# Pro-rated services



## SkylarM (Jul 16, 2013)

I'm interested in people's opinions on pro-rating services. As of the moment we are pro-rating services, as it is very nice from a provider's standpoint. What are your thoughts as a customer on purchasing pro-rated services. Do you like it? Do you not like it? Why?


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## shovenose (Jul 16, 2013)

I dislike it from provider and client perspective.


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## SkylarM (Jul 16, 2013)

shovenose said:


> I dislike it from provider and client perspective.


I'm currently transitioning out of Pro-rated services as a lot of customers have contacted me stating that they do not wish to pay on a pro-rated service as they tend to place orders the day that makes most sense for them financially. Was just interested in seeing if others feel the same way.


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## clarity (Jul 16, 2013)

Skylar,

I purchased services from you earlier today, and I hated the fact that it was pro-rated. If it helps you, that is fine, but I feel like an extra $2.06 was taken from me. On a provider that I can trust, it is not an issue, but the new guys always have to go through a testing period. 

I really think that until you establish a name for yourself you should not do it.


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## SkylarM (Jul 16, 2013)

dclardy said:


> Skylar,
> 
> I purchased services from you earlier today, and I hated the fact that it was pro-rated. If it helps you, that is fine, but I feel like an extra $2.06 was taken from me. On a provider that I can trust, it is not an issue, but the new guys always have to go through a testing period.
> 
> I really think that until you establish a name for yourself you should not do it.


Understandable  if you want to switch your service to non-pro-rated open a ticket and I'll refund the pro-rate amount.


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## MannDude (Jul 16, 2013)

Pro-rated is fine, I have no issue with it as a client and from a provider's standpoint it's much easier to manage and do accounting.


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## MartinD (Jul 16, 2013)

MannDude said:


> Pro-rated is fine, I have no issue with it as a client and from a provider's standpoint it's much easier to manage and do accounting.


Indeed. see trying to run multiple brands with a ton of different billing dates.. it's hellish. Trying to get year ends done or even keep up with monthly/weekly accounts is a mess. We'll be moving over to it soon to make things easier.


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## perennate (Jul 16, 2013)

As client, I think prorated services make it much easier for me to manage payments; if everything was prorated for the same day, my own accounting would be a lot easier...

It is a bit annoying that you have to pay more if you purchase the server at the wrong time. But if the limit is reasonable (say fifteen days, so if you pay before fifteen days then you pay until the end of the current month instead of end of next month) then it works fine.

That said, most providers I have VPS from are not prorated, so it's no use to me (only easier if everything or a majority of my VPS are prorated). Maybe I can request prorated?

Edit: I'm assuming prorated means that it bills everything from start of month. I looked at uses of "prorated" outside VPS providers and it seems to be a bit different (on the last bill instead of on the first bill), so maybe I'm not thinking about the right thing.


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## SkylarM (Jul 16, 2013)

perennate said:


> Edit: I'm assuming prorated means that it bills everything from start of month. I looked at uses of "prorated" outside VPS providers and it seems to be completely different, so maybe I'm not thinking about the right thing.


You would be right. How I had it setup was if you purchased before the 15th of the month you paid to the end of that month, if you purchase from the 15th onward you'd pay for the partial month + 1 full month (so if that was active and you ordered today your next invoice would be September 1st). 

Would be nifty to offer clients the ability to pro-rate to a date selected by them (within reason) to pro-rate to, would be cool to find a way to automatically do that rather than a manual process but I'd be fine doing it on a per customer basis.


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## perennate (Jul 16, 2013)

SkylarM said:


> Would be nifty to offer clients the ability to pro-rate to a date selected by them (within reason) to pro-rate to, would be cool to find a way to automatically do that rather than a manual process but I'd be fine doing it on a per customer basis.


That sounds like a great feature request; would be the same as offering a choice of whether to "pro-rate" or not, and in that case you could also just set limit to 30 days without complaints probably.

Edit: by "would be the same as" I actually mean that it includes that and more


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## wdq (Jul 16, 2013)

I also tend to prefer billing to be prorated as a client. If I want to try out a new provider I can order towards the end of the month and only have to pay for that last little bit of the month so that I can test everything out without spending a whole lot of money.

I also enjoy being able to renew all of my VPSs from a provider at once instead of having to pay several invoices each month.


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## perennate (Jul 16, 2013)

wdq said:


> I also tend to prefer billing to be prorated as a client. If I want to try out a new provider I can order towards the end of the month and only have to pay for that last little bit of the month so that I can test everything out without spending a whole lot of money.


I think of that as a consequence of prorating rather than a "feature"/purpose of it.

Edit: I mean because you could accomplish the same thing without prorating, i.e., by allowing client to pay for fourteen days or something on the first invoice.


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## wdq (Jul 16, 2013)

perennate said:


> I think of that as a consequence of prorating rather than a "feature"/purpose of it.


 

Yeah, from a provider's point of view there is probably a greater chance of fraud, and customers that don't stay for long.


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## bdtech (Jul 16, 2013)

Prorated all the way (unused account credits too)


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## DalComp (Jul 16, 2013)

Clients coming before 15th of the month (or whatever date you set) would feel like he's having a discount. On the contrary, clients after the set date would feel like he has to pay more than the advertised amount.

Personally I'd rather pay small invoices several times than letting go a big chunk of my money at the start of the month. That is if all providers use pro-rated billing, but that is not the case so it doesn't matter.


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## clarity (Jul 16, 2013)

I think that you really have to look at the segment that you are in. There are a lot of LEB providers that fail pretty quickly. If they use pro-rated billing, you are risking losing more when they don't make it. I am not mad about an extra couple of dollars, but those couple of dollars could add up for a ton of clients.

From the other side of things, I think that it is much easier for all parties involved to reduce the time frame that payments come in at. Providers just have to be good with budgeting their cash flow since it will be a feast and then famine type of situation.


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## bdtech (Jul 16, 2013)

Guys you do not pay more or pay less because of proration.


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## HalfEatenPie (Jul 16, 2013)

Ok well, here's my two cents.

As a provider, I'm in favor of pro-rating, and this is why:

- It's much easier when you're working on finances and especially better when you have to fill out the paperwork for tax purposes

- You have an expected time to accept payments and from there you can plan accordingly (instead of "is this specific individual going to pay?)

As a customer, I'm also in favor of pro-rating my invoices, and this is why:

- It's easier to expect/know when your next invoice will be due (I mean my rent is due at the beginning of the month, similar to that I know that I also have such and such invoice due, etc.)

Honestly, people shouldn't feel "ripped off" for the small additional cost for the initial invoice because (assuming the service is proper) you are receiving the proper service you paid for.


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## perennate (Jul 16, 2013)

bdtech said:


> Guys you do not pay more or pay less because of proration.


Well you do if you cancel after a few days.


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## kaniini (Jul 16, 2013)

Prorating is not really something that fits well for us.  We have bills with different datacenters which renew on different days.

If our bills lined up on a single day, then we would prorate to that day.  But, they don't, so it makes no sense to us to do it that way.


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## shawn_ky (Jul 16, 2013)

I've been buying services by the year (I like the discounts when you do so, but sometimes fear if the company will be in existence), so at this point, it doesn't bother me as it doesn't affect me so much. I am the type that likes to know when a bill is due, so I'd prefer being able to select beginning of the month... and then just pay from there. If it means paying the last 2 weeks of a month to get it there, so be it..


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## Awmusic12635 (Jul 17, 2013)

I am fully in favor of prorated. Makes billing much easier


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## SeriesN (Jul 17, 2013)

As a provider I am in favor, as an end user, I am also in favor. Why? It makes simple for me to organize things instead of worrying everyday that I owe him, I owe them.


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## HostUS-Alexander (Jul 18, 2013)

As a client i think its great, easy to track everything (1st of the month) For a provider i dislike it, as if all services are renewed on the same day, your causing alot of work load for the one day etc


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## vanarp (Jul 18, 2013)

HostUS-Alexander said:


> your causing alot of work load for the one day


 
Curious to know how workload raises for that day? Doesn't everything happen automatically and handled by the billing software?

While I do not exactly understand "Prorated" here, I prefer my billing cycle to start from the day I signed up so that my next invoice would be due at the same time following month. This way I do not have to worry about paying more to the provider.


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## HostUS-Alexander (Jul 18, 2013)

vanarp said:


> Curious to know how workload raises for that day? Doesn't everything happen automatically and handled by the billing software?
> 
> While I do not exactly understand "Prorated" here, I prefer my billing cycle to start from the day I signed up so that my next invoice would be due at the same time following month. This way I do not have to worry about paying more to the provider.


 Non payment - i suspend and terminate manually, i prefer this. Everything else is mostly automatic.


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