What if said business is registered/tax paying and abides by all other laws, their only downfall is that they sell below cost, and what if they offer domain name registration for...$10/year - which they could be selling above cost. Then they could claim that their hosting is a loss leader.

Take out the domain issue and all you've got is a company that is losing money - wouldn't said investigators just laugh at you?

Then their hosting could be considered a loss leader for their domain services. In fact, it would be.

We're talking about a company that sells everything below cost. Why go into business to lose money?

Very few businesses sell everything at a loss, in an attempt to stick around. The ones that do, are either a) stupid b) in business to be the only business.

You can clearly see where the 7yr old child's hosting company falls in the above two categories, and which category a predatorial priced host falls.

Most computer manufacturers, like dell etc.. sell below costs some quarters, just to maintain a market share. It not unusual to see something along these lines.

For the most part the companies that sell that far below cost don't have the marketing budget to make a significant impact on the industry.

I see that the article speaks about those who are actually lying about their services. And unreasonably low would be defined as a price that injures your business just to injure the competitor. For those who 'can' go as low as they are, it's just offering their service at their price, making them the money that they need to sustain business, and even profit.

WOW thats an interesting read, also hosts that offer plans that low are most likely not legally registered anyways. They would have to raise their prices if they wanted to do it legally

- Eddy