As most of you know, we do not allow hosts to post survey type posts/threads, so I'm posting this on behalf of a host who would like to know your general opinions on these matters. I felt that enough hosts would like to know this information, and because of this, I'm reposting it. Your comments and opinions would be appreciated...



We're looking to put together a reseller plan of some sort. What I want to know is this:

Which is better for the reseller? One large package which gets divided up, or simply offering discounts to qualifying resellers?

I know that the second option is much easier on the web host, but what do resellers typically prefer?

If the second option (reselling our packages), what should qualify one as a reseller? Maintaining X number of packages, or something else? What is a typical discount offered?

The other thing I'm curious about is this: is it necessary that the real host make an effort to hide who we are? Eg, things like DNS aliasing, co-branded or no-name control panel, etc? And should these things cost extra, or are these things just assumed to be part of the deal?

Is it common practice to impose restrictions on the reseller (like how much they can charge their clients)? Or should this simply be none of the host's business?

comments, suggestions, etc from either resellers or other hosts would be greatly appreciated.

i think the 'hot' thing nowadays is letting clients completely customize their businesses.
Its not fun to be given restrictions and be told what to do, like charge so much for this, and that.

Also, i think hiding the 'parent' host is extremely important to any reseller.
The whole point is not to come across as a reseller for another host, which would probably lose quite a few sales, and put in question a companies professionalism and validity.


So Answers.

1Custom Package
Least restrictions as possible (obviously, there has to be some)
Anonymous Provider VERY Important.

Goodluck, whoever you are :D

1) Provided there is sufficient space and bandwidth to provide some flexibility, one large package is the way to go. If there is to great a disparity between space and bandwidth in the package, then discounts would be a better route.

2) Reseller should have a regular hosting account with the upstream host. A one time or annual fee would be reasonable to maintain reseller status. Maintaining X number of packages would make it hard for those starting until they acquired clients. Perhaps a low but minimum # of packages per month (averaged up to the end of the current month so that a slow month would not jeopardize reseller status).

3) Resellers should be able to represent themselves as an individual entity, seperate from their upstream provider. After all the hardware distributors aren't see but the end user when they buy from a retailer. The DNS servers and control panels should be included in the Reseller Fee.

4) The only restrictions on the reseller should be those such as are common in TOS's (ie bandwidth usage, server resource usage, spam etc.) What a reseller choses to charge should be no concern of the upstream provider. Their only concern is that they are paid what is owed them.

My farthing's worth. :cool:

The amount of resellers out there and subsequent commonality of packages offered by resellers from a static package availability in my view makes the marketplace a harder environment for the reseller to gain a foothold and suceed. There are a few hosts that have siezed the opportunity of offering resellers an ability of making their own plans and its needed instead of a reseller starting up and then closing up, which happens way too often.

Resellers should pay a fair fee, mostly based on their bandwidth usage apart from a basic account fee per month. The bandwidth fees though shouldnt be highly priced as $6-00 + a GB as thats defeating the purpose of maintaing longer term resellers with the host.

Qualification of a reseller could be instigated by a start-up fee, or maintenance of a set amount of accounts, although that may as well be the same as pre-purchasing block amounts as some in the past have done. Another way could be that reseller were required to supply something like a business name registration, or had to provide their own secure certificate, etc. The showing of intent to outlay capital in the first place possibly would make the host's life a bit easier instead of having numerous resellers start and stop constantly with some sort of prerequisite like that. There would be more benefit to both parties if the requirement enabled the reseller to have a better chance of suceeding than being a fee for example that went straight into the pocket as profit for the host.

Making the reseller anonymous is essential for a reseller, given that resellers are often seen as unreliable despite the promotion that they can offer better service due to their size, and so on.
The allowance for control panel customisation should be included in the reseller account pricing, helping the reseller have a unique aspect to their service.

Putting restrictions on the reseller as others have said should be by the TOS and regulating a reseller's resold price is illegal under the Trade Practices Act 1974 in Australia, therefore any reseller from Australia who was disinchanted with the host could cause legal problems for the host, with action undertaken by the ACCC in Australia. In other countries, similar type laws exist so using a policy like that is a path of danger.

Hope that helps you.

This is what attracts me (like a magnet) in a Host's reseller plan.

1)Offer free name servers to resellers.

2)Offer some special low cost plan where only as a reseller you qualify to offer it and all other plans at a discount and sell at any price as they wish.

3)Free Resellers sign up or pay a minimum reseller charge say $10.00 /year.

4)Provide fast support to resellers' problems or priority to them, seperate from their normal hosting clients.

5)Provide a good control panel where resellers can switch/change mode to any of their clients' control panel and view or delete/modify/upgrade/downgrade their clients' hosting needs.

That's all I can think for now and I know it's asking for too much but who doesn't want value for their money? But if I come across a good deal, I am always flexible and will consider it and it doesn't have to offer all that I mentioned but the above is what I usually look for in a Host.

Hello
The people who buy the "all plans at a discount" reseller plan tend to be non technical web designers or people with lots of web sites (i.e. for their own use).

Those buying the bulk plans where you divide up the space tend to be buying plans to resell to other users.
They tend to want all sorts of system modifications made which really need a dedicated server so you should bve clear about what they are getting.

Also: don't let them use unique IP addressing!
Although we make money from selling IP's to our resellers, you should see the daily active attack report from Portsentry - it can be up to 1MB with all those IP's getting hit by the same port scanners.

Gordon