Hey guys.

I hope business is going good for all of you.

I initially ran a high-end graphic design firm. We mostly did websites, print design (including printing), and programming (pretty much any language). Thank fully, we have expanded at a phenomenal rate (and I wish the same for you guys!) and we want to start offering full blown services for our clients.

So we signed up with HostGator (I strongly recommend them) to begin reselling hosting.

So far, we have NOT allowed open registration for our clients to host with us. We have gotten so many orders, we decided to just let them sign up themselves.

We use WHMCS for billing and I enabled overselling. I figured it wouldn't really happen since I have the "Aluminum" package so I know I have to go to a dedicated server.

Questions I have:
1. What are your experiences with overselling? Ideally I would like to be competitive in the market, but I'm not going to exaggerate on the disk space and bandwidth.
2. What do you really give your clients when you oversell? What do they get, for sure, dedicated to them? (in terms of bandwidth and disk space)
3. Any advice as I make this move?


Okay, sorry for this huge post. I was a little excited.

AFAIK Hostgator has always had the overselling feature disabled on its reseller hosting packages.

AFAIK Hostgator has always had the overselling feature disabled on its reseller hosting packages.

He may think he has enabled Overselling by selecting it in WHMCS. But to answer the questions,

1. Its best not to oversell, when it is enabled, because if your client does actually try and use those resources, especially on a dedicated server, you can get charged a lot in Bandwidth charges if you go over your own limit. Plus, it can badly slow the server down.

2. Technically, whatever you give to them, they can use. But the problem is that HostGator has limits set for you, or if you get a dedicated server, you have your own limits in terms of Hard drive and Bandwidth.

3. My advice would be not to oversell. But if you think you might grow so quickly, maybe you should move to a Dedicated Server now. It would save a lot of time moving all accounts over when you only have a few loaded on there.

Thanks for the help guys.

I have received solid service from HostGator for 3+ years because they do have overselling off - burned by other hosts that have this feature on.

I have received solid service from HostGator for 3+ years because they do have overselling off - burned by other hosts that have this feature on.
You may receive crap service from hosts that do not have overselling feature enabled.
It's the same situation when overselling feature is not enabled for resellers but servers are oversold.
It's all about server management and how the provider do business.

You may receive crap service from hosts that do not have overselling feature enabled.
It's the same situation when overselling feature is not enabled for resellers but servers are oversold.
It's all about server management and how the provider do business.

In part, but there is no way to limit resellers when overselling is allowed in Cpanel unless you have a limit on the amount of accounts. Hosts that offer overselling and unlimited accounts are just asking for trouble.

In part, but there is no way to limit resellers when overselling is allowed in Cpanel unless you have a limit on the amount of accounts. Hosts that offer overselling and unlimited accounts are just asking for trouble.

Essentially, I was going to oversell but limit about 100 accounts on a dedicated server. Or less, maybe 75 accounts.

That was more or less how I was going to approach the situation. If I sold at least 15 accounts through the year. I would have payed for my hosting for 1 year and made profit.

3. My advice would be not to oversell. But if you think you might grow so quickly, maybe you should move to a Dedicated Server now. It would save a lot of time moving all accounts over when you only have a few loaded on there.

Yea, we would suggest not to oversell as well and infact hostgator does not allow overselling for their reseller package. But, if you sign up with hostgator for reseller package, they will move all your accounts to dedicated server if you upgrade with them. So no problem with this. They hire top-notch tech, so you are in good hands.