So I saw this on mashable.
$25 include domain and ‘lifetime’ hosting.
After domain costs and transaction fees, it leaves them with about $15 to profit from.
Now the only scenario that I see this working, is making the hosting plan for 1 domain only, and have some stupid high renew cost for the domain name that will cover the hosting too.
What are your thoughts on this?
Lifetime:
| Registered | 19th of September 2016 (1 year 5 months ago) |
|---|---|
| Updated | 24th of January 2018 (1 month 3 days ago) |
| Expires | 19th of September 2018 (6 months 2 weeks left) |
A recipe for disaster for customers.
Cash grab & run for the guy (host).
I’ve thought about it. Lifetime ain’t as long as people like to think. As Carl said on that Aqua Teen commercial:
You’re gonna die. Someone will kill you. Someone will kill you with a knife.
Ah, I see there’s no need to ask how the meeting went.
Yeah well, huh, Lifetime… I’ve never liked such words. Basically as Jarland said. It’ll end at some point.
The real question you have to ask is, “Who’s lifetime?”
Could be the lifetime of their 15 year old dog…
Indeed. Like unlimited. Or not.
Yeah, it’s probably not a great idea to offer lifetime hosting and we aren’t going to do it forever. It was an insistence by StackCommerce, and honestly getting their features was too good of an offer to give up.
To sum up some of the justifications we have:
So yeah, I’m very aware of the reputation around lifetime hosting and it definitely wasn’t a light decision. It’s hard to be competitive in the shared hosting field, though we’re doing the best we can to stay relevant. It is a limited time promotion - it’s definitely nothing we’re going to base our business model off or make a habit of offering.
I think it’s cool as hell that you landed that kind of marketing. StackSocial is a site I frequent, you can land some serious deals there from time to time. Even got my favorite pocket knife from there. Best I can tell they’re incredibly effective at marketing to the best audience in a very natural way that feels genuine but still reels you in.
They do push people to do what works though. They’re not going to market something they know they can’t sell. That’s why you want to buy what they sell, they know it’s what you want and they got it for you.
Every success comes with risk, and if this gets your name out there then you win, period. I just wish you much sleep in the future.
It’s interesting that people buy these offers.
I never trust anyone that is going to work for me for the rest of their life for the price of a single lunch out.
Hope it works for ya.
I think it’s rather self explanatory that it isn’t meant to last an actual lifetime, it’s the lifetime of the business.
Businesses are supposed to live longer than their owners. So a business lifetime is longer than mine and your’s .That is, when successful.
So whenI hire a service I don’t expect them to die before I stop needing them. It wouldn’t make sense working with them if I did.
…so… when I read “lifetime” it means to me, “while I need them” , it sure doesn’t read like "till we decide that we lived enough for ya ".
Let’s be honest here. I haven’t really read this thread, or even the full post of the op. However, lets talk the “Lifetime hosting” thing.
FIrst, ask yourself what lifetime anything is. Does this mean you can buy this product and the service will last your entire lifetime? Ask yourself next if the price point will even make that possible for the company to make money, hire employees for support staff, and deal with eventual replacement of equipment.
Now, if you think “No, that is not possible.” than you are likely right. What these companies do is usually one or more of the following;
Have shit tons of limitations.
Oversell the product.
Have a step up to paid program, that they incentivize.
Have a way to make money via add ons, or specials.
Actually don’t have lifetime service, and expect the product to eventually be “worthless.”
Don’t hire employees, so long wait lines for support.
Create ways to make you leave, and go elsewhere. ( You already paid. )
… and many more.
Effectively, when you pay for a lifetime service they already have your money. You give them zero reason to actually continuing to provide a good service afterwards. They simply provide the bare minimum as your won’t be giving them anymore money anyways. So, why should they care.
With a host that you pay monthly, or yearly… they have to keep providing a good service to keep getting your money. If they don’t then, you go away and they lose that money.
There is ne caveat, and one place I have seen this model work… and it is in games with micro transaction stores. That is the only place I have ever seen it work, and for good reason. “Shinies.”
— The End.
Smart shoppers get what they want, dumb shoppers get robbed. But that’s the story of life. If you’re dumb and have money, someone smarter will take it 
For those that get what they want out of lifetime deals, no one gets screwed 
I have found a good video for the term “free energy”:
It basically means what it says, just watch the video, and then think about lifetime again.
Thats just about power, but it adds up to servers and shit.
As mentioned, nothing is forever and there’s no such a thing as lifetime host as there will be one point when the site will get issues/close or who knows what. For me it’s a waste of time, yearly hosting is way better.
It’s quite interesting to see how things have evolved here We have two reputable members here @Jarland and @Miguel but I believe also @armandorg who - initially not fond of the idea - now offer lifetime deals, and good ones at that. In the end it’s always a gamble but all Lifetime deals I’ve signed up with have worked out to the extent that I’ve gotten back more than my money’s worth. Also none of my lifetime products have been suspended so far. The longest having lasted for 3?! years in a row now. They have been around way longer though.