I have had similar headaches with reselling, lately. (They couldn't be more responsive when you sign up - then they fade away and email replies take days)
Anyhow, my plan is this - what if two or more resellers got together and rented a dedicated server? They could split the cost and each get 1/2 of the space and bandwidth.
Is this a really dumb idea? - If so please throw holes at it.
There is an offer of $99/mo with 3.2gb disk and 2gb bandwidth at one place that I've seen.
Could this work?
Bub

2GB is nothing.

3.2 Gb of space and 2 Gb of transfer spread out between 2 or 3 hosts leaves you a little short. In this 3.2 GB you have to install an orerating system, a web server, set up space for logs, and still have a little left for your customers.

Also, with this many people having root access you may run into trouble if on of them doesn't know what they are doing. They can bring down the whold server, including you customers, and then someone has to fix it.

You will be better of getting a server by yourself, of finding a reseller that you can depend on for service and support. A $99 server may be fine to run a couple of sites from, but if you are planning to run a hosting company from that server, you will have nothing but headaches.

Of course 2gb is nothing - I was merly entering the cheapest dedicated server that I had found. (there are 10 - 15 & other gb plans). The question really has nothing to do with the size of a dedicated machine other than the fact that 2 or more users could save some money and have control over their businesses.
Forget that I put a suggested price in!
Bub

OK, forget about the server specs. Let's just look at say 3 people going together and leasing a dedicated server. Whoever you get your server from is only going to accept payment from one person, so you have to make sure that you find two other people that you can trust to send you the money on time each month, or you get stuck paying all the bills. Now, each of you wanted to lease this server to have more control, so each person will have root access to the server. This may not be a problem, but it could lead to a server crash if you get someone that doesn't know what they are doing.

Now, how do you decide who pays how much. You may have 30 accounts and use 3 GB of transfer, one of the other hosts may have 5 accounts and use 20 GB of transfer, and another may have 30 accounts and use 30 GB of bandwidth. Who pays what?

I'm not trying to discourage you, jsut trying to make sure that you look at everything before you jump in and get burned. It can work, just be careful.

Best of luck in whatever you decide,

Also, with this many people having root access you may run into trouble if on of them doesn't know what they are doing. They can bring down the whold server, including you customers, and then someone has to fix it.

Perhaps sharing a managed server would be a better solution?

Thanks - that's just some of what I wanted to hear. Sometimes an idea sounds real good in your own head...

I guess one member of my server group would have to be the webmaster with full access to the server - The others would use the control panels to add and upgrade their sites, like in a reseller plan. The cost would be split equally and each could use up to their allotted space. If they used less - I'd say that they would have to get some new accounts.
I guess the webmaster would have to be the main "paying" contact with the server leasing company. Probably have to get a first and last month rental fee up-front from the other members or lease the machine for a year and everyone would pay their share of the yearly fee at the beginning.
Bub

What you end up doing is just becoming a host and selling off part of the server just as you would anyway. You can offer 6 gig packages if you like, but that isn't sharing a server. One person controls it, the others buy from that person. Really, it doesn't work, no matter how much you wish it would.

You may want to look for a host that allows you to resell to a dedicated server. Baxicly when you reach X accounts, or X dollars a month them will give you a dedicated and would move your resold accounts to that server.

Tcoy - That sounds interesting - know anyone who offers such a plan?
Bub

I believe http://www.interserver.net/