hi guys,

i'm looking for a reseller host that offers client billing and good support, can anyone offer any recommendations?

Did you have any other requirements besides that is must offers enduser billing & support? Preference in platform, webspace & bandwidth, budget? :)

Try Hostopia

--Tina

what i recommend is you ownself handle the billing and support. Some host will steal customer from you in this way ///

if you encounter any technical problem you can just forward the problem to your host that will be easy also

bulixhost.com
resellerpanel.com
innohosting.com
mosso.com
hostopia.com

and a few others cannot recall right now..

You may want to try a reseller who provide you a billing script free of charge or an affiliate program if you don't want to deal with it

This is one thing that I just can't seem to wrap my head around...

How can your host handle your billing? How are they supposed to know all of your billing practices, like : when to suspend, when to warn, when to cancel, when to refuse signup, when to charge for addons or not, unforeseen billing circumstances, and so on.

If you don't want to handle even the billing aspect, I'd do what Jedito mentioned, and go with an affiliate program. I think Resellerspanel is the most popular one these days.

I recommend to try:
resellerzoom.com

hi,

thanks for the suggestion.

i do not have any other preference, linux or windows will do, and i would like to compare the other options, but the support has to be fast and reliable, ie they have to reply atleast < 1 hour.

You can outsource ANYTHING in this business. You will have to pay for the services but the answer is YES you can get your full customer service, billing and support done by someone other than you.

Anon-e-hostman

Why would you trust someone from outside your own company (or yourself) to handle billing? You're pretty much giving complete company control to someone else.

In order to grow you have to expand your work force. You have one of two choices. Hire employees or outsource it.

Anon-e-hostman

Thanks for all the feedback.

Out of those suggestions it seems that only resellers panel and inno hosting offer < 1 hour support. Reseller zoom does not offer client billing, you have to create your own merchant account.

Outsourcing the billing and support reduces the cost and risk of starting up a web hosting business and especially if your are a one person team, its neccesary to outsource to provide 24x7 support for the clients. That allows me to concentrate on marketing and other value adds such as web design.

i dont want to go with affiliates because i want to set my own pricing, be able to create my own brand and not use a generic template that thousands of other people use.

try to handle the billing support and sales yourself

Thanks for all the feedback.

Out of those suggestions it seems that only resellers panel and inno hosting offer < 1 hour support. Reseller zoom does not offer client billing, you have to create your own merchant account.

Outsourcing the billing and support reduces the cost and risk of starting up a web hosting business and especially if your are a one person team, its neccesary to outsource to provide 24x7 support for the clients. That allows me to concentrate on marketing and other value adds such as web design.

i dont want to go with affiliates because i want to set my own pricing, be able to create my own brand and not use a generic template that thousands of other people use.

Great to see you interested in InnoHosting, but I must clarify that we will not bill your clients for you. You will need to charge your clients yourself. It would create a lot of complications and raise legal issues if we were to bill your customers. You can use PayPal, 2checkout, WorldPay etc. to bill your customers..

Before signing up with any company, it is always important that you contact their sales dept. to make sure you haven't made incorrect assumptions and also to get a general feel of the company itself as well :)

Good luck...

Great to see you interested in InnoHosting, but I must clarify that we will not bill your clients for you. You will need to charge your clients yourself. It would create a lot of complications and raise legal issues if we were to bill your customers. You can use PayPal, 2checkout, WorldPay etc. to bill your customers..

Before signing up with any company, it is always important that you contact their sales dept. to make sure you haven't made incorrect assumptions and also to get a general feel of the company itself as well :)

Good luck...

From what I have just read on your web site it suggests otherwise.

From what I have just read on your web site it suggests otherwise.

I really can't see where it suggests otherwise... why don't you back your claims up with some quotes from the website..

Let me start you off:

Sales & Billing Support for your customers
InnoHosting has now introduced billing & sales end-user support. We will handle the billing enquiries as well as the sales enquiries your customers send you. We will employ the sales tactics you ask us and respond within 24 hours using your support desk. Fully transparent service. Our sales reps are based in the United Kingdom with English as their first language.

Quote straight off our Reseller Hosting page...Where does it say we will actually bill the customers?
Notice the key words in bold "billing enquiries" :)

Like I said it suggests that you do

I can understand why the guy thought you did, if I had not read this thread first I would have thought you did also

Maybe you should consider changing the wording to make is clearer and so that people do not make incorrect assumptions

Also, please, I am not having a go, I am merely making a suggestion, a suggestion based on how I would perceive the information on your site as a perspective customer

Like I said it suggests that you do

I can understand why the guy thought you did, if I had not read this thread first I would have thought you did also

Maybe you should consider changing the wording to make is clearer and so that people do not make incorrect assumptions

Also, please, I am not having a go, I am merely making a suggestion, a suggestion based on how I would perceive the information on your site as a perspective customer

Thanks for the suggestion :)

There have been a few suggestions to do the billing myself, while this is ideal, it does add to the costs and risks of starting up, while this is not a problem for some people, I'd prefer to outsource it for the time being, and i hope to switch over, when i have built a steady flow of clients, to support the cost of handling the billing inhouse.

Billing doesn't cost you a penny, staff-wise. What can cost, and will cost either way, is a merchant account, or Paypal fees, or 2CO fees, billing software. No matter what, you'll be paying for those in a monthly fee to your provider (while giving them complete and total control over your company), or by yourself and you retain control of it.