In a recent thread, somebody talked about a host that abruptly killed the reseller because some of the reseller's customers were spamming.

This concerns me because the reseller is in the middle and could lose a lot of money/customers in this situation.

I know there are things that a reseller can do like cancel accounts for violators and such. That was very well discussed already in the thread and I learned a lot. What I want to know about is how to find a host that will at least be reasonable and give you time to fix the problem.

In the thread, there was talk of hosts that have "zero tolerance policies" and would just go in and shut down a reseller and all his customers (overreact on the first offense).

I want to know how to judge hosts based on good or bad they are at working with resellers over spam.

And how do I find a provider that "frowns on spam, but understand how spam works and is willing to work with you".

Do I review their terms of service? Or do I check spamcop or something?

Or is this all based on reputation? If so then I am in big trouble, because I am setting up a reseller account with one and have no idea how I will be liable if one of my customers spams.

I do not think that all of my customers should be punished.

Thanks,
Shasta

By the way, here is the interesting thread that got my attention:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=95092

Please let me know how to find the good host that will work with reseller. I want to avoid bad hosts that have those "zero tolerance policies" that destroy your biz.

Shasta

The way we operate with resellers. We have a "zero tolerance spam policy". If one of our reseller's customer sends SPAM/UCE via our servers, that customer's account will be suspended and the reseller notified. We wont however suspend the whole reseller account.

same here. we proactively monitor all accounts and terminate all spammers immediately. we notify the reseller, but we do not suspend the reseller's account, unless the reseller is actually the cause of the problem. ie, unless you advertise 'bulletproof' or spammer-friendly hosting on your reseller website, you will not be terminated.

cheers,
paul

Ok this is starting to make more sense. The host only terminates the so-called offender. This is definitely not as bad as terminating the reseller.

As a newbie though, this brings up some interesting questions.

When a reseller signs up a new customer, whose customer is it?
And why should the host be doing the terminating?

Perhaps I am mixing up dedicated hosting with reselling???

As a newbie, I would like to know which hosts are over-reaching or heavy-handed and which ones will work with you to fix the problem.

I am glad to know that hosts do not nuke their resellers if they get a bad apple.

Thanks,
Shasta

Originally posted by shasta
When a reseller signs up a new customer, whose customer is it?
And why should the host be doing the terminating?
It's your customer, but they still have to meet the TOS and AUP of the company you're reselling from.

Most reseller companies will only suspend the offending account and notify the reseller, although I'm sure there are some that are more heavy handed as you say.

Of course if the account was problematic to the point of bringing the server down they might not get a second chance :)

Originally posted by shasta
And how do I find a provider that "frowns on spam, but understand how spam works and is willing to work with you"
Just ask them. They should have a policy in place for how to handle such situations :)

Any new Reseller, we tell them very clearly of the AUP and they and their clients also have to follow the AUP.
In the Sample format of Signup emails we ask them to mention their AUP link also.

We give 1-2 warnings to the Reseller if any of their client is SPAMMING and final warning before asking the Reseller to suspend his customer.

long time back i also saw a post in WHT about this issue where a reseller was suspended for 3-4 days cuz his client SPAMMED. Felt thats not the way it should be handled as the other clients of the reseller should not get punished unnecessarily and also have to find out if the reseller is involved.. etc.

merconline,

Very sensible response. This is the way I think it should be handled.

No way should other customers be contacted because of one silly spammer.

I just wish that there was more information about this before I setup a reseller account. I was actually going to go with one of the "heavy handed" hosts before reading a random post here.

Guess I will have to include this in my initial list of questions to a prospective host.

Shasta

Originally posted by shasta
Guess I will have to include this in my initial list of questions to a prospective host.

Questions like this should always be some of the first things you ask when doing a pre-sales evaluation of a host.

Shasta -

you will/should get warnings.

Spam is bad, but **** happens
:eek:

Similar type situation happened to myself awhile back.

Got a report that one of my Clients was Spamming. I immediately sent back an eMail; asking the person making the compliant to provide proof (said they had received 500 eMails!). Once I received a copy of the "proof", with Headers, I knew something other than Spam was going on.

I then eMailed the Client stating a Spam complaint had been made, including a copy of the "proof" and to present their side of the story. Client replied with full particulars and the whole story opened before me. Apparently, the "complainer" was a Hosting company that reneged on a Hosting package which my Client had obtained through a winning bid on eBay -- still don't understand why people don't realize, those are mostly scams anyway, but I digress...

All eMails sent were requests for a refund which my Client had already spent a few months trying to obtain through other methods. eBay had gotten back some of their money (which showed even eBay thought there was something not right), but a lot was still owing. After informing the Client what they were doing was not the correct procedure and to stop doing that, they complied and matter was closed -- AFAIWC. Also eMailed back to the complainer that I did not consider this matter as Spamming, it was now closed, and they should handle this in-house.

I always believe in first getting proof, hearing both sides of the story if needed, and judging each case on its own merits. I'm sure other good companies work the same way. It was a good point brought up by "whw" that questions like this, and others, should be discussed previous to signing up. Also look for a TOS and/or AUP which should be listed at the Hosting site, as that can protect both parties in most cases.

The host should always contact the reseller and ask them to handle it with their client, I try to never have direct contact with a resellers customers. I would suspend the spamming account if it was bad and then notify the reseller. But under normal circumstances we try and let the reseller handle his clients. I would only suspend a resellers account if he was the one spamming or promoting it.

The parent hosting company has to protect ALL their customers, and if one of their reseller's customers brings a server down, that affects everyone on the server (including direct customers of the parent company, and perhaps customers of other resellers they have).

So the parent company has to stay on top of this type of activity, and put a stop to it as soon as they can. That typically means suspending the problem account, and notifying the reseller (not the problem customer directly, or they risk jeopardizing their relationship with their reseller).

Also, many times the reseller has the ability to unsuspend an account that the parent company suspended. If they do that without clearing up the problem, and it happens again, then the parent company may have to suspend the RESELLER'S account so that they can no longer un-suspend the problem account.... until they can work things out.

If you're a reseller, I believe it all comes down to doing everything you can to comply with the TOS of your hosting provider. If you show a genuine interest in helping clear up some problems, then your provider will likely be more lenient with you. If on the other hand you keep them out of the loop when unsuspending such accounts, you may be asking for trouble.

Like whw said, this is all great conversation to have with a potential provider, prior to getting your reseller account.

Good luck :)