In requesting a host that would directly support my customers, I had offers from 15 cents a client to $15 extra a month. That was surprising low, so I'm wondering... Do very few people really ask for support? Is this a reseller secret? I could handle 10 support questions a day myself, but need someone to cover when an emergency arises.

Also, how do you handle support requests for installing modules, server down, change a directory from 755 to 4755 or 1777 (sticky bit), etc.? Can you do this with CPanel/WH Manager? It appears it's better to at least resell from someone who runs their own servers. I liked what DixieSys said when they said that they can get to their servers quickly if there is a problem, and be on top of it. How necessary is all of this?

Also, is it best to just list a FAX number, or a live number and specify that it's just for sales?... of course people will call it for tech support too, I'd imagine. Or, is it better to forget the phone thing totally, and list a PO Box mailing address. Do people trust those?

Now to Billing and Support...
Is PHPManager the cheapest and best solution? Do most of you use the free or $30 PHPManager plan? I looked at PerlBill, but at $149, that is too much money for me right now.

When you just start out as a reseller you won't have very many clients to support, therefore, if you know what you are doing, you could quite possibly do it yourself. When you start building you client base, then you may need to bring in some extra forces. I have heard many good things about http://www.bobcares.com and there are others ( just do a search for outsourced support ).

Yes you can do all that from WHM maybe not as a reseller but as a server owner you can.

Most people give limited functionality to the reseller, he can create accounts etc but as far as installing modules etc that should be done on the admin level, either thru WHM or by SSH. As far as getting to a server I would venture to guess 99% of all host have never seen their servers and that is not really a bad thing. We can telnet in and address our server just like we were sitting next to it, with an APC we can reboot remotely and if all else fails contact the NOC and have it done.

I find that 90% of my service tickets are generated within 10 days of a signup then things slack off. Seems the customer gets used to things a bit has their site up and running and has few problems after.

As far a billing everyone does it different I am lucky my wife is an accountant I turn all that over to her she does the recuring billing and the software she uses emails all our clients their statements.

As a resller PHPmanger is good but to start out you could do it by hand using quickbooks.


Monte