Hello all, a couple of questions:

1. I just started reselling using HostGator, and I noticed that they don't provide support to reseller clients. If I have a client that needs support... how can I get help with that problem... for example, what if their site goes down or they have trouble with their domain email? I don't have too much tech knowledge with web hosting...

2. Does anyone know where I might be able to find some sample "terms of service" or articles about how to write a "terms of service"? Any help/info with that would be appreciated.

Thanks!!!

Hello all, a couple of questions:

1. I just started reselling using HostGator, and I noticed that they don't provide support to reseller clients. If I have a client that needs support... how can I get help with that problem... for example, what if their site goes down or they have trouble with their domain email? I don't have too much tech knowledge with web hosting...

You can do this in 3 ways.

1. Provide support yourself. Get the answers by contacting HG, and then relay it back to your customers. Disadvantage of this is that it includes a middleman (you) and the response time will be determined by how fast HG respond to you, and when you're available to respond to your client.

2. Hire an outsourcing company. They can provide support, however the downside is that since you are a reseller, the staff can only provide limited support and major changes requires them to contact HG. It basically puts you back into the same spot as 1. Not to mention the high overhead involved.

3. Use a reseller hosting company which offers end user support. They will provide support directly to your customers without (usually) any extra cost. Since they have direct access to the server, they can fix issues much faster and do not depend on you to respond to your client.


2. Does anyone know where I might be able to find some sample "terms of service" or articles about how to write a "terms of service"? Any help/info with that would be appreciated.

Thanks!!!


I would recommend checking out the TOS of HG and adapting yours as you and your customers will need to abide by the conditions of HG..

You can also check out hostlegal.com as well. :)

kw2002,

I would suggest maybe looking for a new hosting provider that provides end-user support such as http://innohosting.com/ . It would be more cost effective to do something such as that instead of hiring an outsource company such as bobcares.com

I will suggest the first method that Rameen says. That way, you determine the quality of the support your customer received.

HG has some pretty decent and fast support based on the review here. So, I guess you wont face so many unexpected problems.

I think that you have to find the way of providing support yourself along suggested methods. You will became more skilled and that is everytime good for you as future web hosting provider.

You don't need too much knowledge if you are using a reseller hosting. But you must know basic subjects about hosting. The server issues fix by your hosting provider.

You can use TOS of Hostgator by editing as your company.

You need a company which provides white label end user support to your clients ... try resellerzoom advance plan or failover plan

As you are hosting your clients to HG you should use the same TOS as them. Ask them with a support ticket about TOS, I think there should not be a problem copying that.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your advice.

You don't need to know how to fix a server issue, Hostgator should take care of that.

You don't need too much knowledge if you are using a reseller hosting. But you must know basic subjects about hosting. The server issues fix by your hosting provider.

You can use TOS of Hostgator by editing as your company.

Sorry, but I must disagree. I've seen this sentiment expressed all over these boards and I don't think it's very wise. If you plan to run a web hosting company with continued long term growth and success, you must acquire the technical knowledge necessary to troubleshoot basic web hosting issues. Even though you are operating your business out of a reseller account, your customers will still come to you with questions about setting up their websites, how to utilize MySQL databases, how to setup IMAP e-mail, etc. In order to answer those questions effectively and ensure customer satisifaction, you will need a solid level of technical expertise.

Sorry, but I must disagree. I've seen this sentiment expressed all over these boards and I don't think it's very wise. If you plan to run a web hosting company with continued long term growth and success, you must acquire the technical knowledge necessary to troubleshoot basic web hosting issues. Even though you are operating your business out of a reseller account, your customers will still come to you with questions about setting up their websites, how to utilize MySQL databases, how to setup IMAP e-mail, etc. In order to answer those questions effectively and ensure customer satisifaction, you will need a solid level of technical expertise.

i second that as soon you will have lots of people selling hosting and they dont even know how to setup a account let alone change the dns. i have had to learn first and know understand what is going on.

i would say go and study a bit first, buy a small reseller, play around until you understand how cpanel/WHM work and then start selling hosting. Just now we will see companies selling "out the box hosting companies":stickout: