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I almost feel ripped off by hostgator.

by havefunandlive
33 replies
I went to try to build my second attempt at a successful niche website today, but on hostgator's front page they specifically say on the hosting plan I ordered that I can have "unlimited sites".

So, when I went to put in my new domain name it told me I'm not allowed to do that. So, after some google searching, the only thing my account is capable of is a single domain name and zero parked domains.

The worst thing about it is I have to pay 5 more dollars if I want to change the domain name on my account.

hmmm... obviously I'm not allowed to have "unlimited sites" like they said. Just unlimited subdomains, which is more like a supplement to a single site.

The real plan with unlimited sites is apparently the "baby" hosting package and above.

I don't have a choice -- I have to pay the 5 dollars if I want to change my domain name, but I thought I'd inform other warriors here if they're thinking about getting a hosting plan from hostgator.
#feel #hostgator #ripped
  • Profile picture of the author MemberWing
    I think you're wrong here.

    Go to your CPanel, click on Domains->Addon Domains and you will be presented with the form to enter another domain name.
    In 1 minute or less you'll be all setup.
    Granted - the second, third and so on domains that you are adding need to be registered - but it's really simple.

    Gleb
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    • Profile picture of the author havefunandlive
      That's the thing. I figured that much out and was totally ready to make my new niche blog, then I was greeted with this message.

      "Sorry, you are not allowed to add any more than (0) addon domains! The domain below was not setup!"

      Originally Posted by MemberWing View Post

      I think you're wrong here.

      Go to your CPanel, click on Domains->Addon Domains and you will be presented with the form to enter another domain name.
      In 1 minute or less you'll be all setup.
      Granted - the second, third and so on domains that you are adding need to be registered - but it's really simple.

      Gleb
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      • Profile picture of the author Lee McKenna
        Banned
        Hmmmm thats very strange. I just go to my cpanel and click on addon domains and I can add as many as I like. I think I have about 18 right now. And I pay around $8 a month. You must have the chapest package which does not allow you to addon doamins. I think the cheapest at $4.95 per month does not allow you to addon domains.

        If your paying the $8 a month I would talk to live support. Ive never had any problems with host gator and I think there the best :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author Josh Gould
      If you bought the "Hatchling" package it kind of says you can only have 1 domain name in their table: Web Hosting - Shared cPanel Linux Web Hosting

      I'm sure they can switch you over to the "Baby" package? It's only an extra $3 according to their site.
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  • Profile picture of the author MemberWing
    Ahhh, you probably using their cheapest plan - "hatchling".
    Upgrade to "baby".

    Gleb
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Hill
    Yes the plan that is $4.95 per month is for one domain... You have to upgrade to the Baby plan for $9.95 per month...

    Mike Hill
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  • Profile picture of the author Owen Mailer
    i had a problam as well it says the hosting is i think its 4.29 but when i bought it it wasnt it was 8.75 because i wanted to pay monthly i could understand an extra doller for paying monthy but more than double the price come on!!!!
    ive moaned now im better.
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    • Profile picture of the author havefunandlive
      Originally Posted by Owen Mailer View Post

      i had a problam as well it says the hosting is i think its 4.29 but when i bought it it wasnt it was 8.75 because i wanted to pay monthly i could understand an extra doller for paying monthy but more than double the price come on!!!!
      ive moaned now im better.
      I had the same problem with that at the time. I didn't question it because I was still getting a nice hosting service, but...

      Hmmmm thats very strange. I just go to my cpanel and click on addon domains and I can add as many as I like. I think I have about 18 right now. And I pay around $8 a month. You must have the chapest package which does not allow you to addon doamins. I think the cheapest at $4.95 per month does not allow you to addon domains.

      If your paying the $8 a month I would talk to live support. Ive never had any problems with host gator and I think there the best :-)
      Yes, I'm paying 8.95 a month. I was thinking about upgrading to the baby package, but if you get unlimited domains...

      Hm. It might be something I have to look into. Do you have the hatchling package?
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    • Profile picture of the author Grabie
      To get the cheapest price that hostgators's advertise, a 3 years contract is required...at the beginning, I paid $9.95 monthly...after a few months, I wanted to switch to 3 years contract to get the lowest price (they were doing 20% off promotion). However, they refused to give me the 20% discount as they said it is for new customers only....turned out, I have to cancel the original account and asked my husband to sign up the new account in order to get the 3 years contract with 20% discount....I don't understand why they don't just offer 20% discount for existing customers....it wasted my time to move my sites to the new account.
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      • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
        Originally Posted by Steven Carl Kelly View Post

        Kate:

        Sorry, but that's incorrect. You can have unlimited domains (not subdomains) on the Baby Croc plan. It's the plan that I have all of my students sign up for.
        Originally Posted by AmyBrown View Post

        That's not true. I have both types of accounts with over 50 domains on a Baby account. I also have a reseller account so I can easily offer hosting when I sell a site.
        Techinically Kate is correct.

        Addon domains are domain names that are parked on a subdomain.

        Thats why you can get duplicate content w/ them. Addon domain is the same as addon.yourmain.com. Each can work and be indexed seperatly.
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        • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
          Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

          Techinically Kate is correct.

          Addon domains are domain names that are parked on a subdomain.

          Thats why you can get duplicate content w/ them. Addon domain is the same as addon.yourmain.com. Each can work and be indexed seperatly.
          I'm sorry Garrie, but that still isn't correct. Addon domains are domains (full domains, not subdomains) that are hosted on the same hosting account. On the Baby Croc plan you can have as many as you like. You can have www.mysite.com and www.yoursite.com and www.somesite.com and www.siteofthefuture.net and so forth, ALL on the Baby Croc hosting plan for less than $10 a month.

          You are NOT limited to xxxxxxx.mysite.com and yyyyyy.mysite.com and so forth on the Baby Croc plan. You can have both if you choose, addon domains (completely unique domains) and subdomains (_____.mymaindomain.com).

          And it has nothing to do with parking.
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  • Profile picture of the author john_kennedy
    I prefer to use SharkSpace - Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting and VPS Hosting. If you use this code: 50offlife you will get 50% off your annual hosting fees for the life of your account. Unlimited domains for less than $5 a month (on an annual payment plan. Great service and reliable servers.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author Kate Anderson
    i got confused by their packages before as well, because of their wording. The reseller account is what you want if you want to be able to add on unlimited domains, rather than just sub domains.

    Reseller Hosting Plans - Web Hosting Packages with cPanel and WHM

    I had purchased the standard hosting plan because the spec sheet indicated:

    The Baby and Business hosting plans allow for unlimited domains to be hosted on just one single account.

    But in reality, it's only sub domains that you can add with these packages, unless you go with reseller.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
      Originally Posted by Kate Anderson View Post

      The Baby and Business hosting plans allow for unlimited domains to be hosted on just one single account.

      But in reality, it's only sub domains that you can add with these packages, unless you go with reseller.
      Kate:

      Sorry, but that's incorrect. You can have unlimited domains (not subdomains) on the Baby Croc plan. It's the plan that I have all of my students sign up for.
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    • Profile picture of the author AmyBrown
      Originally Posted by Kate Anderson View Post

      i got confused by their packages before as well, because of their wording. The reseller account is what you want if you want to be able to add on unlimited domains, rather than just sub domains.

      Reseller Hosting Plans - Web Hosting Packages with cPanel and WHM

      I had purchased the standard hosting plan because the spec sheet indicated:

      The Baby and Business hosting plans allow for unlimited domains to be hosted on just one single account.

      But in reality, it's only sub domains that you can add with these packages, unless you go with reseller.
      That's not true. I have both types of accounts with over 50 domains on a Baby account. I also have a reseller account so I can easily offer hosting when I sell a site.
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  • Profile picture of the author john_kennedy
    There is a lot of work in collecting hosting payments on a monthly basis. When I had my hosting business I always gave a sizable discount for annual payments as I didn't have to worry each month about trying to collect the payment.

    A subdomain is something like billing.mydomain.com and uses a folder like mydomain.com/billing. An add-on domain is a FQDN that is setup in the server software to point to a subfolder of your public_html folder. So, you could have another domain like yourdomain.com and it would resolve to mydomain.com/yourdomain. Nobody would be aware of the fact that it is actually using a dubfolder though.

    Sort of the same but not so much.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author mistermint
    I just bought the reseller account middle range-What I like is the bandwidth and space looks to be a good package. Time will tell
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  • Profile picture of the author appsrus
    Liquidweb.com = rules.
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  • Profile picture of the author freddy smith
    until now i not have any problem with hostgator and i am satisfied with their service
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
    Oh, and Garrie:

    In re-reading what you wrote, aside from the parking thing, I think we're actually saying something similar, but in your post it wasn't clear by your statements that you can indeed host domains AND subdomains on the same Baby Croc hosting account.

    Just for clarity: you CAN host multiple domains on the Baby Croc plan.
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    • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
      Originally Posted by Steven Carl Kelly View Post

      Oh, and Garrie:

      In re-reading what you wrote, aside from the parking thing, I think we're actually saying something similar, but in your post it wasn't clear by your statements that you can indeed host domains AND subdomains on the same Baby Croc hosting account.

      Just for clarity: you CAN host multiple domains on the Baby Croc plan.
      Yes, you can have unlimited domain names. They appear to work and fuction like the main domain name for the account. They have their own emails, work with or w/out www, have stats, etc. but they are not the same as the main domain name. They are technically parked domains which can cause duplicate content. I use them for most of my sites though.

      Yes, I know that's confusing and I'm sure about 2 people understand my explanation.

      Oh if you are on HostGator, spend the extra $2 and get a dedicated IP. Well worth it.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mark Riddle
        Originally Posted by GarrieWilson View Post

        Yes, you can have unlimited domain names. They appear to work and fuction like the main domain name for the account. They have their own emails, work with or w/out www, have stats, etc. but they are not the same as the main domain name. They are technically parked domains which can cause duplicate content. I use them for most of my sites though.

        Yes, I know that's confusing and I'm sure about 2 people understand my explanation.
        Here's Hostgators definition of the terms as they use them

        HostGator.com Knowledge Base What is the difference between parked, addon, and subdomains?

        Mark Riddle
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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King
          If you look at reseller accounts (which is what I use) or dedicated servers, you will see the same breakdown of various plans available with different features and prices. The home page price is the lowest for that type of hosting.

          A good explanation of addon domains vs subdomains (they are not quite the same) can be found at

          Difference between Addon Domain, Sub Domain and Parked Domain - Techcuriosity.com

          If you think about it, with a multiple domain plan every time you add another site to that plan you are reducing the cost/site of hosting.

          kay
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  • Profile picture of the author scole954387
    Originally Posted by havefunandlive View Post

    I went to try to build my second attempt at a successful niche website today, but on hostgator's front page they specifically say on the hosting plan I ordered that I can have "unlimited sites".
    Where does it say on their front page that the plan that you ordered allows for "unlimited sites". The only one I see is for $7.95 which is their baby account.

    Did you order the baby account? I have the baby account and am very impressed with hostgator. Especially considering that all my domains with them was infected with malware once and they had it cleaned in less than 24 hours.

    If you have their Hatchling package, then you can only have one domain (as the site states), but you can still have multiple subdomains. I would recommend that you upgrade to the baby package anyways. It's much better value for the price.

    Shannon
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  • Profile picture of the author john_kennedy
    One of the top 10 questions received:

    What is the difference between a parked domain and an add-on domain.

    Answer: Real simple. A parked domain points to the same content as the domain it is parked on. An add-on domain normally would have different content.
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    • Profile picture of the author havefunandlive
      Originally Posted by john_kennedy View Post

      One of the top 10 questions received:

      What is the difference between a parked domain and an add-on domain.

      Answer: Real simple. A parked domain points to the same content as the domain it is parked on. An add-on domain normally would have different content.
      Here it is. This is what I see when I go to hostgator.com



      I was paying 8.95 a month when I was told I couldn't add any add-on domains.

      The plan on the left says 7.95 a month. No asterisk there that with a disclaimer or any clarification that I can see.

      It's confusing to the customer, I think.

      EDIT: anyway, all is well. I've upgraded and continued progress on my new niche blog.
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      • Profile picture of the author scole954387
        Originally Posted by havefunandlive View Post

        Here it is. This is what I see when I go to hostgator.com



        I was paying 8.95 a month when I was told I couldn't add any add-on domains.

        The plan on the left says 7.95 a month. No asterisk there that with a disclaimer or any clarification that I can see.

        It's confusing to the customer, I think.

        EDIT: anyway, all is well. I've upgraded and continued progress on my new niche blog.
        Maybe, I saw that too, but when I clicked on it I could easily see what package was $7.95 and the information on the main page matched the information here.



        I don't believe it's confusing to the customer in my opinion.

        Shannon
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        • Profile picture of the author havefunandlive
          In my opinion, the reason why it's confusing is because on the front page, it gives me 4 different plans. All of them say "Unlimited Websites" in one way or another.

          The one on the left on the front page is 7.95, which says "unlimited websites."

          The one on the top of the front page says "Unlimited sites" as well, and that one says 4.95. The 4.95 plan is the one I was interested in and paid for (of course that jumped up to 8.95 a month, but same plan).

          When you go to the next page, they're both there with their respective benefits, both the 4.95 plan that on the previous page said "unlimited sites" and the 7.95 plan.

          It does say that you can only have 1 domain on the next page now, but that's right after it says "unlimited sites" on the page before it.

          EDIT: Techically, a site does not need to be on a new domain to be a "website" but even then, that's a technicality, and furthermore, they're boasting it as if it's something new or huge. I get subdomains from free service plans.

          EDIT AGAIN: Why didn't they just say "unlimited subdomains"?

          I haven't even mentioned the fact that the page before it never says anything about baby, hatchling, or any of the names like that.

          Hostgator's page is counter-intuitive to a new customer (even more confusing because this is actually the first time I've used a paid hosting plan). If it had been a little more easy to understand, I would have gotten the plan that was a dollar more with unlimited domains in the first place.
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          • Profile picture of the author Lothar Evers
            Originally Posted by havefunandlive View Post

            In my opinion, the reason why it's confusing is because on the front page, it gives me 4 different plans. All of them say "Unlimited Websites" in one way or another.

            The one on the left on the front page is 7.95, which says "unlimited websites."

            The one on the top of the front page says "Unlimited sites" as well, and that one says 4.95. The 4.95 plan is the one I was interested in and paid for (of course that jumped up to 8.95 a month, but same plan).

            When you go to the next page, they're both there with their respective benefits, both the 4.95 plan that on the previous page said "unlimited sites" and the 7.95 plan.

            It does say that you can only have 1 domain on the next page now, but that's right after it says "unlimited sites" on the page before it.

            EDIT: Techically, a site does not need to be on a new domain to be a "website" but even then, that's a technicality, and furthermore, they're boasting it as if it's something new or huge. I get subdomains from free service plans.

            EDIT AGAIN: Why didn't they just say "unlimited subdomains"?

            I haven't even mentioned the fact that the page before it never says anything about baby, hatchling, or any of the names like that.

            Hostgator's page is counter-intuitive to a new customer (even more confusing because this is actually the first time I've used a paid hosting plan). If it had been a little more easy to understand, I would have gotten the plan that was a dollar more with unlimited domains in the first place.
            The problem is that the especially beginners use the terms "website" and "url" synonymously. While this is formally not the case, hostgator exploits this lack of knowledge in pointing on "unlimited websites" and not "one url" in their marketing. If you feel tricked by that and are still in atrial period you can leave. Otherwise there seems to be no alternative to upgrading.

            I have may domains with dreamhost since more then three years. Maybe not that reliable as hostgator but for my purpose ok. plus a great customer service. If you want to change: send me a pm and I check, whether as a satisfied customer I can organize a coupon for you.
            Good luck, anyhow!
            lothar
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  • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
    Each site could be in a folder or it's one naming scheme.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    Just upgrade .... Hostgator has the most secured servers and although support sometimes can be a pain (depends upon who you talk to).. The services are 2nd to none. I been with them ever since they started and I have not had one bad thing to say.

    Matter fact I just got 2 (yes 2) $50 google adwords certificates in the mail from hostgator. I have 2 servers with them so thus 2 certificates. But hey that is $100 in free adwords....

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author mylelo
      I have been using hostgator for the last 3 years and I have not a single complain about them, whenever I had a problem (About 4 since I joined) all of them was my fault and still I got the needed help from their customer service, it is very self explanatory to me all the programs they have, I do have quite few sites and not a single problem with them, if you ask they will explain I'm sure in more detail but I think that they sales page and packages explain themselves.
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  • Profile picture of the author josephmorris90
    I have never had a problem with hostgator, and even if I was to come across a major problem, or even a small problem, they always have support agents to help you in the live chat!
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