.Photo Hosting Services are Really Photo Sharing Services

Ofoto says they are not a photo hosting service, they are a photo sharing or photo printing service. They do offer a lot of space for hosting though.
They don't make their money by letting you store your photos on their site. They make it by having your print your photos and buy gifts with your photos on them. Some of them are profitable, some are not.
Image by polska1 at stock.xchng.com #708842
o Adding Photos To Your MySpace Profileo Add Images To Blogger Blogs From Your Computero Add and Manage Facebook Photos Ofoto adds space to their servers constantly to keep up with hosting. You benefit from this by being able to host your photos there and share them with whoever you want. They make money off you whenever you want hard copy prints of the photos and whenever you buy gifts and other photo merchandise from their site.Even though they claim not to be a photo hosting site you can still host your photos there, create photo albums and link to them from your personal Web site. Make your Web site better by using one of these services but remember, if you want to be able to keep hosting your photos there, they need to make money from you, or they'll close and your photos will be lost to cyberspace.

source:

http://personalweb.about.com/b/2009/06/28/photo-hosting-services-are-really-photo-sharing-services.htm

Winner of the Best Free Web Hosting Service Award is..Google Sites Wins.

The winner, with results over 50% in their favor, is... Google Sites!
The winner of the Best Free Hosting Service poll, Google Sites, was given the opportunity to answer some questions about Google Sites. Ten questions were given so you can learn more about Google Sites' free hosting service and what they plan for the future.
Answers provided by Scott Johnston, Senior Product Manager, Google Apps
1-Q. What do you think makes Google Sites more popular than other free hosting services?
A. Ease of use is a big attraction for users. Google Sites makes creating a team web site as easy as editing a document. People can quickly gather a variety of information in one place - including videos, calendars, presentations, attachments, and text - and easily share it for viewing or editing with a small group, their entire organization, or the world.
The product also makes it easy to work together on a site. Users can subscribe to get email notification of changes so they are always aware of what is changing on the site. Sites keeps version history of all changes meaning it is always easy to revert to earlier versions.
2-Q. How much space does Google Sites offer for free?
A. For consumers, Google Sites offers 100Mb per site. Domains using the Google Apps suite receive a 10Gb pool of storage for all their sites and Google Apps Premier edition customers get an additional 500Mb added to that pool for each user account. For more detail, see this help article: How much storage do I have in Google Sites?
3-Q. Does Google Sites have any plans to offer social networking features on their websites (ie. YouTube integration, Facebook integration, blog creator)?
A. We're definitely interested in continuing to make Google Sites more social. Users already have the ability to embed content from YouTube, Google Docs, Picasa slide shows, iGoogle gadgets and more. There are many iGoogle gadgets that allow you to embed twitter feeds, Facebook content, and other social product information.
4-Q. Does Google have any plans on integrating some of the easy to use features found on Google Page Creator into Google Sites to make it more beginner friendly?
A. Absolutely. We will be moving sites created on Google Pages over to Google Sites in June and users will see many Page Creator-like features added to Sites before this happens.
5-Q. How many themes are now in place for people to use on their Google Sites websites?
A. Users can currently choose from 23 packaged themes. These themes can all be customized by users to make the site a unique creation of their own. We'll also be adding the popular Page Creator themes to Google Sites before the migration.
6-Q. Will Google Sites be adding any drag-and-drop features in the near future, especially for photos?
A. Users can currently insert photos into pages and drag them to any location on the page. We will continue to improve this experience making it easier to pick photos and upload them to a Google Site.
7-Q. Name some cool features that Google Sites has that other free website hosting providers don't have.
A. Cool Google Sites Features
*Google Sites doesn't require any technology expertise or knowledge of coding languages
*Users can subscribe to get email notification of changes to the site
*Version history is kept for all changes on a site
*Files can be uploaded to a site and are automatically included in the search results within a site
*Applications like blogs and lists can be easily added to the site
10-Q. What kind of security features does Google Sites offer?
A. Security is one of the great advantages to Google Sites. Users have direct control over who can see and edit their content. Users can restrict a site to a group of users, their organization, or make it public to the world. Site owners can invite users to view their site using their email address.
11-Q. Which other Google content can be added into a Google Sites website (ie. documents, calendars, Gmail)?
A. It's really easy to embed content from many other Google properties, including YouTube, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Picasa slide shows, iGoogle gadgets, and more.
12-Q. What other information do you want to share with people who are creating personal websites using Google Sites?
A. Google Sites makes it simple and easy to publish content online without any technology expertise. Not only that but it makes it easy to work together with others on this content. It works well for everybody from business and schools, to soccer teams and neighborhood groups. You are only seconds away from having a site, so head over to Google Sites to get started.
source:
http://personalweb.about.com/od/onlineeditors/a/2009HostingAward.htm

Top 10 Best Web Hosting Reviews - SCAMS EXPOSED

M6.net - your first choice in web hosting

M6.net Terms and Conditions
The following are the terms and conditions for the use of services provided by M6.net. The web hosting packages (further referred as accounts) are offered on paid basis to individuals who are at least 18 years old or minors with parental permission. By completing "account sign-up" form and clicking "submit" button you are stating that you are eligible for an account and that you agree to be bound by all of the terms and conditions mentioned here.
Billing and accounts receivable policy
Backup and Storage policy
Bandwidth usage policy
Web Space usage policy
Customer support policy
Acceptable usage and content policy
Policy on Spam and UCE
Disclaimers and limitation of liability
Indemnification
1. Billing and accounts receivable policy
All customers of M6.Net must abide by the terms set forth in this and all other policies. Violation of any of these terms may result in the immediate termination of an account. All prices mentioned on M6.net site are in US dollars. We have not changed our prices in the last 5 years even though we have increased more features and services for each account. Of course prices are subject to change. However, charges are guaranteed to remain unaltered through your paid billing period.All billing and account related queries should be sent to billing@m6.net1.1 Paying for your accountM6.Net accepts various methods of payment for billing transactions, the most common being by credit card, check/cheque, money order, draft and electronic transfer.1.1.1 Paying by credit cardM6.net accepts Visa, MasterCard and Amex. Customers opting to pay by credit card agree to have payments deducted automatically by M6.Net's Automated Billing System. All initial charges such as set-up fee and monthly fee (based on pro-rata) are billed on same day or next working day without fail, unless by decision of the M6.Net Management only who will deduct requested payable extras at any time at their own convenience.Monthly payments with a credit card will ensure that your account is not deactivated due to lost mail or other unforeseen problems. All accounts are paid at least 1 month in advance. M6.Net will automatically deduct regular monthly fees from your nominated credit card, on each Billing Day, which is usually at the end of the current month, without fail, unless by decision of the M6.Net Management only who will deduct requested payable extras at any time at their own convenience.M6.Net will also deduct any additional costs incurred due to usage of additional services such as custom name-servers etc. on the same or next working day without fail, unless by decision of the M6.Net Management only who will deduct requested payable extras at any time at their own convenience.1.1.2 Paying by check/cheque, money order or draftM6.Net allows its customer to sign an account with an option to pay their bills by check/cheque. Payments made by check/cheque are accepted, only covering a billing period of 6 months ahead or 12 months ahead. M6.Net must receive the check/cheque within 10 days from the date on which the account is signed in. In case of renewal, check/cheque must be received within 10 days from the date of renewal notice sent to the customer. Delays in sending check/cheque may result in suspension of services; incur a reactivation fee and/or late payment fee.1.1.3 Paying by electronic transferM6.Net allows its customers to sign an account with an option to pay their bills by electronic transfer. Payments made by electronic transfer are only accepted covering a billing period of 6 months ahead or 12 months ahead. M6.Net must receive the payment within 5 working days from the date on which the account is signed in. In case of renewal payment should be received within 5 working days from the date of renewal notice sent to the customer. Delays in sending payment may result in suspension of services; incur a reactivation fee and/or late payment fee.For all Australian based clients there will be a GST charge of 10%, applied to all goods and services provided by M6.Net1.2 Prepaid - Paying in advance (6 months or 12 months)M6.Net offers huge discounts on prepaid accounts showing its appreciation for customers who show their trust and loyalty by long term commitment. It is also convenient for many customers to pay once or twice a year instead of every month, especially customers paying by check/cheque or electronic transfer.Prepaid accounts paid by credit cards are instantly issued with necessary credits (US $1 = 1 Credit) allowing customers to use their accounts in full. However, prepaid accounts paid by checks/cheques or electronic transfers are issued with necessary credits only after the receipt of the payments. All charges including the discounted monthly fee and extra charges for additional services will be adjusted with the available credits in an account. Accounts with insufficient credits may not be able to add or use additional services. Since added charges are adjusted with the credits available in your account, your renewal date may come earlier than usual.1.2.1 Renewing prepaid accountM6.Net allows its prepaid clients to see their account details at all times using their control panel. Prepaid accounts paid by credit cards will be automatically renewed for the same term (6 or 12 months) at the end of each prepaid term or when the credit available become "zero". Therefore it is clients' responsibility to keep their credit card details up to date all the time and if they do not wish to continue.For prepaid accounts paid by checks/cheques and/or electronic transfers, It is clients’ responsibility to arrange the payment before expiry of the prepaid term or the credit available become "zero". Prepaid account paid by the cheque/check or electronic transfer after the expiry of their prepaid term will be suspended including all web sites and emails. Once the account is suspended, it may incur a suspension fee and/or late payment fee. All the services will remain suspended until payment is resolved in full.1.3 Keeping your payment details up-to-dateM6.Net allows its customers to update their payment details using the control panel offered automatically. It is the customers’ responsibility to keep their payment details up-to-date at all times. All accounts with expired cards will be suspended and may incur a $10 activation fee. Once the account is suspended, all the services including web site and emails will remain suspended until the payment issue is resolved.It is the client’s responsibility to inform us if their card is lost, stolen or cancelled for any reason so we can remove their account from our automatic billing until new credit card details are provided. Any charge rejected due to lost, stolen or cancelled card will incur a $15 rejection fee per transaction.1.4 Upgrading or downgrading your accountM6.Net allows its customers to upgrade or downgrade their accounts whenever required. To upgrade or downgrade an account, simply contact billing@m6.net with the account name or size you want to upgrade or downgrade to. There is no fee to upgrade an account. However, M6.Net will charge the balance monthly fee for the remaining days in the month when an account is upgraded. There is no fee to downgrade an account. However, the new (lower) monthly fee will be effective from the start of the next month.1.5 Account cancellationM6.net allows its customers to cancel their account whenever required. To cancel an account, it is compulsory for the account-holder to use the cancellation form available in their control panel. Any other means used (such as email/fax or phone) to cancel your account may not be honoured and fulfilled in time.1.5.1 Cancelling a monthly accountOnce the account is signed and set-up, the set-up fee and first month fee (based on pro-rata) are not refundable. If you are not sure about any feature or its version supported, or have any other doubt, please contact sales@m6.net before signing an account. As mentioned above, all monthly accounts are charged one month in advance at the end of the running month. Fees charged for a particular month are non-refundable. Therefore all cancellation requests must be received on or before the 25th of the running month to avoid a monthly fee for the next month. Cancellations requests received after the 25th may incur the next month’s fee. In such cases, clients will be able to use their account for the period fees have been paid for.1.5.2 Cancelling a prepaid accountIf a prepaid account is cancelled before its agreed term, M6.Net will issue the refund for all remaining credit in that account at the end of the running month. M6.Net may request for an authorization letter and photo ID to issue the refund. ‘Remaining credit’ is NOT ‘available credit’ shown in the account. Remaining credit includes the set-up fee, admin fee and regular monthly fees for any number of months the account was active, including the running month deducted from the total amount paid.1.6 Disputed billing transactionIn case of billing error or disputed transaction, the client must contact billing@m6.net for an initial appraisal. If, in any case of billing error or disputed transaction, bank ‘Charge back’ is initiated, your account including web sites and emails may be suspended without any notice and all services will remain suspended until the dispute is resolved. Once the charge back is initiated, you may have to send the authorization letter along with your photo ID to resolve the issue. Each charge back initiated will incur $15.00 charge back fee per transaction. Charge backs are in most cases made fraudulently and will be pursued fully, by parties including Debt Collection and Legal.1.7 Payment for domain registrationDomain registration and domain hosting are two separate services and thus billed separately. Hosting accounts signed with M6.Net doesn’t include the charges for a domain registration. In order to register and pay for a domain, you have to operate a separate domain registration account with DomReg-M6.Net (http://domreg-m6.net). This is a separate business unit of M6.Net so the charges need to be paid to them accordingly.1.8 Charges and feesReactivation fee - $10Charge back fee - $15 per charge back regardless of amount of transaction.Admin fee - $10Late payment fee - $10 per month regardless of amount of paymentRejection fee - $15 per transaction regardless of amount of transaction

2. Backup and Storage policy
All customers of M6.net must abide by all the terms set forth in this and all other policies. Violation of any of these terms may result in the immediate termination of an account.
M6.net backs up all server configurations on a regular basis, which helps in restoring the existing configurations in case of hardware failure. It is not possible to restore the data for individuals and therefore we encourage our customers to back up their contents on a regular basis. M6.net will provide help or assistance, where it can, to recover the lost data due to any reason but, accepts no responsibility or liability for possible permanent data loss.
To maintain the high performance of the servers we need to clean/delete the stats log files from time to time. Usually this deletion process occurs on the beginning of each month. Customers are advised to make copies of the log files regularly and before deletions, as M6.net does not provide an individual log files recording or storage facility. M6.net accepts no responsibility or liability for loss of log files after deletion of log files.
M6.net provides access to a real time graphics stats server for each domain. We encourage our customers to export all the necessary stats records on regular basis. Due to the involvement of third party components and the complexity of links between domains and the stats server, neither M6.net nor any third party hold any responsibility or liability for any stats data loss or corruption (if occurred).
Further more it is strongly advised that you retain a copy of each and every file or data-type before uploading it on the M6.net servers, as M6.net does not accept any responsibility or liability for permanent loss of data, in any form.
3. Bandwidth usage policy
All customers of M6.net must abide by all the terms set forth in this and all other policies. Violation of any of these terms may result in the immediate termination of an account.
M6.net has an extremely capable connection to the major backbones of the Internet. As the needs arise, our bandwidth is continually upgraded to accommodate the growing needs of our users. However, if any one web site produces an abnormally large amount of web site traffic for extended periods of time, this can cause slowdowns throughout the entire network.
Accounts on higher-level hosting plans will be granted more leniency in regards to bandwidth usage. Please note that other items such as CGI or email might require you to purchase a different, more suited, package. Account variations can be found on the 'Prices' page.
If an account is found to be using excessive bandwidth, the owner of the account will be contacted about upgrading his account, or negotiating extra bandwidth charges.
If you have any questions about this or any other policies held by M6.net, please feel free to email us at info@m6.net
4. Web Space usage policy
All customers of M6.net must abide by all the terms set forth in this and all other policies. Violation of any of these terms may result in the immediate termination of an account.
M6.net provides limited web space to store files and data. The size of the web space depends upon the account size you have chosen. You can review the web space allocated on different accounts at http://www.m6.net/web-hosting-prices.asp
If an account is found to be using more web space than allocated, the owner will be contacted about reducing the web space to their account limit, or upgrading the account or negotiating over-used web space. The owner will have 7 days to correct this problem – reduce web space to limit, upgrade the account or purchase extra web space.
Please note that stats log files for your domain are stored in your web space and is part of your account. Sometimes these files are the reason for the over-size of an account. It is the customer’s responsibility to download the logs files regularly and delete them from the server when necessary.
For further information in this regard please contact sales@m6.net
5. Customer support policy
All customers of M6.net web hosting must abide by all the terms of these policies. Violation of any of these policies may result in the immediate termination of an account.
It has been the goal of M6.net since our founding to provide top-quality customer support and satisfaction. We would like to take this opportunity to clarify what our role is in providing a web presence service.
There are certain features such as CGI, ASP, ODBC, SSI, real audio, etc., that we provide to our user. However, due to the complex nature of supporting such services, we are unable to support users in learning how to use such features. We will verify that the settings are correct on our end, but to help users correctly set up their own files, we must charge a fee based on professional rates.
In this document, we wish to clarify what issues shall receive free technical support (general issues) and which shall be charged for (advanced support). We make great effort to provide a fast turn-around on support for all general support issues. The time frame for advanced support will vary depending upon the complexity of the issue. If you have any confusion as to what issues would fall into the general support category and which would have a charge, please e-mail info@m6.net .
We have outlined below several examples of general support issues and some advanced support issues:
5.1 General support issues [no charge]
You may obtain free technical support on issues similar to the following by emailing support@m6.net .
Problems logging into an account. [Password set-up incorrectly, ftp login incorrect, etc.]
Problems uploading files due to server issues [permissions incorrect].
System configuration problems caused by us.
Web site not loading due to errors on our part [DNS incorrect etc.].
E-mail accounts not functioning.
Recommendations on what would be best to run... [i.e., should I use ASP or a CGI script?]
Included with the creation of each new account/domain is the registration or modification of a domain name with the current Registrant, to enable the domain to work with our servers. The M6.net support team can assist you with the changes.
5.2 Modifying existing domains with M6.net
M6.net wishes to ensure that you have a complete domain service with your account. This means being able to reach a web site at a fully qualified domain name url, e.g. www.M6.net
Included with the creation of each new account/domain is the registration or modification of a domain name with the current Registrant, to enable the domain to work with our servers. The M6.net support team can assist you with the changes.
If after the initial processing you need the M6.net support team to modify the domain, there will be a $10.00 service charge. This charge also applies to domains registered by other registrants, and is applied for modifying information on all aspects of your domain details.
For domains registered through M6.net, all updates should be requested via to domain@m6.net , this does not incur a fee, for any registrant.
5.3 Clean up or re-installation of an account
The cost of cleaning up or re-installing an account is $15.00. If you wish to start from scratch, we will delete and re-create your account for this fee.
5.4 Advanced support [$60.00 per hour]
Technical assistance with any user-supplied CGI script, ASP extensions, java applets, etc., is not included in the 'general support' category. If you will require assistance with your web site development including setting up or debugging a CGI program we will provide it at the rate of $60.00 an hour, billed a minimum of 15 minutes in advance. If the error was found to stem from incorrect system settings (caused by M6), the fee will be waved. Services falling under this category would include:
Custom CGI scripts and applications
Web site development
Re-coding html to reduce file size
Making image files smaller in file size
Technical support with user CGI, ASP, Java etc.
6. Acceptable usage and content policy
All customers of M6.net web hosting must abide by all the terms set forth in this and all other policies. Violation of any of these terms may result in the immediate termination of an account.
M6.net strictly prohibits any account hosted on our servers from containing certain types of material. These include, but are by no means limited to:
Offensive adult oriented material, such as pornography, and/or other offensive material as deemed by M6.net.
Any material that is not suitable for minors.
Material that is considered illegal by any governing body.
Warez (commercial software made available for free over the internet).
Illegal mp3 files.
Other illegally obtained or distributed software and/or files.
Documentation on hacking, software piracy, counterfeiting, bomb making, etc., posted with the intent of fostering criminal activity.
Any other questionable material, as determined by M6.net.
Any material, which is meant to harm, bash, offend, or pull down another group, be it political, religious, racial, sexual, or otherwise.
Sites promoting or fostering hate crimes toward any other group.
Any site hosted by M6.net which provides offensive adult services, as deemed by M6.net, will be stopped in expectation of a site clean up, there shall be a minimum service charge of $75 to reactivate the site and work done on confirmation of acceptance, of site content, and further charges at the rate of $60.00 per hour after the first hour. There will also be a charge of $0.50 per MB of data transfer if the site accumulates data during that period. M6.net will not tolerate offensive adult web sites.
No email address provided by M6.net shall be used to send 'Spam,' or un-solicited mass email messages. Any account found in violation of this will be cancelled immediately.
Any activity that overloads our servers and/or hides access to sites hosted by M6.net will not be permitted nor tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to:
Providing email service to large numbers of people not affiliated with you or your company (i.e., running a service similar to iname or netaddress)
Any other usage of provided system resources, which would constitute abuse in any form
Any such activity can and will result in the immediate termination of your account.
If you are unsure of anything that you would like to place on your web site, please contact us regarding this matter before you sign up. This will relieve stress and time on both sides.
We reserve the right to cancel any account at any time for any reason deemed necessary by the management of M6.net.
We reserve the right to change the terms of this acceptable usage and content policy at any time for any reason deemed necessary.
If you know of any account that is abusing these practices, please email abuse@m6.net and describe the abuse, and provide us with the url or email address of the party you are reporting, if at all possible.
7. Policy on Spam and UCE
All customers of M6.net must abide by all the terms set forth in this and all other policies. Violation of any of these terms may result in the immediate termination of an account.
Recent growth of the Internet has also brought about more and more possibilities for abuse of this new communications medium. In response to this, we have developed the following position on abuse of Internet services provided by M6.net in order to protect you, our customer, from Internet harassment and intrusions of privacy.
'Netiquette’ is a term, which has come to receive widespread use on the Internet. Netiquette is generally defined as the standards or practices an individual or organization engages in to engender responsible internet citizenship on their behalf, as well as refraining from standards or practices which would impose undue financial, time, or social constraints on other users of the internet.
The Internet, as large and complex as it is, has no single governing body. There is no Internet management to complain to when things go wrong. Every facet of the Internet is overseen by those organizations (such as M6.net) whose networks are interconnected to form the Internet. This also means that every user of the Internet is responsible for their own-behavior.
Because the Internet is simply an interconnected set of smaller networks, each entity using the Internet retains some liability for the cost associated with traffic and storage, for example, a single posting to a single newsgroup takes storage space on the local news server, then must be transmitted to a few more servers, which store the information on their hard drives, re-transmitting to a few more servers, and so on. When the costs of the storage space and transmission are all factored together, a single newsgroup posting can cost the collective internet thousands of dollars! There are similar costs associated with the bandwidth required to transmit email. Therefore, someone using email or news postings for abusive purposes can have a large financial impact on the networks involved.
Aside from the financial costs, someone who has fallen victim to some sort of Internet abuse has other costs in terms of decreased effectiveness of the Internet. For example, someone besieged by Spam email (a massive bulk email message to subscribers who did not indicate any desire to receive such email) spends additional time downloading and responding to email, which was never wanted in the first place. A newsgroup subscriber may see their favourite newsgroup overrun with meaningless off-topic advertisements, obscuring any effective information still remaining in that newsgroup.
When an M6.net customer performs any one of these abusive activities, M6.net pays a price too. The additional time we have to spend responding to the complaints that pour in could be much better spent on other services. If the domain “m6.net’ appears anywhere in the email headers, we will receive complaints. Even if someone is using the services of another ISP to send out 'Spam', advertising their M6 -hosted web site, we will get complaints.
Because of the potential consequences of this type of activity, M6.net does nor accept this type of behaviour by our customers. In the past however, we have given people the benefit of the doubt, assuming they didn't know that their actions could have such unwanted effects. If we received a complaint about an M6.net user abusing the Internet, our standard practice had been to warn the user that further behaviour of this type would result in termination of their account. This strategy, although mostly effective, still let’s Internet abuse originate from M6.net. Therefore, we've decided to switch to a more proactive strategy, making sure our customers know beforehand what is and is not appropriate on the Internet. All new subscribers to M6.net 's services will be informed of the consequences of internet abuse as part of our revised 'acceptable usage and content policy.' now that we've gone on the record with what is and what isn't acceptable use of the internet, any M6.net customer who abuses the resources of the internet in any of the following ways will permanently lose their access to the M6.net network. These include:
Excessive posting of email to Internet users who previously have not indicated a desire to receive such email
Posting messages to multiple Internet newsgroups, which are not immediately relevant to the topics of the newsgroups
Posting advertisements on groups that don't specifically permit advertising. (How do you know? watch the group for a while before you post blindly. If other people are advertising openly, then you are pretty safe doing the same. Don't advertise unless you are sure.)
Using the M6.net network for any illegal purpose.
There are literally thousands of advertising and marketing resources that are effective and either low, or no cost. These include classifieds on every one of the thousands of malls on the internet, your M6.net web space, registering with search engines, appropriate usenet postings, and many other completely legitimate methods of appropriate advertising. We are not saying you can't advertise on the Internet. What we are saying is that we will cancel the account of any subscriber who uses M6.net’ services to advertise inappropriately; primarily meaning, using unsolicited mass mailings, and spamming the usenet.
We’re aware of the many ways that someone can hide their identity on the Internet, and rest assured that a person's access would not be terminated until we are sure that they indeed are responsible for the abuse that appears to be coming from them. Hopefully this document should answer all of the questions of existing subscribers.
If the subject of Internet abuse is still unclear, please see one of the following urls:
http://marketing.tenagra.com/rfc1855.html
http://www.internetworld.com/
http://www.oak-ridge.com/ibbch4p1.html
http://www.danger.com/
http://www.vix.com/spam/
Any subscriber that violates the Spam policies of M6.net will be charged $150.00 per hour for the time it takes us to 'clean-up' your Spam. This shall include but not be limited to the time required to answer mail from angry recipients of your Spam and/or repair of a damaged server due to the 'mail bombing' or other actions of the angry recipients in retaliation to the Spam. Please note also that it is now considered a crime in many parts of the world, to send UCE (unsolicited commercial email) as it falls into the category of 'junk faxes.' M6.net will turn over names and personal information of any person who violates this law to the appropriate state / federal officials for further legal action.
If you have any further questions regarding our policy on Spam/UCE, please email us at sales@m6.net
8. Disclaimers and limitation of liability
The information and services included in or available through the M6.net web site or sites or products related to the M6.net service, may include inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added to the information herein. The M6.net management may make improvements and/or changes to its service at any time.
M6.net does not claim in any way that the web hosting services provided by them, will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the service or the server that makes it available, are free of viruses or other harmful components. M6.net does not claim in any way that the use, or the results of the use, of the services provided by them or the materials made available as part of the service will be correct, accurate, timely, or otherwise reliable.
By completing the account sign up form and clicking the submit button you specifically agree that M6.net shall not be responsible for unauthorized access to or alteration of your transmissions or data, any material or data sent or received or not sent or received, or any transactions entered into through the services provided by them. You specifically agree that M6.net is not responsible or liable for any threatening, defamatory, obscene, offensive or illegal content or conduct of any other party or any infringement of another's rights, including intellectual property rights. You specifically agree that M6.net is not responsible for any content sent using and/or included in the services provided by them, by any third party.
M6.net AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS, AND ACCURACY OF THE SERVICE FOR ANY PURPOSE. THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. M6.net AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE REPRESENTATIVES HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THE SERVICE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
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…Where Web Hosting Met Masses…

It is clear that the web hosting industry is one of the most profitable internet businesses in the last decade, or at least it has become. A lot of internet providers or software developers changed their work models and started offering complete services.
This significantly increased the role of marketing and aggressive growth of the web hosting companies. It has become important not only to have a quality data center facility and non stop working people who maintain the business, but it has also become à la mode to provide complete solutions from A to Z.
This was the time when web hosting became adult and a real industry on the web. Then we witnessed buy-outs, mergers, web hosting became real property, being only virtual as business. From another side, we saw a real growth in the domain registration market too, right after the dot com boom finished.
The internet entrepreneurs realized that a successful business is when you meet good domain with quality service and a lot of SEO efforts. The upper level was gained also when the Web 2.0 (as category) has emerged and again re-scaled the picture of the hosting business.
Then it became really “saturated” - well said but in the recent months I started thinking that this is not really true. Why? The reseller hosting business - the way it started was not meant to pose real threat to its parent, but it really did in the past year.
We have seen ‘web hosts’ come and go as we have never before, and in any other business. Yes, it is not hard to start such occupation, yes it can make you some money, but…there are a lot of ‘but’s.
Service Provision Needs Quality
I think it needs, OK, we may start with reliability but then, if you want to offer something and people will pay for it, you better think of its quality! Nowadays, there are so many hosts that I am sure, no one can count the number. Well, may be some one can count the reliable, quality and honest hosts - and the list may be kind of complete but this can be done only be independent professionals - and there are no independent ones! Not anymore.
Saturated vs Overcrowded
These days, almost every designer, web developer or person who has knowledge related to web programing or system administration is ready to open web hosting company. And most of those people have the right knowledge and skills, don’t get me wrong. The problem is coming from the lack of time, money and dedication the people can blend and start good hosting business.
I am not going into debate what are the ‘most important principles’ of starting on the hosting market. But I would say that when starting something new, we need to calculate what we can give and what we can then take off that new thing. There is only one result when we go it and then loose our passion - disappointment for both, us the people we let down. And there people are our customers.
From where to continue…
I am not sure where the problem comes from - it can be from the lack of clear procedures of becoming a working company, complete absence of any industry standards or a lot of other legal issues that companies rely on and take advantage of.
But one thing I am sure of - playing with web hosting business as its simple game is very harmful and takes off the field the ’side to side’ relations and trust. This make it rough to work, to handle and deal with.

source:

http://www.insidemag.net/2008/04/01/where-web-hosting-met-masses/

Hosting Control Panels - Standardize or Capitalize?!

What makes it important for a normal web developer or just user to go after a specific hosting service? The answer, of course, cannot be given in one way only, but I think it is important to know the different aspects of the user-leading components.
Probably, one of the most important considerations would the reputation of the web host. Secondly it may be the friendliness of the host, including the host’s website design, the billing system, the software it offers and the software it uses for its automotive activities.Current Situation
In the times, when the companies started to offer more and more technological services and put the key to importance into delivering the hosting as well designed and user friendly system - it became evident that the so called hosting control panels will be the part that will put away or attract, or at least keep the customers.
We have seen many control panels - some big companies even decided to go and develop their own automation systems for the management of the clients, which lead to market saturation in this segment too.Of course, depending on the specific business model and orientation - the biggest part of the web host went for using ready-to-deploy hosting panels for its shared hosting needs.
The likes of Ensim, cPanel, DirectAdmin and Plesk were the ones that lead the technological ways at the beginning of this century. There were and many open source panels, that could not, and still cannot make rivalries, because of the lack of support, development processes or just the panel’s architecture itself.
Nowadays, we are becoming more and more pretentious as customers and what the industry needed to do is to offer some kind of standardization or at least some major improvements of the hosting software it offers.
What future holds?
One of the steps was to introduce the software packages (libraries) coming with each panel, that as the companies says “will ease” the client experience and will provide more opportunities and options for any site developer or owner.
The next step was the introduction of more and more functionality inside the control panel - by adding different frameworks, newest version of the software, multiple website support, multiple-user interface, reseller options, even overselling option :).
All this is fine and made the eventual peak of this part of the hosting industry - most of the hosts were using cPanel or Plesk (because of the efforts of the mother companies or just marketing) and if you are host who wants to be on the top, you need huge investments for developing and marketing your own software or just go and use the industry leaders.
From customer’s point of view, if most people use cPanel, why would bother using something else (which proved to be wrong is lots of cases)?! But still, if you don’t use Plesk or cPanel, a very big part of the potential clients will stay away from you.
As everything, this will change - in a positive way probably and I will never stop talking about something that is the most important thing in every business or area of life - Standards.
At the Parallels summit, this subject was welcomed by most of the participants and I hope it will stay alive for as long as it becomes reality. The web hosting industry needs quality, high standards, rules. Either way, it will stay the way it is - highly saturated and unstable.
We have seen hosts come and go - it will be the same with the hosting control panels. Most of them will pass away or as its the case of Parallels - they will just buy all others. Actually, they did - excluding cPanel, but who knows :)!.
I think that I will be fine with this as long as the standards are introduces and the companies are respecting this. Of course this is only one part of the picture. The other may be the fact that one or two big players will hold the whole industry and will possibly lead to monopolization and law suits in the future. But still, the main focus, apart from making more money, should be offering the customers enough, but quality resources that will provide the web hosting market with defined rules and only the price and the business model will differentiate the web hosting companies.

source:

http://www.insidemag.net/2008/04/01/where-web-hosting-met-masses/

Web Hosting in Times of Crisis

have been recently participant of several board discussions, which pointed the eventual impact of the financial crisis on the loyalty of the customers - not only shared hosting clients but those who use VPS or dedicated hosting.
The posed question was towards owners of the hosting business, mostly. It contained and a sub-question, what we can do to keep the customers loyal, because the crisis affects all of us.Is it time for a change?
What kind of change? The business model the companies use or the way they treat their clients. Well, hopefully we are talking about the first. The suggestions of the forum thread were, that the hosts should start involving themselves more and more in the day-to-day problems of the company, talk to the customers, offer them different discounts, loyalty rewards etc.
All this sound fine - but lets see the picture as whole. You have a web based business and you need to push more and more to gain space in your niche. Then you need reliability in terms of quality of service you pay for. Also, you need friendly and helpful customer service to help you with your site building.
What else - yes, competitive prices of your host, that will keep you away from the rivals. All these are very good starting point for every customer, who values and knows what lies in the hosting bottom line.
The other piece of this would be the accurate attitude, the right efforts and business view of every web hosting involved person who want to profit from his business, from one side, and to provide quality of service, value added offers, not-loss-leading market strategies and overselling practices.
If one day (after the crisis is gone) the customer starts to evaluate adequately what he gets, and what he pays for and the hosting companies starts to carry for their clients, not only in times of global economical stagnation, then it will become evident if this business comes deserves the

loyalty of the consumer.

source:

http://www.insidemag.net/2009/02/13/web-hosting-in-times-of-crisis/

Hosting the Clouds and Hosting in the Clouds

What would the best way to be in front of the technological evolution - of course you need to follow it. In recent days, everybody is talking about something that may either help the hosting industry take the right way or to further put it in the overselling hole in went on few years back.
The new technological edge is coming through our door and we have to see it, at least we have to figure if we can follow the revolutionary ways to produce more, to use less, to gain more.
What I am talking about? Cloud computing, load balancing, system clustering or whatever you want to call it. The important thing here is that we have to stop talking about the traditional server systems, the way we know them and continue our vision into new direction.
Systematic improvement leads to constant and progressive increase of profit and sales - of course if the right measures are taken and the right amount of money are spent.And I am not saying that this is valid for the web hosting industry only - no, this applies to all web processes and business initiatives. The modern web presence will require us to have quality services, market orientated prices and model that will allow us to give the consumer the best available services he can get. And this will be possible of the wrong overselling model is gone.
The cloud computing technologies enable the web hosting companies to provide more quality and adequate pricing and in the same time more flexibility in terms of offerings richness, almost zero time for reaction, security, scalability and customization processes.
Of course, the involvement when you want to have a stable system are bigger than just renting few machines and make them overcrowded as Beijing. You need to have the right business plan and the necessary investments to reach the level of the new hosting models.
What can go wrong?
- the prices of such technologies will push forward only the bigger companies and will ‘eat’ the small ones (which may be a good thing after all)- the overselling model may be fully integrated into the ‘clouds’.- the new model may increase the prices and change the customers reaction and thinking- this model may make the Virtual Private Server hosting disappear or just be invaluable
Why cannot be wrong?
- the service quality will be outstanding compared to what we know now.- the reliability and the risk are not that high and its not even presumable in some cases- will change the meaning of ‘You get what you pay for’ in a positive way- will decrease the needs of constant technical support- you cannot use loss-leading strategies to sell the product
The reversing parts of this post’ title means the different ways of comprehending the cloud computing and the reflection over the web hosting industry - it can be both influential and discouraging. The good thing is that with those new technologies, we may bring and new models of customer behaviour and expectations as well as morality of the industry players - in the end, its all business.

source:

http://www.insidemag.net/2009/03/19/hosting-the-clouds-and-hosting-in-the-clouds/

Hosting Service Explanation - Do we always miss something important?!

The recent months did not showed some special trend or development of the hosting industry which may lead us to an extraordinary conclusion of the future. And I am not that selfish to hide some vision if I had such :). There are no any significant changes or supernova technologies that may take us to another level. There are not even new ideas in web hosting business - there are just some improvements, some new promotions, some hosts going mad with overselling model, some clients keeping their search for the cheapest host…there are few more.
What is web hosting about
There is something that is really differentiating the web hosting as service from the other services - the impossibility to determine the quality of the rendered service and the on-going non adequate model of offerings. There are not so many companies that offer any kind of service (but same) and have differences in the quality, the prices, the features.
Just imagine 3 different tourist agencies offer the same cruise from point A to point B, with same ship and same cabins but for different prices. The same applies to all the services and even to internet. If you are to offer something varying from your competitor, then try to explain the difference s you have.
Have you even seen something like this in web hosting business? I did not! I see big companies, small companies, mediocre web hosts offering the same, or even something “better” - same web hosting plans with different prices. Of course to top it all - here comes the big ‘overselling’ daddy.
It seems to me, that the web hosting companies are not trying to show their clients that the service they offer are reliable and quality but they compete their prices with the other web hosts, that is really annoying for the hosting seekers because, I see that in the forums, people are so confused when they have to compare companies, prices and features, that they start to hate it all. And here is where the “most cheapest host” fans are born - but that is another story.
In the end - web hosting is something people need to show other people, that they exist, that they have business and that they want to get connected. I really don’t see that in the efforts of the web hosting companies.
Do we care about the Customer
Of course, yes! How would be the next questions. What do we do to make them and keep them happy. There is a phrase saying that there are no perfect web hosts, there are only hosts that are perfect for us. I agree with this, with one remark - the relations between the hosts and the clients are the thing that can make any host the perfect one - the attitude of its employees and the vision of its owners.
Lets say a web host is having some problems with their hardware or software, and this comes on almost daily basis. There are customers that will notice the issue and will immediately address it to the customer support of the respective web host. From here we have 2 ways - the client is happy after the support resolved the matter quickly or ti did not helped and the client is not happy.
There are people who are not content to have fairly bad service with good and helpful customer support, others are OK with this and may stay with the host for a long as they know the attitude and help they receive is exceeding the industry standards or they just got used to this host.
The standards are the problem - the missing standards are really problematic because the individual expectations cannot be never met and offering something ambiguous is more welcomed by the hosting companies, rather than fulfilling some industry standards.
What service we offer
We only offer what the customer is paying or at some point, what the customer expects - if you have some exacting and demanding client you will be more willing to give good service - if the customers only pays and does not expect anything particular, then the whole point is moved in other direction.
Price of marketing the web hosting
The most rough and inadequate market is the web hosting one. If you want to market your web hosting service you will need - a lot of money and nerves and a lot of time to find the right niche and places to expose your services.
There is no industry like web hosting and there is no business like web hosting!

source:

http://www.insidemag.-something-important/net/2008/03/06/hosting-service-explanation-do-we-always-miss

Host More Photos and Save More Money

How much are you spending on photo hosting? Do you host your pictures with eBay, or do you use a third party? Contained in this guide is a way for you to save a great deal of money by hosting your photos from your own website.
Hosting Photos from your Website
How much are you paying per month to host your photos? Many people are paying $30/mo+ for only a couple GB of photos. That might sound like a good deal, but have you searched eBay for 'web hosting' recently? You can get a web hosting package with 10GB space and a huge amount of bandwidth for less then as $30 a year!
Did your eyes get as wide as mine did? So what's the difference between 'web hosting' and 'photo hosting'? Photo hosting is a place to host your photos. Web hosting is a place to put web content, including photos, so generally, it could cost you less to host your entire website then it would just to host your photos.
The only downfall is that you have to have some Internet knowledge. You will have to know how to use FTP to upload your pictures, and you need to know how to insert those pictures into your listings. If you are not experienced in manual photo uploading, there are many free programs out there that can turn your website into a photo-hosting wonder.
Setting up a Website to Host Photos
Get your company domain name. You will need a domain name (yourcompany.com) to point to your website.
Find a web hosting service. As I said earlier, there are many sellers offering cheap web hosting.
(optional) Install some photo hosting software. If you don't know how to manually upload photos, there are scripts out there that can make it easier for you.
Upload your pics. Upload all your pictures to a folder on your website.
Create your listings. Now you are ready to create your listings using your hosted pictures.
Here's a common question: What about free photo hosting companies? Consider this: let's say that you are hosting photos for your 2000 listings from a free third party company called PhotoHosting123.com. Now let's say that they went out of business. (unlikely, but very possible). Now you have pictures for 2000 listings pointing to a website that no longer exists. Now you have hours and possible days of work of redoing all of those listings. If all of your pictures are pointing to that company, you will never get those back, and all your listings will have to be redone. Now let's consider this: Let's say that you're hosting your photos yourself, and your web hosting went out of business. This is what you can do: find another web hosting service, point your domain name to the new service, and upload your photos to that new place. All of the photo URLs in the listings will stay the same, and you just saved yourself a huge headache. You won't have to change a single listing.
source:
http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Make-an-Appealing-Forum-Signature_W0QQugidZ10000000001908484

How to Make an Appealing Forum Signature

This guide contains some general guidelines to keep your signature appealing to both the moderators and the users. This is in no way the official rules and guidelines to posting on the community boards. For more information on the technical rules and regulations, visit http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=410491998.
When posting on the community boards found at http://pages.ebay.com/community/boards/, it is important to do a few things to it to make it look appealing to most everybody that views it. I will talk about a few simple methods to make your signature formatted nicely.

Where to Change your Signature
After logging into the community boards, enter a forum, and click the Settings link at the top-right corner of the page. There, you will be able to add some content to show at the bottom of every post.

Separate your Content
Make some sort of division between your post and your signature. You don't want readers getting confused on where your post ends and your signature starts. A simple example would be to put

---

before your signature. This inserts a horizontal line.

No Animation in Pictures
Pictures in any signature should not exceed 50 pixels high by 220 pixels wide, nor should they be animated. Personally, I find animated pictures annoying in the threads unless they have some sort of relevance to the topic. It is also annoying when people have 500-pixel high pictures in their signatures, and they post like 10 times in any given thread. It's annoying to scroll through because you are there to read the thread, not see their picture ten times. Make it small and discrete.

Change the Format of Text
If you are going to have text in your signature, make it look different than your post. Try something like this:

SIG_GOES_HERE

That code makes your text a bit smaller and a bit greyer. Not too much, but enough to distinguish it from your post.

If you want to use some different colors, try these color codes:

Navy: #000080
Maroon: #800000
Green: #008000
Teal: #008080
Olive: #808000
Purple: #800080

What to Put
Now that you know how to format your signature, what in the world would you put in it? A good thing would be some sort of quote or piece of text that describes you. This gives all the readers a better understanding of who you are. You could also promote any eBay page include your me page if you have one, and if you don't have a me page, you should .
source:
http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Make-an-Appealing-Forum-Signature_W0QQugidZ10000000001908484

Designing your Listings in Microsoft FrontPage

FrontPage Overview
Microsoft FrontPage is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor that is designed to maintain web sites. FrontPage allows you to create a web page in a WYSIWYG environment while it builds the HTML code in the background making it easier than ever to design your web pages. Below is an example screenshot on a split view of an HTML page.

FrontPage will work great in designing your eBay listings, but keep in mind that your eBay listing is not an entire website, therefore, there are some things you are going to have to format after creating your listing in FrontPage before your listing is sent on over to eBay.
The version I will be working with is 2003 Service Pack 2. If you have a different version, some steps and procedures might be a bit different.
Don't Use Extra Features
Extra features include but is not limited to: frames, iframes, web forms, layers, or any web components. eBay only allows simple HTML like bold, italic, underline, tables, and a few others. If you try to use some of FrontPage's extended features, they will not work. Above all others, do not use FrontPages themes under any circumstances. Think of FrontPage as the simplest HTML editor, and don't use anything special.
Of Topic: I don't recommend using FrontPage's extended features in any website either. A lot of the features that Microsoft put in FrontPage are only compatible with Internet Explorer. Very many features won't work in Mozilla FireFox or other non-Microsoft browsers.
Relative and Absolute Paths/URLs
This is a common problem that many people have when designing your listing in FrontPage. You link to pictures, but once you list your item, the photos don't show up! The issue here is the relative URL.
What's a Relative URL?
Lets try to relate it to driving directions. Lets say that you go to your favorite maps site for some driving directions. You type in your home address and your destination address, and you get your directions - from your house to your destination. Now lets say that you were abducted by aliens and they forgot to return you to your house. Instead they dropped you off at some other random place in the United States. Do you think you will be able to find your destination only using your directions? Of course not. Those directions only tell you how to get to your destination relative to your house, and now that you don't know where your house is, you will never find your destination.
An absolute path or URL defines the location of the document including the protocol to use to get the document, the server to get it from, the subdirectory it's in, and the filename of the document. A relative path takes advantage of were the document is called from. You don't need to know too much about them to know how to tell the difference between them. An absolute path in your listings will begin with 'http://'. A relative path will not. You cannot use a relative path in your listings because you are moving the document from your computer to eBay. When you move the content, the relative paths will be broken, and you will find links not working, and pictures not showing up. All of your paths weather they are for links or picture sources, must be absolute. See the screenshot below. There are two paths below. Can you figure out which path is relative, and which one is absolute?

Looking at the sample above, you will see that there are URLs on lines 35, 38, 41, and 44. The URLs on line 38, 41, and 44 are absolute. They start with 'http://', and they show the full path. The URL on line 35, however, is relative. If I were to move that page to a new location, that URL would not know how to find its destination. In order for that URL to work, it will have to be replaced with the full, absolute path.
Absolute Positioning
You cannot use absolute positioning. I don't even recommend using it on actual web pages, let alone on an eBay description. Avoid it at all costs. Scan your code for any absolute positioning. If you are using it, your code will include the word 'absolute', and the width and height values.
Extra Code that you Do Not Need
Deleting the extra code that you don't need is fairly easy. To put it simply, you need to delete code at the beginning and the end of the page. First the code at the beginning of the page. View the code of your listing, and delete all code above and including the tag. Next, delete the two tags at the end of the page. Which are and .
The only exception to this is if you have style code.

Conclusion
If you follow these steps, your code will now be ready to make the change from your computer to eBay.
source:

http://reviews.ebay.com/Designing-your-Listings-in-Microsoft-FrontPage_W0QQugidZ10000000000967339

Know When You Are Getting Scammed

In this guide, I will tell you some basic tips in avoiding fraud as well as sharing a couple of my personal experiences with fraudsters so you can learn from my experiences. Remember, the best defense against scammers is knowledge and awareness.
How They Get Your Information
95% of the time, scammers get your information through phishing scams. Have you ever gotten an email that claimed your eBay account has gotten suspended? There are too many variations to list here, but here are the general giveaways:
The email will have some sort of urgency. The email will state (directly or indirectly) that you must respond immediately by clicking the link in the email.
There will be a link in the email that you need to click. For example, "Click here to update your information" or "Click here to respond".
It most likely will not have your eBay user id or name in it. It will have a general greeting such as "Dear eBay User". Having your email address in the email would not be sign of legitimacy.
Here is a general rule: eBay will never email you telling you to update your records. Also, scammers have recently been spoofing messages from other eBay members. For example, I would get a "message" from another eBay member saying that they are going to report me to eBay unless I respond. Can you guess where that respond button goes?
Anyways, so if you click the link in the email, you will be taken to a site that looks like eBay's, but it is not. When you put your user name and password in that spoof page, they use that information to take over your account. They will then list items on your account, and try to take payments through Western Union.
By the way, never pay anyone you don't know through Western Union. If a foreign eBayer is trying to get you to pay for an item via WU, it is a scam! I will repeat this for anybody that missed it, never pay anyone you don't know through Western Union! Western Union is a great way to send money to people you know. Why shouldn't you send cash to strangers? Because there is no paper trail. Scammers love to use this service because they know when their buyer finds out that they won't get the laptop they paid for, there will be nothing they can do about it because WU payments are irreversible.
My Personal Experience with a $400 iPod
I am a registered eBay Trading Assistant, and I have my profile publicly displayed. Every once in a while, I get scammers trying to get me to sell stolen items for them. Here is a real situation that I had with a scammer in April of '05. Please read it and learn from it.
This person contacted me through eBay's Trading Assistant search tool. He told me that he had an iPod that he got as an Easter gift, and he wanted to sell it. I said I would sell it with no problem. He said he was going to ship it to me which I thought was a little weird. If he was going to ship it to me, I don't see why he couldn't list it and sell it himself, but whatever. He also asked if I could pay him via PayPal instead of mailing a check - no problem. So I agreed to list it for him, and he said he was going to ship it to me.
A couple days later, he sent me an email with the UPS tracking number, and then asked me to list it right away as a three-day listing. The tracking number is showing that he is sending it 3-Day express. First red flag - this guy's in a hurry. I said no since for all I know, that tracking number can be for a brick being sent to me. He had signature confirmation on the package, and I was at the post office with the UPS guy came, so the package was held for a day. 30 minutes after the UPS tracking information showed I wasn't there to sign, he sent me an email stating that I need to be there and to try to get it tomorrow. He seems to be a little obsessed over it, but whatever. So the next day comes, and I get the package, and sure enough, there was an iPod inside, but here was where I knew I was getting scammed. Second red flag - The iPod was shipped directly from Amazon.com as a gift with my name in the order! I couldn't believe it. Since I now knew that this came from Amazon, I looked the iPod up on the site and see that they cost $450. He wanted me to sell it Buy-it-Now for $400. Third red flag - he is having me sell it at a loss (but not to him of course). This proved that he lied to me saying he already had it because the order date was after the first email he sent me several days earlier.
This is where I give this guy credit for being smart. He used the stolen credit card information to make the purchase, and put my address down as the shipping address. His name or address was nowhere on the order! If I fell for it, I would have sold the item, sent him the money, and then I would have the police knocking on my door because it was my name on the order form!
First thing I did was to email the scammer. Just to confirm he was full of lies, I told him he had to call me to confirm some information. To make a long story short, he wouldn't. Fourth red flag - he wouldn't talk to me even though I had a toll-free number. Then I called Amazon with the order number, and they confirmed that it was "not a legitimate transaction". I then sent the $400 iPod back to avoid getting nailed.
So let's summarize - here are the red flags that led me to the conclusion that I was being scammed
*This guy was in a hurry
*He lied about how he got it
*He wanted me to sell it under cost
*He was afraid to call me and share his phone number
Summery - Avoid Scammers
So after reading all of this, you should know that avoiding scammers is as simple as using your common sense. PayPal, eBay, or any other company will not send you an email and tell you to update your information. If you get an email related to your account, do not click on any links if you don't know where they go. Open a browser, and type in the address to where you want to go. If you are a trading assistant, use your head. Make sure your items are not stolen, and make sure you know who you are dealing with.
source:
http://reviews.ebay.com/Know-When-You-Are-Getting-Scammed_W0QQugidZ10000000000840374

How to Avoid System Errors with Digital Purchases

Why and How I Duplicated the Error

I have been having buyers complaining about not being able to download their digital purchases for a little over a week now. After I heard this problem again on eBay Radio today, I decided to try to purchase a digital item to see what the problem was.When I made the purchase and paid, I was directed to an error page like the screenshot below:

How to Get Around the ErrorAll I had to do was go back to 'My eBay', and view the my recently won items by clicking on the 'Won' link on the left-hand side under the 'All Buying' section. Then find the item that you recently won. When you find it, click on the drop-down box under the Action column, and then click on 'View Digital Delivery'.Once you click that link, you will be directed to the page you should have gotten when you were shown that error page. Enjoy your digital item!Sellers: you are more than welcome to direct your buyers to their guide if they need help getting to their digital purchase, but this information may not be copied.

source:

http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Avoid-System-Errors-with-Digital-Purchases_W0QQugidZ10000000003389829

Web Hosting Services on eBay - Which is Best?

25 out of 31 people found this guide helpful.
Guide viewed: 3893 times Tags: Web Hosting Dedicated Servers Shared Web Hosting Linux Hosting Windows Hosting
If you search eBay for 'web hosting', you will get over a thousand results. With all those listings to sort through, how will you know which one is best for you? There are a few simple things to consider, and it could determine weather or not you will be successful in the Internet world.
Shared vs. Dedicated
Shared
Shared hosting means that your website will be on a server along with a bunch of other websites. The advantage is that your price is going to be very cheap. Some sellers out there are charging as little as $15 a year. That web server can have up to several hundred websites running at once. Shared hosting will do just fine for you if you are just starting out. You can always move your site to a dedicated server later if you so desire.
Dedicated
Dedicated hosting is where your website is the only one on that server, and you have full control over that server. Dedicated hosting is expensive ($100 /mo+), but it is very nice to have. A dedicated server will give you freedom. It will allow you root access to configure and optimize the server to however you want. It also reduces your dependency on your web host.
Reseller Web Hosting
What's reseller web hosting? Well, since everybody is about making money here on eBay, somebody came up with the idea of reselling web hosting. Here's how it works - I can go to a reseller hosting company, sign up for let's say $30/month. I am then given the option to add as many websites to my hosting package as I want, so I can turn around and sell space to others. My personal opinion - avoid it at all costs. Why? Because there are too many middlemen involved. If you buy hosting space from a reseller, you have the hosting company selling to the reseller which is selling to you. What happens if either one has a problem, or worse yet - goes out of business? You will be affected! Your best bet it to get as close to the source as possible. I run a hosting company, and I only sell space on my dedicated server to decrease the changes for problems later on down the line.
Windows vs. Linux
Windows and Linux are both operating systems that run on the web servers. You don't have to know a great deal of information on both to make a decision, but the more information you know, the better. First off, just because you have a Windows PC does not mean you have to have a Windows server. It has no bearing whatsoever. With that out of the way, what else do you need to know? You need to know what your website needs to do in order to function the way you want it to. Interactive websites need ASP, PHP, Perl, etc to function, and some of those languages won't work in both environments.
Linux hosting is the most widely used. Linux makes the best use of the server's resources, and it's more stable. Not to mention it's free and open-source. The biggest question you need to answer is what you plan on running on it. If you are running scripts like PHP, Perl, or MySQL, Linux is the way to go. If your website is going to require extensive database use, Windows might be better. Personally, I've used Linux servers for some pretty large databases without a problem, but statistics show that Windows servers can be better for large databases.
Unlimited Space vs. Limited Space
How can companies offer 'unlimited space' and 'unlimited bandwidth'? The answer is simple - they can't! When you come to a company that claims that they can give you unlimited space and bandwidth, they are lying to you. If you site gets busy to a point, they will cut you off. Think about it - can you think about anything else that costs a fixed price for an unlimited quantity? I can't. It's not economical. After you start using a certain amount of their resources, they will no longer be making any money off of you, and they will cut you off.
Another thing to consider - most companies that offer unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth will limit your files to pictures and text only. They won't let you store movie clips or audio files of any kind. If you still think after reading this that you want this type of service, be sure to read through their TOS, because if you start putting content up on their servers that they don't allow, they will take down your site and possibly ban you from their service.
Disk Space - How Much?
Most people think they need way more space then they actually do. If you just have an informational website for your business with 20 pages or less, you only need 10MB of space, and that would include the space for up to 20 email accounts. Even if you are hosting a large catalog with 200 items, you will only need about 300MB of space. I am an eBay PowerSeller, and I host all my pictures off of my website. I also never delete my mail - for two years now. Want to know how much space I'm taking up? Currently 25MB. That's how companies like Gmail can claim to offer so much space - same principle - they know you aren't going to use it all.
Customer Support
Customer support is very important in choosing a web host. What happens if you site goes down or the server has problems? You will want to contact your host and get the problem solved as fast as possible. You could be loosing money every minute your site is down! I would only choose a web host with 24/7 phone support. And better yet, be sure to call them at 2am, just to make sure that they keep to their word. I'm going to leave names out here, but I dealt with a hosting company that advertised 24/7 phone support, and it was not that. I couldn't even get on the phone with them during normal business hours! Be sure to put the company to the test with their support before you subscribe to them.
Companies With 1 Year+ Contracts
Why should a company make you stay with them for an extended period of time? Their service should be good to the point that you wouldn't want to switch. If a company is trying to get you in a contract, I would avoid them. Their are many others to chose from.
Conclusion
Now that you have read this, you should have a general knowledge on how to go out and find a hosting company that can fit your needs. I will probably write some more in-depth guides in the future, so be sure to check with my Me Page for my most recent guides. If you found this guide to be helpful, be sure to say so.
source:
http://reviews.ebay.com/Web-Hosting-Services-on-eBay-Which-is-Best_W0QQugidZ10000000000840301

Free domain with hosting, any catch ?!

Almost all shared hosting plan offers at least one FREE domain registration, some offers multiple with slightly additional fee.
A lot of free “real” domains are offered by web hosting companies. Web hosts will offer free domains with a web hosting package.
Be careful signing up for such service. You may end up with a free domain but a year’s worth of junky web hosting service. The best advice is to keep your domains registered and web sites hosted with different companies.
Finally, seriously consider what domain ownership means. Domain ownership means possessing virtual real estate. Domain names have value and can be bought, sold, traded and developed. They are an investment. Don’t let anyone or anything keep you from true domain ownership even if the offer is free.
I have selected 10 trust worthy hosts from here, which are providing hosting and free domain
name while you own the domain name.

TOP10 Web hosting .

We have selected / reviewed 10 best web hosting companies from some of the world top webhosting companies. We have been with this companies for more than a year and our clients are using it. All the hosting services we reviewed are reliable web hosting company supporting Apache, Python, PHP 4 or 5, MySQL 4, Microsoft FrontPage extension and email (including webmail). Most runs on Linux and Windows. Web Hosting services is a very competitive industry, some hosts are giving very cheap web hosting rate (as low as $4.95! ), including reduced first year fee, free months, discount coupon, free fist year, rebate and etc. You can easily find a very cheap hosting from $4~$10 per month. Listing below are the best web hosting services support PHP, MySQL, Python, FrontPage web hosting and almost all of it are linux web hosting (Please click here for windows hosting service. Web hosting companies below has been selected based on popularity, performance, feature, support quality and price. Higher rating hosting are usually has better feature over price ratio. More than 130,000 webmaster has found and very cheap web hosts / budget web hosting from http://www.top10webhosting.com . All hosting plan below can host any domain name including .com, .org, .net, .co.uk, .co.jp, .tv, .ws , .com.au, .com.sg, .it and etc. and etc.
Ranking
Web Hosting
Monthly Fee
Disk Space /Bandwidth /POP Email
Scripting /Database /Highlight
Rating / Review
1st
Monster Host[review]Est. Since 1999
$6.95$3.953 years @ $3.95/mo2 year @ $3.95/mo1 year @ $4.95/mo (2 & 3 years plan) Via this link only.
Unlimited Space
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited Emails
Host unlimited websites
FREE Domain forever
Best Web hosting company.
PHP Web Hosting
MySQL, Perl, FrontPage
Enhanced Cpanel, e.g. Postini Spam protection
100 MySQL Database
Easy to use CPanel 11 (UPGRADED!)
Quad Core (4 CPUs) Servers
Best support service and overall best host
REAL 24/7 Non-outsourced support with average hold times less than 2 minutes
Over 50 up to date script Installer
PHP 5, MySQL 5
Run faster PHP with FastCGI (new)
Anytime cancel & prorated refund
SSH Access
2nd
Blue Hosting[review]Est. Since 2002
6.95$3.953 years @ $3.95/mo2 years @ $3.95/mo1 year @ $4.95/mo (2 & 3 years plan) Via this link only.
Unlimited Space
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited Emails
Host unlimited websites
FREE Domain forever
Fantastico script Installer
PHP Web Hosting
MySQL, Perl, Front Page
Cpanel control panel
50 MySQL 5+ Database
Free $50 Google Ads & Yahoo! Ads
Free unlimited Add-on Domain
Best Php host (Version 4 or 5)
Run faster PHP with FastCGI (new)
Quick support, responsible host
Hosting > 440,000 domains
Includes OsCommerce Shopping cart
Ruby On rail (Ror)
SSH Access
3rd
IX Web Hosting [review]Est. Since 1999
$4.952 years @ $3.95/mo1 year @ $4.95/mo
Unlimited
Unlimited bandwidth
Total 1GB mail space
Host unlimited website
Upgraded. $4.95 plan now comes with 50 MySQL DB
PHP MySQL PostgreSQLs
MSSQL for windows plan.
Coldfusion v7 MX for windows plan.
Toll Free & Online Chat support.
Merchant Solution @ $24.95/mo
FREE 1 Domain
FREE $508 Ads credits
FREE 1 Dedicated IP
Good Support and overall good host
improved scripts installer
H-Spere control panel
Optional Windows or Linux OS
99.9% uptime guarantee
4
JustHost Est. Since 2002
$6.95$3.953 years @ $3.95/mo2 year @ $4.95/mo1 year @ $5.95/mo (3 years plan) Via this link only.
Unlimited Space
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited Emails
Host UNLIMITED website
$3.95/mo for 3 yrs plan.
FREE Domain forever
Overall best host
PHP 5 Web Hosting
MySQL 4+/5+
FREE 1 domain name
Toll free phone support

Quad Processor Performance Servers
Offices in the US, UK and Australia
400 Gigabits transfer/sec
Latest CPanel control panel
Speedy support + Live Chat
$50 free ads credits
Anytime cancellation + refund
5
HostGatorEst. Since 2002
$6.953 years @ $4.95/mo2 years @ $5.95/mo1 year @ $6.95/moMonthly @ $8.95/mo
Unlimited space
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited
Having 20% off Promo with coupon 'SNOWMAN'
Monthly billing cycle available @ $8.95
Reseller hosting available.
Serving International customers.
Cpanel Control Panel
Fantastico Script Installer
Host 1 to Unlimited websites
CPanel Reseller available.
Unlimited MySQL (Baby plan)>
Unlimited Domains (Baby plan)
CPanel, WHM Manager
Ranking
Web Hosting
Monthly Fee
Disk Space /Bandwidth /POP Email
Scripting /Database /Highlight
Rating / Review
6
EasyCGI Windows Est. Since 2001
$7.961 year @ $7.96/moMonthly @ $9.95/mo
350 GB space
3500GB bandwidth
Unlimited
Windows 2008/03
IIS 7.0 / 6.0
PHP 5.2.4, MySQL, MS Access
ASP.NET 2.0/1.1 & .NET Framework 3.5
Monthly payment plan available.
Best Windows hosting plan.
Established since 1999
7
LunarPages [read review]Est. Since 2001
$4.95
2 years @ $4.95/mo1 year @ $4.95/mohttp://www.top10webhosting.com/click/lunaruk.php
Unlimited space
Unlimited GB transfer
Unlimited
Host unlimited websites.
PHP Web Hosting
Cgi-bin, mySQL,Frontpage
Unlimited sub-domain
Friendly support
CPanel hosting, free domain
Optional JSP, ASP, Dedicated IP, SSL

Choice of PHP 4+/5 and MySQL 4+/5
Choice of Apache 1.3 or Apache 2.0
$775 Software FREE
Popular Webmaster's choice
Popular web hosting Plan since year 2000
Excellent customer service
8
PowWeb[read review]Est. Since 1999
$7.77Pay 6 months get 6 months freePay only $46.56 for 1st year. Via this link only.
Unlimited space
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited
Host Unlimited Websites
PHP MySQL Web Hosting
Point & Click Site Builder
Toll Free & Online Chat support.
PHP Nuke, Bulletin Board, Blog
FREE 1 Domain
75 MySQL Database
and many tools.
Load Balanced by multi-servers.
FREE Domain
Unlimited Subdomain
Community Forum, Web Templates & Web Tools.
Load Balanced technology.
30 days money back guarantee.
Website serve by clusters of servers
9
WHP Est. Since 2005
$4.953 years @ $3.95/mo2 years @ $4.95/mo1 years @ $5.95/mo
Unlimited space
Unlimited bandwidth
Host unlimited website
PHP 5 Web Hosting
MySQL 4+/5+# Ekoran keadaan tidak menentu selepas lapangan terbang Suvarnabhumi, pintu masuk utama Thailand, telah diambilalih ribuan penyokong anti-kerajaan malam tadi.LAGI
FREE 1 domain name
Dual Intel Raid Protected Servers

Cheapest @ 3 years, $3.95/month
CPanel control panel
Reasonable good support
Site design service available
Toll free phone support
10
Yahoo! Small Biz Est. Since 2005
$8.96$8.96/mo first 3 mo.$11.95 thereafter
Unlimited webspace
Unlimited bandwidth
1000
Unlimited email storage
Unlimited webpage storage
HTML. PHP, MySQL supported
Simple steps to create Good Looking website.
380+ fully customizable templates
Yahoo! Site Builder (FREE).
Paypal Accepted.

Friendly Toll Free Support.
Free Yahoo! site builder.
100 Free Subdomain.
Well known reliable hosting
.NET Hosts
.NET Hosting / Microsoft Windows / IIS Hosting
We feature companies that offer Windows based hosting packages. Some of these companies offer value added features like .NET framework hosting and MSSQL on an Windows IIS based infrastructure
The companies listed here are companies that we know and trusted by Top10webhosting.com.
Top Windows Hosting Providers
Hosting Company
Website
Review
Visit Site
EasyCGI has been in hosting business for 12 years. They are specialise in offering Windows server hosting.Price from $7.96/month. It is also the only host offer monthly payment option.EasyCGI is has recently upgraded their plan to offer IIS 7 hosting and .NET 3.5 framework.
Visit Site
IXWebhosting offers Windows hosting with hosting of UNLIMITED domains in 1 account.Unlimited webspace and Bandwidth.MSSQL 2000, ASP & ASP.NET 2.0, ODBC/DSN are supported.Price from $8.95/month.
Visit Site
Lunarpages is one of the recommended host by most webmasters,popular by their good support and low price. It supports ASP, ASP.NET 1.1 and 2.0, Unlimited MSSQL database. Price from $8.95/month.
Visit Site
1&1 Internet is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner specializing in advanced infrastructure.1&1 has a close relationship with Microsoft that enables them to bring you the best in Microsoft products and features at great low 1&1 prices
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated Hosting Service Providers.
We feature companies that offer Dedicated hosting services. The services offerred including Managed hosting, Private Racks, Reseller hosting, Semi-dedicated, Data Protection server, Backup and etc.
The companies listed here are companies that we know and trusted by Top10webhosting.com.
Top Dedicated hosting service providers
Hosting Company
Website
Review
Visit
LiquidWeb is specialise in dedicated hosting with high performance server. 30 Mins hardware replacement SLA make it one of the most reliable service provider. Servers with Quad Core processors are available.
Servers are highly customizable. Instant quote for different setup available
Add as low as $25/month and get quad core
1GB to 8GB RAM available
Default Secondary HDD at no extra.
Optional Cpanel, Plesk control panel at small fee.
Additional discount available if prepay with setup fee.
Visit
Hostgator is a medium sized hosting company with over 10,000 reseller account. They offer limited options on dedicated hosting service, but those are usually good enough for most hosting reseller.
Servers are best for hosting resellers or large websites
Medium to high end Quad core servers with limited options
WHM Autopilot billing system included for FREE
Discounted pricing with Enom domain
All comes with CPanel and Fantastico
HostGator is one of the largest reseller of ThePlanet servers
THEPLANET
Visit
The Planet is the world's largest privately held dedicated server company. In year 2006, the company merged with EV1Servers. The combined operations has over 22,000 customers and host over 2.8 million websites.
Server range from Budget Single Core to Highend Quad core servers.
Control Panel, backups, IPs, additional RAM are optional item
Manage an unmanged hosting
Many small to large hosting company are using their service.
Choices of OS, pre-installed software and etc.
Manual and/or remote reboot are available.
Visit
1&1 provides world's most efficient web hosting services. At a very low & competitive price it offers both Linux and Microsoft web hosting choices. They provide a beginner's package which is very easy to use and understand. 1&1 offers servers of various types which are root servers, managed servers and window servers. It monitors and provides maintenance services for the same. It also offers a 24/7 customer service desk for its server users.
1&1 servers are only available to residents of the US and Canada.
Simple and easy to understand comparison chart.
Managed and self-manage , Linux/Windows servers are available
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Lowest price host
Web hosting at $3.95/mo
Check out BlueHost
Best Windows Host
ASP / ASP.NET / Ajax 1.0
350GB $7.96
Yahoo hosting $8.96/month
Branded name at affordable price.
Via this link only.
Pay 6 mth get 6 mth Free.
Powweb$3.88/month
Low price Quality Servers
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