Please advise

[J0sh]

hi,

i recently registered to this form after buying domain names. I found someone in my area online to help me develop a few of my domains. I have ZERO experience in this. And don't want to over trust someone i don't know very well...

He recommended that i set up a hosting account with Gates, and that i give him the info on the email they sent me after registration.

He wants me to prepay him for the hours he's going to work on my site.

Is this "normal practice"?

Perhaps I'm just being paranoid, but I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing considering that I don't know him or his background.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

J0sh

 

[steveto]

Well,

He may not trust you to pay..but usually if you dont know the person too well, you offer to pay half now and the rst when the project is completed. That is normal actually for development....but I got a guy that I ask how much a project will be and sometimes I pay half and some times i wait till he is done. ..depending on the relationship..but half now and half when it's done is pretty fair to me.

Steve

 

[domain newbie]

not normal- make sure you are comfortable paying- some just disappear-some just too lazy..

its normally okay to pay half if Webster from UK , US or Europe, ask for references/contact numbers, - anything to do with Iran, Iraq etc be careful

This forum gives a little security- check trading rating and how long person have been here-at least you will be able to complain..

 

[tinner666]

Does he have any examples of prior work? Any references?
He may have only built his own sites, and done them as badly as I did all mine. In which case, nobody would want him or me doing your sites.

 

[WeBuyThe.Com]

You could always post the project on elance or hireacoder and see what kind of prices you get back. Most of the programmers require 30-50% up front but at least you can see their feedback and sample portfolios

Good Luck!!

 

[Biggie]

Hi

whatever you decide, remember that any coding done by a webmaster/developer remains their property, unless otherwise specified in contract.

should you decide to sell later.

Good Luck

 

[replic8te]

now thats good to know biggedon thanks

 

[VTEC]

I'm not an expert, but if you give him only the ftp access, nothing should happen... (?)

 

[J0sh]

Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback...

Just to confirm one last thing (as vtec suggested): there is no harm in giving my developer ftp access??

 

[DaddyHalbucks]

Yes, a deposit is reasonable, complete pre-payment is not. It's a red flag.

 

[Jacksplat]

I will only pay in full when I completely trust the coder will do the job right, or do it at all. Many have good intentions but life gets in the way, or bigger projects, or even their own sites and yours may never be started or even completed.

It's been my experience that rushing into a project is a mistake. Understand 100% what you want before placing an order. Having a reference site to show the coder helps if you cant describe your needs too well. You need to let him know what options you will want in your cms. I always expect my coding to be understandable and not encoded. Insist on the coding not to be encoded, that you own it once paid. Otherwise there are many free sites available such as joomla, drupal, wordpress and so on.. its endless. As well scripts you can add to any of these sites are abundant.

If he builds you a site which is unmanagable your throwing away your money. Things change too fast and upgrades will cost alot if you depend on him.

Jack

 

[whitebark]

Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback...

Just to confirm one last thing (as vtec suggested): there is no harm in giving my developer ftp access??

Yes and no. It depends on the server - the permission level you have with the server etc. If you are using cpanel or another type of control panel for your hosting you may be able to set up a 'directory only' ftp - ie - the developer can only access that one directory and no others on the server account. If you don't know how to do that you should contact your hosting company and ask them to set such an ftp account up for you.

 

[fab]

I once got ripped off from a programmer from India. Paid him partial payment, but he never got the job done. If you can Escrow the project that's a suggestion. If your both from US, you might want to write a contract. It really depends on the amount of money you're dealing with.

Using FTP is fine, if he doesn't have any access to files you don't want him to, and you don't give him the master password.

I've done work here, and got passwords as well. I always mention to buyer, that he should back up any information he has.

 

[tinner666]

Have you checked with your registrar? Most have hosting packages with 'easy' website templates for the DIY'er..