Hi all, I was just offered free hosting for my digital scrapbook site by someone called 'Angelito Nana', says they will set up zen cart, and all send me a password for my admin page, all I have to do is say yes, but all I'm worried about is that they'll some how steal the credit card details and paypal passwords of all my customers! She said that all they will want for it is a small banner advertising space.

Now, what on earth do I say to that?

HELP! As a small business starting out, this sounds like a dream come true, but too good to be true as well.

Michelle.

Michelle,
How were you offered free hosting? Did you post a request, or did you receive the offer through E-mail without requesting it?

I'd Google their business name, use the search feature here, and see if you can come up with any reviews.

Post back about how they offered it to you, and we'll go from there. If it was via a random E-mail...I'd delete it and move on.

Michelle, If you are collecting credit card numbers on a shared account and saving them on a shared server then you are being irresponsible.
If you do this on a free hosting account you are being more irresponsible.

As a small business starting out the safety of client details should be at the forefront of all of your decisions regarding hosting.

If I were you I would stay away from ALL free hosting providers. None of them stay in business long ,not hard to figure out why!
If you require quality services for your website, I suggest you look into http://liquidweb.com (where we have our servers) or http://beachcomber.net

I would agree, if you're taking card details on a free host then you're violationg the policies set in place by VISA/MC and other card providers by doing this.

I can't seem to find this information. Can you provide me with a reference?

I think they aren't free hosting provider, they just offered free hosting for shelleyvdp.

Shelleyvdp, this method used by some hosting providers just like a free trial. After some period they will charge you and hope that you will satisfy and buy their service.

Do you ever heard Geocities, Tripod, Blogspot, BraveHeart, or NetFirms?
How hard can you figure out how they all can stay in business for a very long time.

IMO, it's better to stay away from such offer. Unless, if you do join any of their contests and maybe you have won yourself a free hosting or something like that. Or else, do you mean they offer you a free hosting out of the blue like this?

Never use free hosting for business use. As a small business you should easily be able to spend $10 or more per month on hosting. In my opinion it is better to invest in quality hosting than suffer the consequences of using free hosting or buying cheap hosting.

google make billion $ a day on the advertise program

i registed at www.***********.com $3.95/month, pay by paypal

think it is safety,

We dont like hackers, those bad guy just seats at home and stole money
men, i just want to kick their asses, lol

It's not exactly "free hosting" if you provide them with a credit card is it? The way I look at it is, as long as there not asking for any personal information, then chances are it might not be a scam. Only thing you might have to watch for is once your site starts growing that they pull it offline.

Its not really free they are asking them to your their advertising for them

Whether or not it's "free" or they're trading advertising in return for it: Simply don't.

Find a pay to play host and be done with it. The free offer might be great for a personal site or a few blogs but don't put something mission critical on it.

Good luck with the hunt!

There are actually some free hosting that has been around. But the credit card thing would really bother me.

And you do get what you pay for.

I think enough smart advice was provided in here already, so I will close this to avoid many repeated answers.