Greetings All!

I've been in reselling just under one year now. Had a four-month set-back due to initially going with a provider that ended up having LOUSY customer service.

So now, I'm running with a company that has a strong reputation for EXCELLENT customer service.

However, I think I'm discovering that, as one of the "trade offs" for this excellence, my provider is foot-dragging on process and service improvements.

For instance, I've been asking them on and off now for months about when/if they're going to offer an e-commerce solution. They keep saying "we're talking to Miva and should have something soon."

I'd like to see other improvements... or at least know that new things are coming along. (Well, they did a server upgrade lately, so at least the hardware is improved!)

I realize that I don't have enough accounts to really "influence" my provider. So, I'm thinking now about how I might improve the hosting "product" for my customers and really build some value into it.

(Sure, I'm already doing Perl script installation... and I have a designer who I outsource to for design services, but I want more.)

In a perfect world, I'd like to do the following:

1) Build a better control panel.
2) Get some sort of server monitoring data /feedback, possibly even as something I could resell to my customers.
3) Get a really good shopping cart system. (I'm currently offering a somewhat-customized Perl-based one.)

Of course, some of these things would be easier to accomplish if I had my own server or a lot of customers/cashflow.

So, I'd like to hear either recommendations or success stories about how other virtual hosting resellers have improved their product, when their uplink wasn't moving fast enough or was moving in a different direction.

Anybody willing to put in their 2 cents ?

Thanks !

David