i mean.. is anybody struggling.. is this what you do for a living or just for a hobby ..

i mainly just want to be a reseller because i do websites for a lot of people and would like to host their websites and make even more money.. i do all this for fun.. becasue im still in college (majoring in computer enginnering).. this is just pocket change for me and i don't expect to make a living out of this (well unless i get tons of customers and make tons of money, hehe)

I have the same reason with you to start reselling; I did some websites and it would be a good idea to bring up all of them under a reseller account and it would be nice if I can sell some more hosting too. I will also start my own web sites, so it makes more sense.

I meanly do this as a hobby and I am interesting in reselling hosting for about 3 months.

At first it seemed pretty easy to me to resell but after this 3 months I noticed that there are lots of things to consider while starting. This is a bit too much work for a hobby indeed but it's fun anyway :)

But now I learned that if you work hard at the beggining to plan things out, it will be less work and much fun later.
So I say, be ready for some hard days (months maybe) while starting out and plan everything, then it will be not much hassle.

what pitfalls did you suffer in those 3 months?

No money :D... Generally resellers aren't earning a full-time income from there business (let me reiterate, generally). So it tends to be a little more difficult in that aspect.

Also usually resellers don't have the cash to hire a support staff as well, so your looking at some pretty long hours (Like getting an emergency page at 3:00am because someone forgot there email address password :rolleyes: ).

But keep in mine, once those trials and tribulations are over and you have a full-time income, have your own server it all starts over again. Then you get to go through the process of admining a server which is a whole new set of 3:00am calls.

Webhosting is not exactly the world's easiest business. I'd give it at least a tie with brain surgery :D.

ok.. so im just gonna get my buiness lincese and start my buiness.. i don't think i have to report my earnings.. since its under 10,000... cuz the most ill make in a year is 1,200 ..

if you make more then $600 per year you do have to report income (in the US)

... is this what you do for a living or just for a hobby ...
i mainly just want to be a reseller because i do websites for a lot of people and would like to host their websites and make even more money.. i do all this for fun ...

It's great that you enjoy what you're doing so far, because it certainly makes starting a business -- especially if you're not making much money right away -- easier when you can derive some pleasure from your work.

However, whether you approach reselling as your life's work or just a hobby, it's important you treat it as a *real* business either way. Your customers will certainly expect as much ... or you won't have many customers for long.

I'd encourage you, before you simply get a business license and start rolling, to do some more reading ... both about the Web hosting business, and about business in general. Ask a lot of questions, spend some time browsing the resources at the Small Business Administration (http://www.sba.gov) and maybe even take a business course or two while you're in school. Then develop a plan for how you will set up your business, manage billing and paperwork (comphosting is right about the taxes), market your services and take care of your customers ... it'll help your business run much more smoothly once you actually get started.

Hope this helps ... good luck!

but this is the internet.. i thought you were only required to get a buiness lincese and file for taxes .. ONLY if you had a store front..

No no no... not in the US. You have to have a business license if you sell any product or service on a regular basis (e.g. not auctioning). It's not a big deal, generally it's around $50.00 and you have to pay property tax (of course, your business may not own any property :D).

so i have to pay property taxes even though i don't have my buienss on property???

If you don't own land-property...you don't pay property taxes.

I recommend you check out the US Small Business Administration, and also SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Business Executives). These are two free resources that will be able to tell you what you need and don't need.

Alternately, try a quick trip to your local chamber of commerce. Even if you're not going to set up a "storefront" business, or do business for anyone beyond friends and family, they can tell you what minimum documents you'll need for your local area, and may even have someone who can sit down with you and figure out exactly what you'll need - and won't need.

www.sba.gov
www.score.org

Umm... your completely wrong there. Taxes for businesses are completely different the personal tax. You have to pay taxes on misc. office equipment even, computers, desks. Anything that the BUSINESS (not you) owns, you pay taxes on.

what about an eraser? :D

Originally posted by DonMcReal
what about an eraser? :D

Yes that includes every single eraser you get for your business.

"how hard is it being a reseller?"

Well... I am a reseller for a hobby, a passion, etc. I have made $0 from hosting people but I know there is someone out there that is going to want to use my paid services :D

I get frustrated with some people IM'ing me 24x7 saying "whats the ftp info plz" and the like. :mad:

I know that well, quite frankly, hosting people is a very hard job, I hardly get any sleep because I am held up by obivious questions.

Well just get a "community" and the experienced users would help the newbies. :)

:)

Greetings!

Being a reseller is easy if you have good hosting provider supporting you all the way!

One thing we learned about being a reseller is that it is better to do it slowly but surely. Most clients come from referrals. If you are just beginning, I suggest you host locally first. That way you are on the same time zone and supporting your clients is a lot easier.

Another thing that comes in handy is to create an instruction page. For instance create a separate page on how to configure eudora/outlook to check and send email. And then create another page on how to access control panel and change passwords. And yet another page on how to set up FTP and so on. When you create an account, email the URLs of these pages to your client. That will ease up support load.

And when you host locally, provide them the faster means to contact you --- we use SMS.

Good luck!

:)

Some pitfalls?

Well, I don't know if they are "pitfalls" but here are some things to consider:

1) Incorporate. You don't want to be personally liable for anything
2) Get an accountant. You can include a lot of things as business expenses with the right accountant. Legitimate things, natch!
3) Find a host that provides support not just for you, but also your clients.
4) Get a good domain name. No explanation needed (I hope)
5) Business insurance. If you DO get sued, and you want to stay in business, you better have someone with deep pockets behind you if you have no insurance.
6) Get a good merchant account. One that allows recurring billing, so you can automatically rebill your clients every period (month, quarter, annual, etc)
7) Unless your host offers a solution that incorporates EVERYTHING (order taking, credit card billing, customer support, customer database) you may be spending a lot of time writing your own programs to manage your business, once it gets beyond just a few clients.
8) Get an 800#, but not from a call center, otherwise you'll never be able to change your service if you move. Once you get your 800# from a call center, they will never sell it to you. It's like a domain name, you just rent it.
9) List your site EVERYWHERE. Word-of-Mouth and referring in-bound links are GOLD!

This message brought to you by several years in the trenches.

Good Luck.

Pete Stoermer

This is a good thread, thanks fo the info in here :)

How can we incorporate business in a state which we'r not currently residing in ? is there any good online company that can do it for us ?