Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Reseller Hosting : I'm confused about reselling.

Thanks MikeA,

I've already been to these sites and I liked them, although I don't seem to be able to find a host that I like.
I guess that I'm looking for something perfect that can't be found, the only way I see it is to get my own dedicated server and to be able to configure everyhing the way I like it. It's just that I need to have customers to be able to pay for the server. That's why I wanted to start reselling and than when I already have customers just move them to my own server.
Well thanks anyway,
Emir.

Hi,

I've been thinking about jumping into web hosting business for a long time and because I don't have a lot of money for my own dedicated server I think that it would be best to start of with reselling.
I've been looking around with various companies, I like olm.net the best but I looked at their prices and all of their accounts start with 14.99$ (0-50 accounts). They offer 8 GB of bandwidth with every account and while it's great most of my customers would need 2 GB of bandwidth at tops. I think that the prices are very cheap considering what they are offering, I just don't need that much. So I emailed their support and asked them if I could get 2 GB instead of 8 for a cheaper price, they answered very fast and said that it's the standard.
Now I hope that someone can explain to me how it would be profitable for me to resell for them, I would need to charge about 20 $ for my lowest account that I thought would start of with 2 GB, and while the accounts that would come with more bandwidth would be a lot more profitable, I think that most of my customers would need the account that is starting with the 2 GB?
So I would just earn 5$, if I have 50 customers I would earn 250$ a month, right?
There must be a catch? Can somebody please explain?
For other web hosting companies that are reading this, feel free to contact me if you think that you can offer me a better deal, just no Alabanza hosted Companies. My E-mail is emusabasic@softhome.net.

[Chicken]

First, all of your calculations are correct. Second, OLM didn't mention that they have an alternate site (webaxxs.net) which is owned by them and is *almost* the same as OLM. There, they offer resold account for $8/mo with 2 GB of transfer!

Sound like something you'd be interested in???

Heh, I thought so. Everything you read about OLM is the same with webaxxs (generally). There is one catch. There are no volume discounts, just $8 for a resold account. Also, you can upgrade the $8 to what OLM offers (350MB/8GB trans), for an additional $12 (that account will now cost you $20/mo total).

Notice that this is $5 more than OLM's reseller account. And keep in mind, no volume discounts.

So you see, although there is another option with OLM, it isn't an easy choice.

Hi Chicken,

Thanks for a quick reply.
The way I see it, OLM is not an option for me. They're great and everything but I can't see how I can really make a profit, not that I really expect to earn a lot of money in the start, but still.
Any hosts willing to make a custom package for me can e-mail me at emusabasic@softhome.net.
Emir.

[MikeA]

Check out resellerinfo.com or recellar.com

I'm sure you'll find something at one of those two sites.

------------------
Mike Astin
WebAuthorities
http://www.webauthorities.com
http://www.resellerinfo.com - A free reseller information site (coming soon!)

[UNIXIELHOST]

MikeA,

resellerinfo.com is a good start for resellers to share and support each other provide about reselling..

Way a good start

[JayC]

Originally posted by emke
So I would just earn 5$, if I have 50 customers I would earn 250$ a month, right?
There must be a catch? Can somebody please explain?

If there is a catch, it may be that you aren't calculating any costs for yourself other than what you are paying your hosting provider. With 50 customers a good portion of that $250, if only in your time, must be going to servicing those customers.

I e-mailed OLM and asked them how anybody could make any money with them and they replied that every account taken can be set up as a multi site account where it's possible to host multiple domains. So if you do have 8 GB of bandwidth, you can easily host 8 domains there although you have to pay extra for FTP/Telnet and POP as only two come with the standard account of 14.99$. One time setup fee is 20$ for all three of them (FTP/Telnet/POP), and the ability to host multiple domains under one account is 11$/month.or something like 15$/month for all domains on all of your accounts, not sure about this, will let you know later.
Oh, I also forget that you have to pay 10$/month for your personalized name servers.
OLM is expensive, I'm not sure about this yet. The way I figure this is that you would be forced to lose money for the first month and then first start making some money.
What do you think?
Emir.

[Chestnut]

One important thing you have not taken into account: support is provided by OLM/Webaxxs.

You just bring in the account and they do the support for you.

[MikeA]

Tell you what, why don't you post what you are looking for in the forums here, or send me an e-mail. Maybe I can point you in the right direction.

Originally posted by emke
The way I figure this is that you would be forced to lose money for the first month and then first start making some money.

Although there are some hosts that don't require you to have an account (and really you don't *need* an account with a host to resell their plans), rarely can you start ANY business and turn a profit within a month (let alone a couple of years).

If you can start making money after a month, than it is indeed good!

[Jag]

Another thing to think about is if you had 50 clients and charged $20 site you would have plenty to go on your own for a dedicated server. Im sure you don't intend to be a reseller forever and 50 accounts will probably get you out on your own.
Good luck

[Edited by jaguar on 08-30-2000 at 03:21 PM]

jaguar
I figure that I need 30 accounts to move to dedicated server.
Chestnut
I don't mind working and answering support questions, I like helping people anyway.
MikeA
These are some of the features that I need:
- Good support
- Reliable servers
- PHP4 with Zend Optimizer
- Perl Mod
- MySQL and possibly PostgreSQL
- Unlimited aliases / forwarders / autoresponders
- Subdomains, at least three for every account
- FTP/Telnet/SSH/POP
- dedicated IP address
- control panel
- mySQL control panel
- web statistics
- mailing lists

Not necessary but would be good:
- FrontPage extensions
- ASP

When it comes to disk space and bandwidth, I would like to offer it in 4-6 pacakages, starting at 1.5GB bandwidth - 10GB bandwidth, and 50MB space - 300MB or something like that.
Now, I realize I'm asking for much (not everything is a must) but I know companies that are offering this, they are just not aimed at resellers.
What do you think?
Emir.

[Jag]

Well it sounds like you read those requirements right off our site almost

[MarkW78]

We started out on NoMonthly.com and they offer plans like that. They are not the cheapest in the world, but I have seen many that are more expensive.

I would suggest checking them out to see what you think. They have pretty good support and were always very good to me.

Our plans are also similar, but we don't have anything for resellers yet. Good luck!