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  1. #1
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    Purchasing clients?

    I run a private hosting provider right now almost as a hobby which is rather profitable but I am interested in purchasing clients as I saw others sell clients around webhostingtalk.

    I wondered how I would go about purchasing clients, or finding companies that are selling clients, etc.

    These would be shared/reseller client - and I would be happy to make suitable agreements with the seller.

    Thanks for any help in pointing me in the right direction.
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  2. #2
    I know of a few websites that have been set up for this purpose.

    Check out cpanelbuys.com - pretty basic but you could set up a similar site and promote it.
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  3. #3
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    Just go to the forums here and put an ad saying you want to buy clients.
    Jason
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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by whmanaged View Post
    Just go to the forums here and put an ad saying you want to buy clients.

    What section would I go to?

    Thanks for the answers guys.

    Also, what type of money are people looking for, can your purchases start off small or do we need to be offering large sums, is there any calculation to work out how much your going to pay per client?
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  5. #5
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    Right here sir I think i saw some there before:

    http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=48
    Jason
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  6. #6
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    Go to the advertising section here look under other webhosting related offers and other webhosting related requests.

    As far as money it depends on how many clients they have, if they are profitable, and how much they are asking. Quite a wide range of opportunities.
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  7. #7
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    Okay, thanks for the answers!
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  8. #8
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    Your welcome sir
    Jason
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  9. #9
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    As a tip, DO NOT POST your offer in public. You might be out-bidded...
    Garbott Ltd - Exceptional web development, hosting & consultancy services
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by jwebhost View Post
    As a tip, DO NOT POST your offer in public. You might be out-bidded...
    Pretty sure on WHT all bids have to be posted publicly.
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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jamson View Post
    Pretty sure on WHT all bids have to be posted publicly.
    You would be correct fine sire.
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  12. #12
    I think it's best to get your own clients. It's totally up to you though.
    HostXNow - Shared Web Hosting | Semi Dedicated Hosting | Enterprise Reseller Hosting | VPS Hosting
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  13. #13
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    I some times see around WHT people posting about there are selling there clients, It should be some where in the offer categories on the bottom of the WHT main index page.
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  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Every company or depending on the customers you are buying money wise will be different from one to the next.
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  15. #15
    Join Date
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    Usually buying clients is not worth it. Your chances of keeping all of the clients past the first month are slim and you usually buy them for 12 months of revenue, therefore you'll need to keep them for a year before you see any income.

    Not worth it, imo.
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  16. #16
    Join Date
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    We have done this before; A company was going under they posted here and were interested in selling off there clients to a stable, and more reliable company.

    We contacted them under our webhosting division brand only (Not TFN) and discussed what we could offer them as that brand was dedicated for just shared/reseller/master reseller we wended up taking them over, and the clients were a bit jumpy at first with the change over as we migrated them to our servers but took over there dns so they didn't have to do much as we placed them on a new server that was just loaded up and we wended up getting 75 clients total, and about 30 of them stayed.

    It's not worth it, as in the end they will wend up either leaving or finding something else, as we paid for them we didn't lose out on no money, but we expected them to stay longer then a year, as most of the clients where on a monthly basis and even though we kept the pricing and package details the same and provided a better server/network for them, it's just a risky thing to do just to buy out clients.

    Now taking over a small web hosting company is a little different as it would just be under new-management.

    The best tip for this is to get some advertising up (here, and other places) and offer a few promotions to get it going, and then once you get your name out there start trying to build your own custom features that another host don't provide; make them feel that your service is better then going with blah and blah.

    Good luck with your adventure;

    Recommendation: I don't recommend buying clients (web hosting clients) as it tends to never work out in the long run and you could lose more money then you could earn when doing this if something don't go right.

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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by FN-Mark View Post
    We have done this before; A company was going under they posted here and were interested in selling off there clients to a stable, and more reliable company.

    We contacted them under our webhosting division brand only (Not TFN) and discussed what we could offer them as that brand was dedicated for just shared/reseller/master reseller we wended up taking them over, and the clients were a bit jumpy at first with the change over as we migrated them to our servers but took over there dns so they didn't have to do much as we placed them on a new server that was just loaded up and we wended up getting 75 clients total, and about 30 of them stayed.

    It's not worth it, as in the end they will wend up either leaving or finding something else, as we paid for them we didn't lose out on no money, but we expected them to stay longer then a year, as most of the clients where on a monthly basis and even though we kept the pricing and package details the same and provided a better server/network for them, it's just a risky thing to do just to buy out clients.

    Now taking over a small web hosting company is a little different as it would just be under new-management.

    The best tip for this is to get some advertising up (here, and other places) and offer a few promotions to get it going, and then once you get your name out there start trying to build your own custom features that another host don't provide; make them feel that your service is better then going with blah and blah.

    Good luck with your adventure;

    Recommendation: I don't recommend buying clients (web hosting clients) as it tends to never work out in the long run and you could lose more money then you could earn when doing this if something don't go right.

    Agreed.

    If you are going to buy your way faster, buy the whole company and have them sign a non-compete. Just buying clients alone is too risky. But if you buy a whole, established, company. The odds of flight are a lot less.

    You should also offer them around 75-80% (7-8 months) of revenue. You have to assume you will lose at least 20-30% with an ownership change.

    Frankly for me, I would buy out the company and keep the sale quiet. Run it for a year or a period of time under that company's brand. Then send out a mass email to clients letting them know you have been running it for a period of time (so they see nothing has changed) and now you will be rebranding it to whatever.

    This way clients are not so ready to jump ****. You come in, slap your name on everything, take over support, and what ever.
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  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Barefootsies View Post
    Agreed.

    If you are going to buy your way faster, buy the whole company and have them sign a non-compete. Just buying clients alone is too risky. But if you buy a whole, established, company. The odds of flight are a lot less.

    You should also offer them around 75-80% (7-8 months) of revenue. You have to assume you will lose at least 20-30% with an ownership change.

    Frankly for me, I would buy out the company and keep the sale quiet. Run it for a year or a period of time under that company's brand. Then send out a mass email to clients letting them know you have been running it for a period of time (so they see nothing has changed) and now you will be rebranding it to whatever.

    This way clients are not so ready to jump ****. You come in, slap your name on everything, take over support, and what ever.
    Great advice,
    thanks
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  19. #19
    You want to pay people to use your hosting? :\
    What will that accomplish, exactly?
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  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by rollthebones View Post
    You want to pay people to use your hosting? :\
    What will that accomplish, exactly?
    I don't think you understand the thread at all

    Anyway thread can be closed now, as my question is answered.
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  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by WLH-G View Post
    Anyway thread can be closed now, as my question is answered.
    Okie dokie
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  22. #22
    Unless you know the owner and are lucky enough to find a bargain then I would be very careful about buying clients.
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  23. #23
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    Be careful, then be more careful. There are a number of people out there who make their money out of selling clients who are either bogus, or completely mis-described.

    However, if you want to grow quickly and do the appropriate due diligence its a very worthwhile way of growing.
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  24. #24
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    I think acquisitions are a good thing and I'm always looking at them. I had a hotmail account before Microsoft paid millions to buy them out. Of course we're talking on a much smaller level here but the principle is much the same, little fish get eaten by bigger fish and so on.

    But yes buyer beware as there are a lot of scam artists floating around.
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  25. #25
    there do reseller sold their client to us as well. but is not good to do that because their client found out that their hosting is change or change a provider. They maybe quit once they found it and you will be paid for nothing. The best is you try to prospect with those client again if only they agree to do so.
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