPal or PaySystems, even though they deal in large amounts. If you do that, you're more likely not to get the better end of the stick. Go to your local bank, and see what rates they can give you and whether they'll accept you.



In regards to your main question, I don't see why not. At the beginning, it is hard work, however after a while it gets easier. I offered it for a very short period of time, and then stopped. Not due to fraud, but mainly because profits weren't high enough, and the amount of work involved was too much for the little profit gained.
You have to remember, will the profit you receive from it be enough for you to be stable, and even if so, will you be happy with that amount of profit?

I have received more Fraud money on PayPal than on my own merchant Account, but that's me.......

I think the majority of people are in the same boat as you.