I realize one's immediate reaction to this post might be that this particular question has already been answered in various ways and in various threads around here. But, in a way, that's sort of the problem: There appears to be no one thread here on this subject that contains the absolute, triple-net, bottom-line information and results of everyone's various investigating and comparing and testing and trying-out of domain reseller programs that would be attractive to very small web hosting resellers.

Don't get me wrong, I've found good info in various places. But some of it is outdated or incomplete -- as in someone wrote they'd go check out suchandsuch program and then they never posted their findings back here.

So, at the risk of maybe getting yelled at by somebody around here, here's my basic question: What, finally, is the best domain name reseller program for small web hosting resellers?

Your answers should include whether you are/were concerned about the following list of concerns, and what, if anything, you did or think one should do to alleviate them:

- Programs that require large initial purchases

- Programs that have large set up fees

- Whether or not an API was/is important to you. Or is referring to a registrar's main site okay? Or would you rather register for your client in a manual operation where they don't necessarily know where their domain name is registered and they're just happy you're handling it for them?

- Private label versus co-branding versus referral/affiliate

- Registrar handles credit cards versus you handle credit cards

- Additional fees for special services or changing ownership info, etc.

- Web-based interface versus e-mailing/faxing changes to registrar

- Importance of things like e-mail forwarding, URL forwarding, etc.

- Need for the ability to register more than just .com, .net and .org and, if so, how do you handle international TLDs?

- In affiliate, referral or co-branding arrangements (i.e., anything other than "private label"), whether or not the fact that the registrar also sells web hosting is/was a problem or concern for you. (The feeling that the registrar competes with your hosting.)

- Price. Does anyone really see domain registration as a profit center? Or is it okay if the price isn't exactly the lowest on the web as long as the service is there and the product is good? Specifically, which would be or is more important to you as a web hosting reseller: Making money on domain registrations or having a realiable registration capability on either a co-branded or private-label site that may not necessarily make you much money but will provide your hosting client with a competitively priced, feature-rich domain registration product which they feel like they're buying from you along with your hosting services?

I'm having trouble thinking of anything else to ask about, although once people begin responding I'm sure my memory will be jogged.

The bottom line thing I'm trying to accomplish here is finding out, once and for all, what small web hosting resellers are now doing about domain registration for their clients in light of some of the weird and interesting things that have changed in the domain registration world in the past few months (eNom's recent price increase and house-cleaning, for example... just to name one).


Gregg DesElms

If you're running a small hosting biz, my opinion is that OpenSRS is the way to go. There's no set up fees, and you can choose to start out without using their API and implement it later when you're comfortable doing so. The only down side is that you have to purchase a group of domains up front (either $250 or $500 depending on whether you're going to use their API right off the bat or not). If you charge a decent amount ($15-20/year) you make $5 or $10 a domain name; this can add up, especially a year from now when renewals start coming in. My experience is that people are happy with domains in the $15-$20 range (many, if not most, think that a domain name costs $35/year, and are delighted when they find out they can get one for half that much).

If you can't afford the up-front cost, you might want to look at an affiliate program. I think Dotster.com has one that gets you 20% per registration. The down side is that you don't get anything from renewals.