Negotiate with Web Hosts

• Chris Guthrie
• Blogging, My Sites, Practical ideas
• July 23, 2008
• 7 comments!

I read a post from a blogger that recommended that if you have been paying the same price for a server for an extended period of time that you should try and negotiate for a lower price (sorry I can't find the link). The basis for his argument was that because technology is always getting cheaper why should you continue to pay the same price for a server every month? The answer to this question is that you shouldn't!

I have always been a fan of never giving up when it comes to getting what I want so I set out to negotiate with my current web host based on the argument I listed above.

The following is the conversation I had with my current host (scroll down if you want to see the end result as the exchange is fairly lengthy):

Me: Hello, I've been an existing SoftLayer customer for over a year and as we all know the price of technology decreases over time. I see based on the specials you're running now the cost of my server could actually be a little less.

So am I able to get a price reduction on my server?

Employee Response
Hello,

The specials that we offer on the site are used mainly to provide incentive for new orders, and cannot be retroactively applied to exisiting servers.

If you would like to place a new server order, I would be happy to assist you in getting the best possible price based on what we are offering right now.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with.

SoftLayer Sales

Me: So in order to get a discount I'd have to buy a new server transfer the old stuff over to the new server and then close my old server account?

You can't just apply the discount to the one I'm currently using to avoid the hastle?

Employee Response
Hello,

I've reviewed your account and your actually paying $20/mo less ($159/mo) for this server (Intel Xeon 3060) than what we are offering it for now ($179/mo). It also looks like we provided you with a free 100Mbps port upgrade.

The only thing available for a discount on your current setup would be the 250GB SATA II HDD for $20/mo but to do this we would have to negate any special pricing already on the server which would make the price $214/mo. So the deal/pricing you have is actually better at $204/mo.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions or request.

Thank you,

SoftLayer Sales

Me: Well, there is also double RAM for free now as well which is $50 a month.

What about just adding in 8 free public IP addresses?

Employee Response
Hello,
As noted above the double/dobule promos are for new server orders only. However we will be able to make a *one-time* exception and allow you to have the additional static ip's at no additional cost as a thank you for your continued business with us. Simply add the static ip's them directly though the customer portal, once this has been done update this ticket and I will get it to Accounting to have your invoice updated.

Thank you,
SoftLayer Sales

I already had a really good deal on my server when I first signed up when I negotiated for a lower price, a port upgrade etc. so I knew based on their first few responses that I likely wouldn't be able to get the price knocked down much further. After I realized that I was probably not going to get a price discount I moved onto going after something I was already looking to pay for - more IP addresses. So after I went back and forth with the hosting company I was able to get 8 free IP addresses. While this seems like it's not that much (I think it works out to like $8 a month or something). The important thing to remember is that I wouldn't have gotten the free IP's (which I had already planned to buy this month) if I didn't ask for them.

I highly recommend you try negotiating for a lower price or some freebies (more RAM, additional hard drive, more bandwidth etc.) if you have been a customer with a hosting company for a period of time.

Have you tried this before? What successes have you had?

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