Do you sell VPS services on eBay?

What?

Yes, it’s true that on one of the world’s biggest marketplaces, you can buy VPS services along with Beanie Babies, sports cards, and DDR2 RAM. If you search eBay for “VPS” or “Linux VPS” you’ll find pagefulls of listings.

Interestingly, there aren’t as many as you’d think, and most of them are not at particularly competitive prices. Here are some examples of the better offers I saw (considering only price and not any kind of provider reputation):

• Get a Linux VPS (running Ubuntu 18) with 2GB of RAM, 80GB of disk, unlimited bandwidth and DDoS protection in Canada fro $4.99/mo. I’d guess this and many of these offers are OVH-based.
• Or a Linux VM with 1GB of RAM, 25GB of storage, and 1TB of transfer for $5/mo in Chicago.
• Here’s a 2GB RAM Windows or Linux VM with 80GB of disk, 2 cores, and unlimited bandwidth in France for $6.40/mo.

I’d say that for at least half if not more of these postings, it’s difficult to identify the host. Some of them are a bit smarter, putting their logo in the auction photograph (which shows on the listing page) and prominently displaying it in the listing details. Only a few go the whole route, linking to their TOS, including testimonials, including some ad copy to differentiate themselves, etc.

Some have truly strange terms, which is probably the result of trying to shoehorn their service into the auction format.  For example, some say “30 days, nonrenewable” – why would any provider ever want to sell on that basis?  Smarter listings offer a small discount if you renew for 3, 6, or 12 months.

If I was a provider looking for new ways to advertise myself, I think I’d post some ads on eBay. What do you have to lose? You’d need to make sure your listing price covers the eBay auction fees (as well as the usual payment processing). Beyond that consideration, it’s free advertising, and you may get some sales from people who otherwise may never hear of you. If people are successfully selling services at 2-3x LowEnd prices there, you might just be the next eBay VPS market leader.

raindog308

Raindog308 is a longtime LowEndTalk community administrator, technical writer, and self-described techno polymath. With deep roots in the *nix world, he has a passion for systems both modern and vintage, ranging from Unix, Perl, Python, and Golang to shell scripting and mainframe-era operating systems like MVS. He’s equally comfortable with relational database systems, having spent years working with Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

As an avid user of LowEndBox providers, Raindog runs an empire of LEBs, from tiny boxes for VPNs, to mid-sized instances for application hosting, and heavyweight servers for data storage and complex databases. He brings both technical rigor and real-world experience to every piece he writes.

Beyond the command line, Raindog is a lover of German Shepherds, high-quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop RPGs, and hiking in deep, quiet forests.

His goal with every article is to help users, from beginners to seasoned sysadmins, get more value, performance, and enjoyment out of their infrastructure.

You can find him daily in the forums at LowEndTalk under the handle @raindog308.