Hello,

I have a question, it might be weird to some of you but it just bothers me! :)

Here is the thing - I'm thinking of getting a reseller account rather than a dedicated server, even if it's fully managed because when you start getting clients, let say you have 50, it's a pain to support (tech support) all of them. With a reseller account they can just email support where I bought the reseller account from.

So let's say that reseller account is what I want, lets say I have 50 clients hosted and you don't have more disk space or bandwidth left. What do you do? Open a new reseller account? What if the company where I got my reseller accounts goes out of business, what do you do then? Move your clients over to a new reseller? And keep doing it? What if they just "shut down" their business with all your client's sites/files?

Looks like the only way to be safe in this situation is to get a dedicated server at a reputable company such as rackspace or fastservers right from the start, but their prices are $200+ month and YOU will need to tech support your clients when they ask for help. And the second problem is - if you don't know Linux well, it's gotta be fully managed server and they cost a lot more.

Any thoughts?

Even using a reseller account you'll have to offer support to your customers or pay an extra fee to your host for your customer's support.

So do you recommend dedicated or reseller? Reseller is pretty "shady" - like yesterday, I found out that a company I wanted to sign up with are run by 13 year olds.

Originally posted by pweb
So do you recommend dedicated or reseller? Reseller is pretty "shady" - like yesterday, I found out that a company I wanted to sign up with are run by 13 year olds.

While there are 13 year-olds attempting to run reseller businesses, this doesn't invalidate the reseller route. Keep looking here on the boards, there are great ones as well. Most will have YOU provided the support, or as the previous poster stated, charge you an extra fee. If you don't want to provide support you might just look into an affiliate program, and just concentrate on the marketing end.

As far as running out of space, most packages have upgrade options. It is in your and your reseller's best interest for you to grow past the initial package.

Bob

Thanks for your posts, what about "closing the business"? How would I know that the company I want to sign up with are serious about their business? If it's run by one person and they get sick or what not, what happens to all your client sites? I couldn't find reseller packages offered by a "real" company, with offices and PEOPLE in them.

Originally posted by pweb
Thanks for your posts, what about "closing the business"? How would I know that the company I want to sign up with are serious about their business? If it's run by one person and they get sick or what not, what happens to all your client sites? I couldn't find reseller packages offered by a "real" company, with offices and PEOPLE in them.

I've not looked for a reseller package, but I've got to believe that some of the resellers on WHT are full-blown companies. With a plan, board, corporate officers.... If not, sure is a good opportunity to start one. I suspect, that many of the resellers that run their business right, have grown, and now look more like colos. Check with some of the colo's to see if they still provide reselling services.

If you'll carefully think though, and articulate your requirements, in the "offering" area of WHT, you'll be able to weed through the chaff and perhaps find a company that meets your needs.

Bob