Some questions..

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Posted by doom3q, 07-06-2003, 02:33 PM
Just a few general questions about reseller accounts (I'm new): From what I understand, becoming a reseller means you sell hosting to others thru your host. Is this correct? Are they exactly the same as dedicated accounts, except with more space/band.? Do you need to buy software for them (for processing orders and stuff), or do they come with it? Do you get full control over the server? (setting space for user accounts and such?) and lastly.. what are some good places to buy -cheap- reseller accounts from (if the first question is true)? Thanks.
Posted by NyteOwl, 07-06-2003, 03:04 PM
1) Yes. You buy space/badeidth from a host and then resell that in blocks. 2) They are usually the same as a regular account as regards features, but with more space and bandwidth. They are also able to be divided up into account space for other users. 3) They usually come with some software available. Other may be installable by you or your host depending upon the company you buy reseller hosting from. 4) You get a control panel that lets you seet up and configure client accounts but you do not have control of the server, only that posrtion of the resources that have been allocated to you. 5) That I'll leave to some others to better answer as I've never gone the reseller route. I have ehard good and bad about many since I've been on these forums but as I have no first hand experience of any of them it behooves me to remain silent.
Posted by doom3q, 07-06-2003, 03:09 PM
Thanks for the speedy response
Posted by ttremeth, 07-06-2003, 08:28 PM
The reseller path can be good and bad. So keep some things in mind. Make sure you find a reliable host. (With a good rep) Because if they collapse, all your clients will blame you. The more clients you have the greater the pain to move them. The more work you have to do the less profitable it will be. So be careful. (I made this error and suffered) The second issue is price. Making money can be challenging due to the nature of the beast. Price to make money and resist competition from the lower priced hosts if possible. Careful planning will help this part. This is all very general but the last thing is the control panel. It must be easy to use. Cpanel seems the best choice for this reason if you want to do Linux hosting. I know this was a little different than the question but these are important issues as well.
Posted by doom3q, 07-06-2003, 08:40 PM
Hi ttremeth, I'm also wondering what kind of price range this will be in... Previously I had a dedicated server for 15 dollars a month which included 1 gig of space and 50 gigs of transfer. Could I get something like this for the same price, but as reseller, to start out with? Do reseller accounts generally cost more & come with less than dedicated accounts? lastly.. do you know of some cheap and reliable places to get reseller accounts from? Thanks. P.S. I have this somewhat planned out
Posted by ttremeth, 07-06-2003, 09:08 PM
Just a few general questions about reseller accounts (I'm new): From what I understand, becoming a reseller means you sell hosting to others thru your host. Is this correct?" Yes. Your hosting account gets upgraded to Reseller. The host will either allocate space and bandwidth and each account uses this and it decreases with each account you create, or they allocate you a chunk and you use it how you like. (some restrict this by the number of domains, others do not) Are they exactly the same as dedicated accounts, except with more space/band.? Are you talking about a virtual account where specific space and bandwidth get allocated to you rather than spread across many accounts? Anyway most resellers allow you to create shared accounts on the server according to your allowance of bandwidth and space. Your reseller account is a glorified shared account. See a host with a demo of WHM. (Web hosting Manager) "Do you need to buy software for them (for processing orders and stuff), or do they come with it?" The host gives you access to the software and worries about licences etc. "Do you get full control over the server? (setting space for user accounts and such?)" You do not get full control. But you can control your accounts such as space, bandwidth password etc "and lastly.. what are some good places to buy -cheap- reseller accounts from (if the first question is true)?" Try Dathorn, or darktides.net or any number of others. Do a search. I use ebart.net. Decide what you need and put a request in the requests section. But do not fall for my mistake of thinking that price is everything. We say price is not the only driving factor but we all like to make money. I agree with many wise hosts who advise to write a business plan. This factors many things in including what you should charge. There are many hosts around that run large successful hosts that might help here. (general principles I mean) Last edited by ttremeth; 07-06-2003 at 09:19 PM.
Posted by jasonkw, 07-06-2003, 10:28 PM
1)From what I understand, becoming a reseller means you sell hosting to others thru your host. Is this correct? Yep. Some companies give you a discount, some give you a huge block of space to divide up. 2) Are they exactly the same as dedicated accounts, except with more space/band.? By dedicated accounts, I presume you mean dedicated servers. If so, it's not the same. A dedicated server is exactly what is says - a private server for you to host your clients on. You get full root access. If you mean a shared hosting account, yes, it is the same thing, except you can host many domains (and you get more space and bandwidth) 3) Do you need to buy software for them (for processing orders and stuff), or do they come with it? Most resellers do not come with order software or billing software. That you'll have to buy yourself. A solution like Modernbill (http://www.modernbill.com/) is good. For billing, you'll have to get a payment processor (Paysystems, 2Checkout, PayPal, etc.). They do provide a control panel where you can create and manage domains and space though. (Most often CPanel.) 4) Do you get full control over the server? (setting space for user accounts and such?) "Full control"? No. That is, you don't get root access. However, you do get to create domains, and set restrictions for them. 5) and lastly.. what are some good places to buy -cheap- reseller accounts from (if the first question is true)? I'd prefer quality over cheap. Seriously, if you want good uptime, go with a reliable service. Generally speaking, the cheaper you pay, the worse quality you get. Which means, your clients will be complaining . Not a good idea. Good choices are HTTPMe (http://www.httpme.com/), Voxtreme (http://www.voxtreme.com/), Splashhost (http://www.splashhost.com/) among many other companies. 6)Thanks. No problem.
Posted by doom3q, 07-07-2003, 12:11 AM
Thanks for the replies everyone. Right now, I've decided to go with phpCOIN for the ordering software. I can't afford anything else at the moment. Also, I'll start work at the site template and later start a thread to see who can give me the best deal for a reseller account (keeping quality in mind ). Thanks Everyone for your help.
Posted by 25GigPak, 07-07-2003, 07:48 AM
Some reseller control panels have the ordering and billing built in, This may save you some time and money.

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