Hi,

Is there any re-seller that provides a hands-free solution to me i.e. takes care of customer support, billing, domain registrations, account management etc ...

In other words, is there any competitor of Wildwestdomains.com?

I am running a membership site with 1.2 Million members. I want to offer them "their own web site" but don't want to get into any extra work (Already too busy in managing other issues.)

Have heard a lot of bad things about Wildwestdomains speed problems. Their reseller's sites take 10 min to load when you click sign-up.

If there's no competitor, who is close?

Also, we expect almost 5000 sign-ups when we offer this service. What would be your plan of action if you have this situation.

Go with Mosso.com!

You expect to put 5000 accounts on a reseller account? That amount requires a dedicated server solution...

Mosso does have a lot of space, I do not know about 5000 acccounts but they do have 80000mb and 2000gb of bandwidth.

You expect to put 5000 accounts on a reseller account? That amount requires a dedicated server solution...

It's not about dedicated ho reseller ... I think number of clinets I have will need more than one dedi. What I need is that I get private label solution where the backend company manages everything and charge me on per client basis, just like wild west domains.

Here's some ideas...

* Hostopia
* Mosso

What you are suggesting is an affiliate scheme really, rather than reselling. If you want it to be totally hands off and the host deal with everything. If you were referring a lot of clients then you want to find a scheme that will pay youa recurring commission on fees. For ongoing recurring commission you'd be looking at about 10% (you may be able to negotiate more if xx clients sign up form your site). Otherwise you can get 25-50% as a one-off 'finders fee' from many hosts.

Hello

I would too recommend an affiliate system - it would suit your needs much more. Simply because your requirements would probably need a dedicated server, and there aren't too many dedicated server companies that offer end user support. Also alot of companies providing end-user support don't cover billing and sales support, just technicial questions. If you wanted this you'd have to pay over $100+ for the outsourcing of sales and support, and if you want a decent server you could be paying alot per month.

I would seriously suggest an affiliate solution for you, but that's just my $0.02
Liam

Thanks for the help guys ...

jsanuik --- mosso looks great, I think I'd go for them, thanks.

Whatever -- can't find pricing of hostopia. I had to fill a form to get the pricing in email but they sent me a link to a page where their link to pdf pricing file is not working ... first impression ...

mjb-is --- no i m not looking for an affiliate program :)

Yeah go with them. They provide user end support 24/7/365 live chat and phone support with 60 second response times, don't oversell, 100% uptime etc etc.. Enjoy!

Whatever -- can't find pricing of hostopia. I had to fill a form to get the pricing in email but they sent me a link to a page where their link to pdf pricing file is not working ... first impression ...

Hostopia has at least 150,000 domains hosted - they'll contact you shortly. I believe their minimum monthly spend is $250.

Given my past experience with Hostopia (but in the day when I worked for Covad Communications) I wouldn't suggest them. Simple things takes hours to fix.

consider http://resellerspanel.com/

consider http://resellerspanel.com/

No, do NOT consider Resellerspanel. For one, your customers will become their customers and their are so many more negative points to them.

You might consider sending them to a web host that offers an affiliate payment for "per customer" that you send.

Some programs pay as high as $75 PER SIGNUP...

5000 * $75 = $375,000

Good luck!

You might consider sending them to a web host that offers an affiliate payment for "per customer" that you send.The OP said:

mjb-is --- no i m not looking for an affiliate program;)

Some programs pay as high as $75 PER SIGNUP...Some pay even more.

You might consider sending them to a web host that offers an affiliate payment for "per customer" that you send.

Some programs pay as high as $75 PER SIGNUP...

5000 * $75 = $375,000

Good luck!

Even so, thats a one time payout - and not monthly recurring.

Even so, thats a one time payout - and not monthly recurring.
Yes, however most affiliate programs that pay monthly have the following problem:

1) They don't pay much. (10% every month of $5 will take a LONG time to catch up to a one-time $75 payment.)

2) They might not be in business by the time you "break-even" with what you would have received from the one-time $75 payment.

My suggestion was merely to point out that there are some hosts who are paying big $$ for one-time payouts of referred customers. A $375k cash injection would perhaps be more helpful to the original poster, then a $2k month recurring amount.

Yes, however most affiliate programs that pay monthly have the following problem:

1) They don't pay much. (10% every month of $5 will take a LONG time to catch up to a one-time $75 payment.)

2) They might not be in business by the time you "break-even" with what you would have received from the one-time $75 payment.

My suggestion was merely to point out that there are some hosts who are paying big $$ for one-time payouts of referred customers. A $375k cash injection would perhaps be more helpful to the original poster, then a $2k month recurring amount.

This is true, but - some people prefer the monthly cash injections vs. one time.

Another option is to talk to a few hosting companies and see if you can work out a deal with them, might work out as well. Mosso does look very good though as well I must admit.

Mosso does look very good though as well I must admit.It sure does, but one must keep in mind their business model isn't yet time tested, even though have the Rackspace name backing them up. :)

WOW! Quite a deal.

Mosso - 2000 GB Bandwidth for only $100/month? Including End-User support?

Is that correct or am I having eye problems? :)

WOW! Quite a deal.

Mosso - 2000 GB Bandwidth for only $100/month? Including End-User support?

Is that correct or am I having eye problems? :)
You have eye problems. :)

It is an additional $3 per domain for end-user support. (And an extra $2 if you want them to bill your clients.)

Still a *very* impressive deal.

mjb-is --- no i m not looking for an affiliate program :)
In that case you need a totally branded solution where the host takes care of your business for you. The biggest issue will be the billing side. Unless you are going to only accept things like PayPal and NoChex etc then you'd need to set up a merchant account and bank account and allow the host access to them.

We provide support for some of our clients but I think I'd want to be in control of the billing if I was going to do that for them too. The issue is that you'd want it branded in your name but the host would have to admin it all. That's where it would be a little tricky, unless of course you were happy with letting your clients know that 'CC and Cheque processing will be carried out via A N OTHER, on our behalf'. In that respect it's not much different to having a holding company with multiple brands. You'd have to be happy with using an ethical partner with no risk of them trying to approcah your customers. I'd suggest having a proper legal Contract withl Non-Disclosure and Non-Compete/Poach agreements to specify exactly what the arrangement is and the obligations and responsibilities of both parties.

You have eye problems. :)

It is an additional $3 per domain for end-user support. (And an extra $2 if you want them to bill your clients.)

Still a *very* impressive deal.


Thanks man! :-)

But still, 2000 GB bandwidth per month for $100 is quite impressive! :peace:

It sure does, but one must keep in mind their business model isn't yet time tested, even though have the Rackspace name backing them up. :)


Seems to me that Mr. Dan has a very good point! :nervous:

Well, let us know how it all goes! Good luck! :wavey:

Another option is to talk to a few hosting companies and see if you can work out a deal with them, might work out as well. Mosso does look very good though as well I must admit.

I too recommend trying this. Contact a few hosts and see if they are interested in setting up a web hosting company for you.

Here is how it would work:
You own the domain name, billing software, website, pricing structure, etc. The web hosting company provides the hosting environment, etc. The web hosting company handles your billing, tech support, etc right from your web hosting website and under your name only. Payments go into your merchant account/paypal account. You work out a split. You are paying the up-front costs such as SSL certificates, MB licensing, web design. The host just runs it for you. If the site takes off, you make much more than 10%-20%/month (maybe up to 50%). If it doesn't take off, the host doesn't lose much. You put in a little more risk and get more reward.

Good luck to you.

With 5000 domains, it would probably good to get your own servers, hire a sales & support team etc etc. You would probably make much more like that. The overhead may be..."Over Your Head" but the profits would be well worth it.

working out a new deal with a company that has no previous experience in co-brand re-selling might be risky.

What about getting a $100 reseller plan from mosso (I think having Rackspace behind, they can be trusted) and giving them 4% ($2 minimum) for billing (this means their own merchant account and billing etc -- no headaches. And instead of getting $3/client Support from them, I go for BobCares for support (will be less than 0.40/per client). If host 1000 customers on each account with mosso, it will be 10 cents per customer.

This means my total expense per client will be $2.50/month, I will have full control over my customer base (I'll be bale to move my customers to any other host if mosso winds up or have any problems) and I could be sure that my customers are in good hands.

What do you think?

thebigH has made the right thought - excellent choice.

With mosso you get 100% uptime (happy customers) and billing.
With external support you get much lower cost per domain (3$ is a bit tough..).

I think paying mosso.com for their support would be a better choice. You'll "make" less money, but your clients will be happier with people who can speak better english. Remember mosso.com offers toll-free phone and livechat support. bobcares offers email support, from india. The difference is 100% worth the cost, imho. Otherwise, you're going to possibly wind up with happy clients... right up until they see your tech support writing stuff like this for every ticket:

"I sorry, but we unable to help cause I no able to fix the server since we not have administration rights."

Thanks man! :-)

But still, 2000 GB bandwidth per month for $100 is quite impressive! :peace:
The figures with moss just don't seem to add up though, IMO it has to be overselling. 80gb diskspace and 2000Gb data transfer, with unlimited sites for $100 a month; that's not far off saying 'unlimited diskspace and transfer'.

I'd be inclined to ask them some very specific questions about what is being advertised, even to the point of telling them exactly what you have and asking them for a signed declaration that their system will support your requirements. You need cast-iron peace of mind on that.

I'm sure others hosts will back me up here and confirm that they couldn't sustainably provide those kind of quotas and support 5000 sites for $100 a month.

I also agree with MrZippy that if you are going to look for this kind of deal then you want support at the same place. The support staff need to be able to fix anything that goes wrong. Remember, everything that the host does will be reflecting directly on you as your clients will believe them to BE you.

I'm sure others hosts will back me up here and confirm that they couldn't sustainably provide those kind of quotas and support 5000 sites for $100 a month.

Of course they couldn't, it's based on 'fair use'. After speaking with a sales rep. they explained that as long as CPU usage is reasonable, then you're fine. Regardless the market they are targetting generally would not use databases much/if at all.

The figures with mosso just don't seem to add up though, IMO it has to be overselling. 80gb diskspace and 2000Gb data transfer, with unlimited sites for $100 a month; that's not far off saying 'unlimited diskspace and transfer'.

I'd be inclined to ask them some very specific questions about what is being advertised, even to the point of telling them exactly what you have and asking them for a signed declaration that their system will support your requirements. You need cast-iron peace of mind on that.

I'm sure others hosts will back me up here and confirm that they couldn't sustainably provide those kind of quotas and support 5000 sites for $100 a month.

To be honest.. I must disagree with you. While I do not believe in "unlimited" anything.. .and I despise hosts that advertise "unlimited"...

I do believe, with a proper cluster and load-balancing system.. it is possible for mosso.com to deliver what they are advertising. (Unlimited websites)

Consider, that to add addition PROCESSING power, they merely must purchase a server and plug it into their cluster array. Bingo.. the load is now shared to that server.

We're not talking about individual machines here, that have a top capacity of disk/bandwidth/ram, etc...

If they need more disk space, they merely plug in a disk array into their cluster. Need another two servers for the mysql cluster? No problem. Just plug them in, and the load is automatically balanced across the additional two servers.

Having a properly clustered configuration is the key to making this possible. It is not easily done, and is not cheap. But it CAN be done, and is exactly how places like google/yahoo/microsoft/cnn/slashdot, etc.. do their magic. These people have giant clusters of "specific-purpose" servers, to which they can add/remove servers as needed.

That being said.. of course I do believe there is a limit, but I highly doubt the target market for mosso.com is going to be people who are running 10k member forums. :)

To be honest.. I must disagree with you. While I do not believe in "unlimited" anything.. .and I despise hosts that advertise "unlimited"...

I do believe, with a proper cluster and load-balancing system.. it is possible for mosso.com to deliver what they are advertising. (Unlimited websites)

Consider, that to add addition PROCESSING power, they merely must purchase a server and plug it into their cluster array. Bingo.. the load is now shared to that server.

We're not talking about individual machines here, that have a top capacity of disk/bandwidth/ram, etc...

If they need more disk space, they merely plug in a disk array into their cluster. Need another two servers for the mysql cluster? No problem. Just plug them in, and the load is automatically balanced across the additional two servers.

Having a properly clustered configuration is the key to making this possible. It is not easily done, and is not cheap. But it CAN be done, and is exactly how places like google/yahoo/microsoft/cnn/slashdot, etc.. do their magic. These people have giant clusters of "specific-purpose" servers, to which they can add/remove servers as needed.

That being said.. of course I do believe there is a limit, but I highly doubt the target market for mosso.com is going to be people who are running 10k member forums. :)
I don't see that makes any difference. The point here is what is being offered for what money. We have the same facility to 'plug-in' additional servers for particular services. I.e. add a new database server or email server or web server etc, since we use Helm, which is a multi-serve system. However, if someone came along with 5000 domains there is no way you'd be willing to add several new servers, to cope with any increased load required, to get $100 a month income. It would make better financial and business sense to decline the account (if you knew it was going to consume those resources) or give notice to terminate (if an existing client that you weren't aware of the quotas beforehand)

I just feel that hosts making those kinds of offers will end up letting this type of client down in the end as they really don't intend to support that number of sites for that kind of income.

Yes, they may be able to physically support it. We could do that, but I'd be a very poor businessman if I added a number of servers specifically to support that client, whilst getting less income in than the costs I was paying out to provide that service.

I'm sure Mosso can support the type of client they generally get, but I really wonder what their response would be if you actually emailed them to say you want to host 5000 domains on their $100 per month plan? I could advertise 80gb Disk and 2000Gb monthly transfer to replace our normal accounts, but I certainly wouldn't want to actually take a client on that would use it, at the same price! That is simply the marketing aspect of overselling. I coud certainly provide that service, as could many others, but you'd have to charge the correct price to make a profit. That's called good, sustainable, business.

I'll be able to move my customers to any other host if mosso winds up or have any problems...
Not so fast! The last time I looked into Mosso they did NOT offer Private NameServers. If this is still true, it means that you will NOT be able to move your customers to any other host.

Hey ThebigH, I used to do reselling and there was a company I used and loved, they provided Tech Support, billing, and even a very nice site builder for a very reasonable price, I believe it was under $2.50 per client. Post if you are interested and I will look to see if I can find them in my bookmarks somewhere.

Not so fast! The last time I looked into Mosso they did NOT offer Private NameServers. If this is still true, it means that you will NOT be able to move your customers to any other host.

What do you mean? I am confused. Why does this hold you hostage? Sure you can move, the nameserver will just change.

Yeah, I also am a bit confused. Your nameservers can always be changed in your account with your registrar.

I think mosso still donot offer ssl.

Yeah, I also am a bit confused. Your nameservers can always be changed in your account with your registrar.
Sure, yours can. But let's say you have 1000 customers. Do you really think they'll all be willing to change the nameservers of all the domain names they have hosted with you?