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by cr1pablo 1904 days ago
As a junior developer I'm always afraid using any AWS service to make a mistake that cost me a lot of money. I'm not talking about millions, simply 2k would be really bad for me.
2 comments

Anyone who is personally liable for the the bill should be terrified of AWS. It's enough to lose your business to a usage spike, much worse to lose your home and car.

I struggle to consider a scenario where setting up a limited liability organisation wouldn't make sense, even if only for interacting with Amazon.

Is there any record of Amazon going after people (and not companies) for unpaid bills?

More often than not, I hear stories about how AWS support zeroed out the bill instead.

"I may lose my home and all savings" is scary enough that just possibility of that happening legally is enough for me.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22719573 and the rest of that thread just makes me clench up.

As sibling reply also says, even if they do eventually zero it out, do you want to owe the richest guy on the planet $100k? He has law firms like you have pairs of socks.

Obviously everything I'm saying goes for unlimited-billing cloud infrastructure, where your customers (or your mistakes) generate cost out of view.

I had been in the same position for about ten years until I set up a limited liability company. It does take some effort to set up and costs about $20/month[1], but to me the peace of mind is well worth it.

[1]: https://www.ukpostbox.com/address/business-address-service

A limited liability company may mean you're personally not liable, but your business can still be made bankrupt which isn't much better.
The cost to own an LLC varies a lot on jurisdiction. Even in the USA, it can vary considerably from state to state.
Also they link to a business address service, which isn't a business. Actual cost of just owning a business in the UK is £13/year
This is insane that a user has to setup a separate company just to protect themselves from sudden bills that may be not their fault.