Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Domain Names : Reselling - A Hard Task?

[smoove.]

Im just wondering what your opinions are on the difficulty involved with supporting your clients? Before I start to become a reseller, I would just like to know if the support workload is something I should really worry about as with web hosting, or is it, not as time demanding etc.

Could you perhaps give me a couple of general support queries you get per day?

Im un-decided weather Im going to go the WildWestDomains route and have them support all my clients for peace of mind, or go with ResellerClub and do all the support my self.

[Stan Marsh]

If you know a thing or two how the domains operate and feel like supporting your customers yourself, it's better to avoid WWD. I am reseller with about 120+ domains sold (mostly for my hosting customers) and the usual queries are 'how to change DNS' or 'please unlock the domain'. These are the ones that customers can do themselves, but they usually don't care enough.

In any case, WWD generally should be avoided.

[AnyDemo]

Hi,

Reselling domains is more comfortable than web hosting. You should receive very few support tickets per week. The most common tickets should be "I lost my domain login password, please send it to me."

[RajanUrs]

Use a detailed KnowledgeBase / FAQ to allow the customers to find solutions to routine how to? queries

[killapix]

In any case, WWD generally should be avoided

WWD seem to offer a good price package and would look like a good choice for someone who wanted to start a reseller business.?
are there any particular reasons why they should be avoided and has anyone had any hands on experiences that they can share.?

Thanks

[costlessnames]

I've been with ResellerClub myself now for years (well before they were ResellerClub). I find support clients rather easy and you don't get many support requests, 1 or 2 per week. The requests that you do get a rather simple and in the knowledge base so can point the customer to the direct link. Other requests are commonly related to billing issues.

[smoove.]

Originally Posted by killapix

WWD seem to offer a good price package and would look like a good choice for someone who wanted to start a reseller business.?
are there any particular reasons why they should be avoided and has anyone had any hands on experiences that they can share.?

Thanks

Yes, I would also like to know this, alot of WWD bashing latley, yet I cant find any threads that actually put me off them.

I am going to go with ResellerClub, because they're interface is alot nicer and userfriendly, but my main concern is dealing with user queries relating to the web hosting. I still dont actually understand the process you go through in order to support the client?

*Wouldnt a a client be emailing me, saying that his site is down; but I have no control over that and no idea why, would I forward the email to resellerclub or something for them to answer? If someone could fill-me in on this little side of the support I would appreciate it.
Thanks.

[Stan Marsh]

Originally Posted by smoove.

Wouldnt a a client be emailing me, saying that his site is down; but I have no control over that and no idea why, would I forward the email to resellerclub or something for them to answer?

Registrar usually has nothing to do with site being down. Unless you'll make a HUGE mistake and buy hosting from the registrar.

So, ResellerClub (as the registrar) will NOT deal with your site when it's down. You'll must contact your hosting company for that.

[smoove.]

Sorry, I'll try to rephrase my Q:

The customer will purchase hosting through my web site (as a reseller for RC), after a few weeks, his site stops respoding, and immediatley emails me because hes my customer, asking why is site is down. Now this is what I dont understand, how can I support that customer on web hosting, since I have no control over anything? Would I just forward this type of email or something?

[killapix]

The customer will purchase hosting through my web site (as a reseller for RC), after a few weeks, his site stops respoding, and immediatley emails me because hes my customer, asking why is site is down. Now this is what I dont understand, how can I support that customer on web hosting, since I have no control over anything? Would I just forward this type of email or something?

Smoove to clear this up I think intially we were talking about Domain resellers, as this is the domain name forum... but I will try to quickly answer your question, but maybe try the reseller hosting forum for more indepth answers.. I think is hosting reselling if you purchase reseller hosting you will be the contact between your customers and your hosting reseller the hosting company will deal with you as the reseller through tickets or e-mail etc to find the problem and you pass it on to your client whether by e-mail or live chat or ticket that is your choice of which you have on your site.
You will as a reseller have a certain amount of control through WHM.?
BTW. if after a couple of weeks your server goes down....look for another host...
99.something % uptime is normally an acheivable reality with most hosts now.

[01globalnet]

Originally Posted by killapix

Smoove to clear this up I think intially we were talking about Domain resellers, as this is the domain name forum... but I will try to quickly answer your question, but maybe try the reseller hosting forum for more indepth answers.. I think is hosting reselling if you purchase reseller hosting you will be the contact between your customers and your hosting reseller the hosting company will deal with you as the reseller through tickets or e-mail etc to find the problem and you pass it on to your client whether by e-mail or live chat or ticket that is your choice of which you have on your site.
You will as a reseller have a certain amount of control through WHM.?
BTW. if after a couple of weeks your server goes down....look for another host...
99.something % uptime is normally an acheivable reality with most hosts now.

Smoove is talking about the Reseller Club platform (domains and hosting from the same provider).

Smoove, in case there is a situation like this you describe you should make an initial check if actually the site is down, check dns (dnsreport for examle) or ping from multiple locations and check if there is any maintenace announcement in the knowledge base. Then, you should check if there is something wrong with their site (for example wrong permissions in files). If you cannot troubleshoot the problem on your own, then open a ticket to RC and they will respond to it.