This may be a dumb question, but i'm a little confused as to how reseller differs, from say a dedicated hosting account?

Is it because it is being mostly oversold, that reselling accounts are even possible?

It's just a little confusing to me, so any ideas here would be appreciated.

The advertising i see, is like, "for $25 / m, you can be your own web-hosting company.. and your clients don't need to call you or us!"

Is reselling business legit? or is it really a stepping stone and then you get into dedicated servers?

Lawrence

its good for starters with low money amounts. basicly the company does the security and hardware for you and you just worry about making profit and tech support. I think its better to start with a vps though so you can have more control on what happens to your servers

The main difference between reseller and dedicated is with the former you simply do not have any control towards the backend of the server. You cannot do anything that your reseller provider does not allow and no softwares, configurations, etc can be altered, installed, etc.

Alright, so what i'm getting from this, is that the reseller is just a quick way to get into the business.

If you want more control, a VPS is probably the way to go.

If you want control over hardware, then dedicated is the way to go.

But even in terms of content, my host has an ehtical hosting policy so that subnets don't get blacklisted (which i think is good).

And i suppose, if you're a non-techie and see hosting as the path to riches, then reselling would make sense. Although i don't see how they can do technical support if they don't really know much.


Lawrence

Alright, so what i'm getting from this, is that the reseller is just a quick way to get into the business.

If you want more control, a VPS is probably the way to go.

If you want control over hardware, then dedicated is the way to go.

But even in terms of content, my host has an ehtical hosting policy so that subnets don't get blacklisted (which i think is good).

And i suppose, if you're a non-techie and see hosting as the path to riches, then reselling would make sense. Although i don't see how they can do technical support if they don't really know much.


Lawrence

you could be the smartest person in the world and still use a reseller. remember not everyone can afford 50+ dollars a month extra as some people * like me* started in debt.

many business start using a reseller and once you build up enough clients/money/will or anything else you move to a vps then dedicated and from there, you just keep on going.

Most of our resellers are web/graphics designers who want to be able to do the design work without having to worry about server maintenance/monitoring.

My bussines start on a dedicate server, i have get a free service for 6 month and on this period i have learn much abaut the security and configuring/manage..

now i sell different service but if now are all good service it's becouse before i have make 6 month of expiriance with much client..

So, you can start with a reseller plan if you want only start a business.. but for learn and have a big future business you do get a little expiriance..
the frist time you do not have much entry if you are on a dedicate server.. but if you start with a reseller you can get a little entry for cover the cost of the reseller..

There are also a Dedicate server for 30$/month, so consider that you do not pay more for a reseller account..

There are also a Dedicate server for 30$/month, so consider that you do not pay more for a reseller account..
Where would you get that for example?

Look on Kimsufi.com kimsufi.co.uk.. there are this server:

Single Core 1.20Ghz Intel
RAM: 1GB
HDD: 250GB
Port: 100Mbps SLA Standard Unmetred
Price 19Euro..

And you can start with this.. shore, you can't sell hosting an account for 3$/m for a big site... so if you want to use a single core server, you do search a customer that have a light site.. for example a customer that have a personal site.. on html is better becouse don't load much...

stay away for customer that have much visit and use joomla/wordpress cms.. becouse for the webapplication you must have a dual/quad/biquad core.. and you must to configure a reverse proxt like nginx to increse the perform of the load server.

Most of our resellers are web/graphics designers who want to be able to do the design work without having to worry about server maintenance/monitoring.

I'm more of a developer that outsources design, but that's about my situation. I like to be able to provide a full solution for clients who are getting a website done, and the fact it's branded is a bonus.

I bet that SLA is pretty tight tho if it's an unmetered 100mbit line for €19!

Reseller accounts are generally larger shared accounts with the ability to make extra subaccounts underneath them. The difference between a reseller environment and a dedicated box is huge.

And you can start with this.. shore, you can't sell hosting an account for 3$/m for a big site... so if you want to use a single core server, you do search a customer that have a light site.. for example a customer that have a personal site.. on html is better becouse don't load much...

stay away for customer that have much visit and use joomla/wordpress cms.. becouse for the webapplication you must have a dual/quad/biquad core.. and you must to configure a reverse proxt like nginx to increse the perform of the load server.

The lack of flexibility is what I see in most reselling plans. Once you upgrade for a few customers and others don't keep coming you're stuck with the price for the bigger package which is usually accrued monthly.

So reseller packages are "good enough" to give to some shared clients, to start to build the clientele..

but if you need customization (or resource-problems) then a VPS or dedicated is suggested?

I only have dedicated servers, but i'm just trying to understand the other markets.


Lawrence

As others have said, most of our reseller clients are web-designers/developers and marketing companies who want to be able to provide a "complete package" for their clients, but don't want the hassle or expense of maintaining their own server. A reseller account is a great fit for these clients because, most of the time, they are building the sites that they host, so they can be sure there are no compatibility issues with their host. A hosting company, on the other hand, has virtually no control over the sites that they host, so being able to "tweak" their platform, from time to time, can come in handy.

I have heard of hosting companies that started on a reseller account and bought or leased their own hardware once they built a client base, but in our experience, the level of control was just not there with a reseller account.

Alright, i guess another question then. For the hosters out there. How much reseller biz do you do compared with standalone, shared web-hosting?


Lawrence

Alright, i guess another question then. For the hosters out there. How much reseller biz do you do compared with standalone, shared web-hosting?

Unfortunately, we just started offering reseller hosting, so our numbers wouldn't be accurate. However, so far our shared hosting plans draw more interest than the reseller offers.

That being said, it is important to remember that we just started marketing heavily online and most of our clients, so far, are local small businesses, which would have no interest in reselling hosting services. I am sure that companies such as Inno, who market their reseller accounts more aggressively, would say the opposite. Would be interesting to find out though.