This is the fifth and final post in a multi-part series on selecting a hosting provider for your Magento site.

Alright by now you have hopefully selected the hosting provider that you want to use. I am assuming that they have sent over a contract and want you to sign this before the services will be provisioned. What do you do now? When it comes to the final price of the contract this is often negotiated from the initial quoted price.

In my experience, you can successfully negotiate a lower overall contract price by starting the negotiating at these two points.

1. The length of the contract. The length of a contact you are willing to sign the lower the price will be. If you are willing to sign a 3-year agreement you should hopefully end up at roughly a 20% discount over the 1-year term.
2. The setup fee. In most cases, you can get this waived without too much of an issue. Even on a small 1-year contract with some persistence this hosting provider should drop or deeply discount this fee.

Once you have negotiated the price of the contract pay attention to these clauses in the contract.

1. Contract Renewal. Pay close attention to this clause. Some hosting providers use an automatic renewal or “Evergreen Clause”. I would suggest that you not sign a contract with this clause in it. Your hosting needs will most likely change by the end of your current agreement. Due to that you want to be in the best position to negotiate a new deal when your current contract expires.
2. How far in advance do you need to cancel the contract. Similar to the above issue. Pay attention how much notice you need to provide to cancel the services at the end of the contract. Even at the end of the contract, you will need to either renew or move your hosting services other places. Make sure you understand the time frames required for proper notification.
3. What is the process for canceling the contract if the hosting provider fails to live up to their SLA. This does happen on occasion and you should know what the process is, what sort of violation is required and any penalties you could be assessed.
4. What are the penalties for canceling early? Worst case scenario you need to cancel the contract for your own business reasons. If this occurs, you will want to have negotiated this penalty beforehand. Try to negotiate this to a simple 30-day additional monthly cost.

That wraps up some simple tips for evaluating and signing up with a hosting provider for your Magento site. As always I and the entire team here at Orange Collar are here to help you out in your journey.