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Why do launch offers always exclude existing customers?

Deals & Offers by ana_mad 24 replies 2.8K views
ana_mad

Member OP

#1

I sent ticket yesterday to my host about new pricing. They have amazing deal for new signups, $2/month for plan I pay $8 for. I asked if I can switch, they said "new customers only." Made test order with different email, worked fine, same datacenter probably same server even!

This feels so backwards. I have been customer for 3 years, never late payment, sent maybe 2 tickets total. They would rather I cancel and churn than give me price? Is this normal everywhere or just cheap hosts?

Cheers!

swimming upstream since 2019 🐟
marcus_qc

Member

#2

I will be real here. I work at a host (I will not say which, not the one you use). The churn math is brutal.

  • New customer cost us like $15-20 to acquire.
  • If we give launch price to everyone we already have, we lose all that margin on thousands of accounts.
  • Investors see "average revenue per user" drop, stock goes in bad way.

But also yeah it is dumb. We lose you to a competitor over $6/month. I am super stoked when someone finds a workaround honestly, means we failed.

I would probably do the email trick too

42U and still growing
PU

Member

#3

I did the email trick too lol

WI

Member

#4

Same server even? That part feels like a guess

AL

Member

#5

Three years never late and they still do this, I'm tired

marcus_qc

Member

#6
ana_mad said:
Same datacenter probably same server even

You can check this yourself. Traceroute both IPs, if they hit the same last three hops you are basically roommates with yourself. We do this all the time when a "new" client is clearly an old client trying to dodge a rate hike. https://bgp.tools is handy for the lazy.

The real question is whether your host cares enough to merge them. Some do, most do not.

42U and still growing
AL

Member

#7

Three years and they do not even pretend to value you. This is why I moved everything to Hetzner, no games with pricing.

ana_mad

Member OP

#8
marcus_qc said:
If they hit the same last three hops

Same router, same /24 block. I am basically paying myself for the same slice. Host is Hostinger by the way, not hiding it, their terms do not forbid multiple accounts.

I will probably migrate everything over slowly, keep both running a month. Annoying but $72/year annoying.

swimming upstream since 2019 🐟
bravomartha

Member

2 #9

I tested this with three hosts last year. Namecheap, Hostinger, SiteGround. All of them let me open second account with same card, different email. None of them ever flagged it.

SiteGround did send me a "welcome back" email though, so their marketing team knew. Sales team did not care.

priya

Member

🇮🇳 netops ninja

#10

Corporate side we do this too. SaaS, not hosting, same logic. Existing customer expansion is harder to sell to board than new logo. Stupid but true.

My home lab runs on Contabo — https://contabo.com — and I just cycle emails every two years. German efficiency meets Indian frugality.

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