Hiya!

I just wanted to keep everyone updated on what is happening. The price increase change has already taken affect. I am now working on moving everyone over to our new rental system as we will no longer be using CasperLET rental boxes. This may take me a hot minute so please be patient and bear with me as I am only one person moving everyone’s account into the system. Once I have finished, I will send a notice that it has been completed so keep an eye out.

Please direct any questions, comments, and/or concerns my way if you have any.

Thank you,
LustyLexxi Larimore

Hello everyone,

Link to Part 1 and Part 2, read these first if you haven’t already.

I did this one in video format to hopefully make it easier. Forgive the way I sound, still recovering being sick.

Still have questions, comments, concerns, please let me know. Thank you. –LustyLexxi Larimore

LOWERED PRICING: READ THAT POST HERE

The tough decision: Part 2

WARNING: This is gonna be long. Please read it. If you aren’t a customer or are looking to become a customer of ours this doesn’t affect you nor have anything to do with you 😉

The below pricing structure will take effect for existing customers January 1st, 2023. Once that time comes I will enter you into the new system that we are using for our streams (NO MORE RENTAL BOXES!).

I did the calculations and with the help of my husband, the new pricing will allow me to do what I previously stated in part 1 post. It will allow the room to grow & expend with new servers as we need them. It will allow me to hire staff with a good salary so I don’t burn out as I have had been doing for what feels like forever with doing all the work I do, alone. To be able to cover the operating costs & not have it come out of pocket as that is the opposite of what a business should be doing. It will allow me to earn money from my business to take care of my family: i.e. paying our bills like groceries, buying food/toys/treats for our 3 dogs, lights, being able to buy myself lunch with using earnings from my business if I wanted to, etc.

The previous pricing…I couldn’t do any of that really. Our budget plan was $0.40 a week. Not including the 5% transaction fee to process funds from L$ to USD (https://gyazo.com/c54d21c11e2a3e90df9fcf4c2e66adba).

Servers alone are expensive. Now even more with how data centers are no longer offering unmetered bandwidth as they give you an allotted amount on a server you order then charge for anything you use that is over that amount. Streaming services require plenty of bandwidth.

Here is our new pricing:

REGULAR STREAMS (non licenses):

VIP Licenses:

Daily Rental:

The daily rental is for those who come in and need something on the spot but not for that long. Like retired DJ’s who want to do an event for a friend, for example.

I know that the pricing is quite an increase. But in order for Hostcrate to continue doing business and providing the reliability that we are known for with the customer support I do my very best to give: we have to cover expenses which includes but not limited to land tier, staff pay (I’m staff too ya know)/hiring more staff, servers, to be able to deploy new servers, software, billing software, cover any bandwidth overages, advertising so we can get our name out there in SL & RL, etc.

If I would of continued the same pricing, I would eventually have to close up & retire which I didn’t want to do, at all. I don’t/won’t use shitty servers at shitty data centers who charge pennies for mediocre service. I take pride in providing reliability & proper customer service – it is important for my customers to have that & I won’t settle for anything less, ever.

I hope I don’t lose any customers or upset anyone. But this is what is best for Hostcrate to continue to be around in the future.

There will be a part 3 which will show you our new place, the new rental system we will be using, etc, that we can settle into for a while (whew no more moving & especially no more of those damn rental boxes!!!).

I appreciate you all. If it wasn’t for YOU, the customers, I wouldn’t be here today! Thank you!

-LustyLexxi Larimore

The tough decision: Part 1

WARNING: This is gonna be long. Please read it. If you aren’t a customer or are looking to become a customer of ours this doesn’t affect you nor have anything to do with you 😉

We, Hostcrate, have been around for coming up on 15 years on May 4th, 2023. We have always done everything to keep our pricing as low as possible. We have done less than a handful of price increase and that, to me, is impressive with how long we have been around.

Months back (May 13th), I received an email from my data center stating they are migrating us to the Vultr control panel and Vultr billing system by 8/01/2022. They made it clear that the current services we have would not change. Vultr & Choopa are the same brand but were under different brand names.

We have successfully transitioned over to them. However, they have made it clear that ordering any new servers could not and would not be the same pricing/specifications/including add-ons that we currently have on our existing servers.

I would have to deploy new servers under their website with their pricing and specs they have to offer. These servers are not cheap to say the least.

1: They don’t offer management services, at all. I have this currently on our existing servers with them because let’s be real, Lexxi breaks stuff easily so I don’t risk that.

2: They don’t offer unmetered bandwidth. Their server pricing structure gives a specific allowed amount and then anything over that, they charge for.

3: The extras I have like DDOS protection on our existing servers cost extra on new servers. This, to me, is essential with our servers just in case someone gets a wild hair up their butts and try to do such a thing. It has happened about 3/4 times in our 15 years without there being any downtime or effect on the servers because of the protection we had. Let’s face it, people can be mean.

Hostcrate is a business. In order for a business to operate and keep doing business and expand it must be able to cover the expenses in operating costs. I have kept pricing low for 15 years. I have paid expenses out of pocket in order to keep operating because I absolutely love what I do and all my customers.

Friends, customers, and even my loving husband have told me over the years that I shouldn’t sell myself short. That the level of customer support, the hours, the  reliability that I give is more than enough reason to increase pricing to where operating expenses for Hostcrate are covered and that it should be also making a profit in order to for me to have a living wage to be able to help in supporting my family especially with all that they see me do/give to running Hostcrate.

So, I have made the decision to do that. I even got the opinions of customers these past few days to see their opinions which they agreed with the above. With the pricing increase, I will be able to deploy new servers whenever needed, pay to hire staff so I don’t over work myself, etc, you get the idea I’m pretty sure.

The pricing structure & specifics will be announced in part 2. Be on the lookout for that in the next few days.

I do not wish to upset anyone and I’m sorry if I have but this is what is best to keep Hostcrate around as I do not wish to retire anytime soon. That is the LAST thing I wish to do. The pricing increase won’t take effect until January 1st, 2023.

Thank you
LustyLexxi Larimore