From what I've read around here on various forums, a few suggestions have been thrown out there that companies starting out is to start with a good reseller and build up a customer base before moving to dedicated server

Then I think how easy is it to move everyones account from a reseller to your own server? Do they all need to be backed up in cPanel and created one by one?

or would it be better to keep those clients on the reseller hosting provider and just sign up new accounts on to the dedicated server

This is all hypothetically speaking

Its a fair bit of work to migrate a large number of accounts but with root its fairly straightforward but with only reseller access its just going to take quite a while but still very doable.

Have you tried checking with your Reseller to see if they can offer some suggestions, or perhaps even offer you a dedicated server through them? They may also be able to provide assistance in actually handling the migration, depending on their policies and procedures.

I haven't asked them yet as I'm just finding my feet, taking things very slowly... It sounds to me though that getting a VPS might be better than Reseller to start out?

It sounds to me though that getting a VPS might be better than Reseller to start out?Only if migrations are considered top priority. I suspect that a good number of resellers don't go the reseller->VPS->dedicated route, and instead go for the reseller->multiple reseller accounts (possibly with multiple providers)->dedicated server(s) with decent configuration. It's not a bad idea IMO to avoid small VPSes and budget dedicated servers when it comes to creating a shared hosting environment.

thanks for your input!!

Most companies can move the accounts to a dedicated servers from reseller hosting(someone for free and someone with extra charge). But if you have hundred and hundred domains and reseller accounts like us when moving the accounts to another company is too hard. Also if you want to move them to a dedicated server and your hosting provider does not make it when this will be hard, too. Because you cannot get backup all of the data by clicking one link on a reseller hosting. You can get backup seperately for each account only.

Reseller hosting is better than VPS if you sell shared hosting. Because you cannot host many domains on a VPS. Because VPS solutions generally provide little ram.

Most companies can move the accounts to a dedicated servers from reseller hosting(someone for free and someone with extra charge). But if you have hundred and hundred domains and reseller accounts like us when moving the accounts to another company is too hard. Also if you want to move them to a dedicated server and your hosting provider does not make it when this will be hard, too. Because you cannot get backup all of the data by clicking one link on a reseller hosting. You can get backup seperately for each account only.

Reseller hosting is better than VPS if you sell shared hosting. Because you cannot host many domains on a VPS. Because VPS solutions generally provide little ram.
Thats right, I agree with you.

Heres a thought........

If I have a master reseller account, and I sell reseller plans, if my resellers were to set up custom name servers to my current DNS settings, when I change to dedicated hosting, their custom nameservers would stop working

I guess the only way is to not offer custom nameservers would that be correct?

Makes me wonder though what these hosting companies do when they do offer custom nameservers, if they were to change dedicated hosting providers

Makes me wonder though what these hosting companies do when they do offer custom nameservers, if they were to change dedicated hosting providers
If they want to keep their reseller clients, they inform them well in advance that the IPs of their custom nameservers are going to change and maintain good communications throughout the move. Ideally, keeping nameservers running on both the old and new IPs for a transitional period will allow for changeover with zero downtime.

Yeah... I guess I wouldn't want to have any more than 20 reseller clients as a reseller, thats about the time I'd be looking at getting my own server. Therefore you're right with enough communication it shouldn't be a big deal

Its not that hard to transfer accounts with no downtime, but with changing ips your customers will have some "downtime" while dns changes propagate.

We have resellers with many more than 20 clients/accounts that have succesfully transferred issue free, so I don't really think there is a magic number it needs to be based on your profit margins and your usage.