chore(dedicated): cut setup fees in half — competitive recalibration

Original tiers ($349/$549/$799) drifted into Hetzner Dell US
setup-fee territory ($840-$1,020) — too aggressive for a small
Atlanta provider competing against ColoCrossing ($0 setup) and
OVH SYS ($60-$343). The competitor research at
infrastructure/docs/competitors-atlanta-2026.md and
dedicated-server-pricing-2026q2.md both flagged "no setup fees"
as a documented competitive advantage.

New tiers ($149/$249/$399) preserve a meaningful safety net on
monthly customers (~1 month of rental recoups the fee) while
sitting inside the OVH SYS price band. Annual / Semi-Annual
customers still pay $0 setup.

Per-plan changes:
- R440 / R640 SFF (Tier 2): $349 → $149
- R540 / R740 / R740xd SFF / R740xd LFF (Tier 3): $549 → $249
- R640 NVMe / R740xd NVMe (Tier 4): $799 → $399

Spec doc updated. Test expectations adjusted; 12/12 pass.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-04-26 18:34:30 -04:00
parent 61afa4ed14
commit 2a9d36270a
3 changed files with 31 additions and 29 deletions

View File

@@ -57,23 +57,25 @@ Non-negotiable per `dedicated-server-configurations.md`:
| Slug | Title | Form | Bays | Std build cost | Starting $/mo | Setup tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| `r440-4lff` | R440 4-Bay 3.5" LFF (1U) | 1U | 4× LFF | $1,690.61 | $119 | 2 ($349) |
| `r540-8lff` | R540 8-Bay 3.5" LFF (2U) | 2U | 8× LFF | $1,877.03 | $159 | 3 ($549) |
| `r640-8sff` | R640 8-Bay 2.5" SFF (1U) | 1U | 8× SFF | $1,411.83 | $179 | 2 ($349) |
| `r740-16sff` | R740 16-Bay 2.5" SFF (2U) | 2U | 16× SFF | $1,704.26 | $229 | 3 ($549) |
| `r740xd-24sff` | R740xd 24-Bay 2.5" SFF (2U) | 2U | 24× SFF | $1,919.73 | $279 | 3 ($549) |
| `r740xd-12lff` | R740xd 12-Bay 3.5" LFF (2U) | 2U | 12× LFF | $2,148.96 | $249 | 3 ($549) |
| `r640-10nvme` | R640 10-Bay U.2 NVMe (1U) | 1U | 10× NVMe | $1,606.79 | $239 | 4 ($799) |
| `r740xd-24nvme` | R740xd 24-Bay U.2 NVMe (2U) | 2U | 24× NVMe | $2,275.44 | $279 | 4 ($799) |
| `r440-4lff` | R440 4-Bay 3.5" LFF (1U) | 1U | 4× LFF | $1,690.61 | $119 | 2 ($149) |
| `r540-8lff` | R540 8-Bay 3.5" LFF (2U) | 2U | 8× LFF | $1,877.03 | $159 | 3 ($249) |
| `r640-8sff` | R640 8-Bay 2.5" SFF (1U) | 1U | 8× SFF | $1,411.83 | $179 | 2 ($149) |
| `r740-16sff` | R740 16-Bay 2.5" SFF (2U) | 2U | 16× SFF | $1,704.26 | $229 | 3 ($249) |
| `r740xd-24sff` | R740xd 24-Bay 2.5" SFF (2U) | 2U | 24× SFF | $1,919.73 | $279 | 3 ($249) |
| `r740xd-12lff` | R740xd 12-Bay 3.5" LFF (2U) | 2U | 12× LFF | $2,148.96 | $249 | 3 ($249) |
| `r640-10nvme` | R640 10-Bay U.2 NVMe (1U) | 1U | 10× NVMe | $1,606.79 | $239 | 4 ($399) |
| `r740xd-24nvme` | R740xd 24-Bay U.2 NVMe (2U) | 2U | 24× NVMe | $2,275.44 | $279 | 4 ($399) |
Setup tiers (per Q5 brainstorm):
| Tier | Chassis class | Setup fee |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Single-socket Budget (R240/R340) — *not in v1 lineup* | $149 |
| 2 | Dual-socket 1U | $349 |
| 3 | Dual-socket 2U | $549 |
| 4 | NVMe / Quad-socket Enterprise | $799 |
| 1 | Single-socket Budget (R240/R340) — *not in v1 lineup* | $99 |
| 2 | Dual-socket 1U | $149 |
| 3 | Dual-socket 2U | $249 |
| 4 | NVMe / Quad-socket Enterprise | $399 |
**Tier amounts revised down from $149/$349/$549/$799** after a check against the competitor research (`infrastructure/docs/competitors-atlanta-2026.md` + `dedicated-server-pricing-2026q2.md`). The original tiers approached Hetzner Dell US setup pricing ($840$1,020) which is too aggressive for a small Atlanta provider competing against ColoCrossing ($0 setup) and OVH SYS ($60$343). Halved tiers preserve a meaningful safety net on monthly customers (~1 month of rental) while staying inside the OVH SYS price band.
**Setup fee waived on Semi-Annual (6 mo) and Annual (12 mo) cycles. Non-refundable once hardware is purchased** (typically within 24h of order). Rental fees stay under the 14-day money-back guarantee.