After some research, the only "downside" I can see to host reselling is the fact that you have to admin your own sites. Not much of a problem for me personally.

Are there any other downsides that any of you veterans have encountered?

i guess one downside to reselling is that you dont have complete control and even with unbranded reseller packages you have to answer to the company who own the servers

Your view on the downside of reselling is in a different direction than mine. One downside of reselling is when something goes wrong, you're at the mercy of technical support. Another downside of reselling is your accounts will be on a shared server, so if other resellers cause problems, you're also affected. Another downside of reselling is that you don't have as much control as you may need. After realizing all of this, I decided to go for a dedicated server, but the downside to that is price. In any case, the hardest part of all is finding a provider that meets your needs.

Thanks for the feedback.

I see what you guys are saying with the lack of control and the possibility of "outside forces" causing problems.

IMO, I would describe those things as "growing pains". I would like to own my own server, or subscribe to a dedicated server plan but the cost is a real barrier for me right now. (Especially not knowing if it will take off or not.) A means to an end sort of speak.





On a side note, How's this for the name of my site: ParasiteHost.com :D :D :D

Originally posted by Sycacolt
On a side note, How's this for the name of my site: ParasiteHost.com :D :D :D

Ummm... well it's an "interesting" name. I don't know if I'd want to put my website near something with the word parasite in it though.

..the lack of control.

One more downside is the lack of visibility into how the server is being used

WHM stands like a wall between you and the server and you can only know the load and disk utilisation [overall] and if you see that BIND is acting funny or that the server load is 30.0 [!!??] you can only get a sickly feeling in the stomach and lots of customer emails and nothing much you can do about it

The upside is the complete freedom from recompiling kernels or securing the server etc.,

It's a Hobson's choice... no matter what you choose [reseller or ded server] it can be heaven or hell depending on your situation and luck!

Cheers
Balaji

heaven or hell - sounds like the results of upgrading a kernel :)

I have a server with focalhosting.com so far and it is heaven all the way so far! *touch wood*

But what I mean is, you should either know what you are doing or your provider should be willing to hand hold you [asking for the moon but hey I am getting it] or you shouldn't mind the literally 100's of hours searching and sifting literature

But if you ask me I would say a dedicated server is the right way to go

Cheers
Balaji

Originally posted by Sycacolt
Thanks for the feedback.

I see what you guys are saying with the lack of control and the possibility of "outside forces" causing problems.

IMO, I would describe those things as "growing pains". I would like to own my own server, or subscribe to a dedicated server plan but the cost is a real barrier for me right now. (Especially not knowing if it will take off or not.) A means to an end sort of speak.

I wouldn't want my provider's growing pains to add to my own growing pains. ;)

Originally posted by ToastyX


I wouldn't want my provider's growing pains to add to my own growing pains. ;)


Yep! I see what you mean. :)

Believe me, I wish I could afford a dedicated server. It is definitely something I am wanting to work my way up to as I get more clients (hopefully).

Thanks again for the input.


BTW, I was only kidding with the ParasiteHost name! :D

The upside to having a reseller is you don't have to worry about server upgrades, and hardware maintenance. They do all that for you. That leaves you more time to focus on selling your business.