Good idea and i'll probably join... but can I ask how the overheads are getting so expensive just due to "the site growing"? It's just web hosting and a domain name.. and your time to maintain the site, which could almost be put down to a hobby (we all spend all day here). I don't understand how the costs are piling up so high when it's just a website and you already have some form of income through ebay and presumably oz group breaks (?). I don't mean to sound like a jerk, honest question.
Just a website and domain name? I wish it was so simple.
Straight up, every month, there is over $500 a month for server colocation and bandwidth.
There is also a backup server and switch so we can move the data between the servers. I bought these servers a few years back. The main server we are on wasn't cheap. Dual CPU, 72 gig of ram, 8 hard drives in RAID (protection from hard drive failure) with dual power supplies etc. The backup server is pretty essential in that we have backups if anything goes pear shaped. Bandwidth utilisation currently sits at over 200 gig per month. That sort of bandwidth is nice and cheap when you sit on a home Internet connection. But we are hosted in an Australian data facility that has redundant providers and fail overs in the event that anything goes wrong with providers. Also have generators in the event of power failures etc. We have managed 99.9% uptime in the last 12 months. How often do you visit and the site is down or very slow?
Why do we have so much redundancy? I've seen sites disappear after being hacked and have no backups in place. Just like that, entire communities gone.
As more users download attachments, view files on the servers etc etc the bandwidth costs increase. Unfortunately we don't get a break on pricing as 200 gig is nothing.
Then there are forum licences, server software licences, renewals of these, upgrades, forum addon licences and renewals, development of new features for the site, premium member prizes (yes some are donated), postage of these, server monitoring software licences. Im sure there's more. $20 here, $40 there, $60 here, $70 there. It all adds up. Ebay and google ads brings in a small amount each month.
Before the Premium Memberships, I covered all of these costs myself and with the assistance of donations from some members. I could host the site on some slow US server and take a punt that backups are being taken for $40 a month. But this site is important to me (and to plenty of others who visit here) so I don't do that. If you aren't going to do things right with an important website, why bother?
So there you go. I'm sure as heck not getting rich off OZCT. Im not one to bleat or complain every month how much this all costs, but I truly appreciate the support from each and every one of our Premium Members.
Sell more (which I'm sure many do) and you are way ahead without having to pay more fees.
