Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Reseller Hosting : Which company is best for me...?

[BenReado]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to start up my own reseller business. I'd like to have 3 packages.

The first being a free package which is funded by advertising placed on the bottom of each page hosted (using iAds script) and ads on the cPanel (I believe this can be done through the CPanel branding tools). I'm not yet sure how much web space to give per free account but I'm thinking maybe 200MB (does that seem about right)? I'd also offer an ad removal fee of £0.99 per month, or £9.99 per year.

The second package would be a mid range package costing roughly £3.99 per month. It would have maybe 800MB (again is that about right for the proposed fee?) and other benefit's including free domain.

The final package would be for the bigger businesses costing a proposed £9.99 per month, and having 2000MB space (again is that about right for the proposed fee?), a free domain, even more benefits such as it's own IP address.

From the reseller package I'd need:

- Free Billing System
- Preferably a free template (I don't have the time to create a website from scratch)
- Option to purchase more IP Addresses for the big package
- Good support (if possible ticket replies within a few hours)
- Preferably a domain reseller included (although this is not vital)
- cPanel/WHS

I don't have a budget so to speak but I need value for money and a solution that I'll be able to make a profit using. The diskspace needs to be at least 10GB+ to start off with and something that can bee added to as the business expands.

Anything else is a bonus.

I'm willing to listen to all ideas.

Cheers

[cartikadave]

Who are you choosing as a host for your reseller?
How much does those space/resource prices cost you?
What type of support are you offering your customers (phone, tickets, Live Chat)?

Before you set your prices..you need to see what this will cost you in both time (support) and money. After figuring that up...then you set pricing, not the other way around.

[Jacob Wall]

Innohosting

They've been great to me, I have been with them on and off twice. Absolutely great people.


I wouldn't offer free hosting tbh, too many people use them for fraud(host proxy sites), rapidleech, send spam, etc.

[njoker555]

I'm with jacob with the free hosting offers - you're likely to get some idiots to sign up that'll get them suspended and then they go complaining to you or they do something terrible enough to shut you down along with them. you can' never trust them.

as for your requirements, you better have a good budget to get your hands on a free billing software and a domain reseller - generally the hosts offering extra free stuff like that already included the pricing into their regular package pricing. otherwise there is no profit from any of that.

free templates can be found all over the net although it's not recommended for a web host - because you will be a business and the idea of any business is to remain unique - you dn't want to go ahead and look like a dozen other hosts using the same template not exciting

good luck to you.

[mrwillt]

Spend a little more time and save to create a budget, as with this business you simly won't get far being firstly ununique (as njoker says) and without any soft of investment.

[BenReado]

Thanks for the replies so far. You've managed to put me off the idea of the free hosting accounts, and I'll also look into creating a unique website over the course of the summer.

As for budget, of course the business needs to be profitable, but I can spend up to £30 p/m (think that's roughly $50).

Has anyone got any resellers they'd recommend me to look into?

[iHubNet-Matt]

It seems $50 is a good budget for your requirements. You will be able to find a good provider with that kind of budget. Rather than recommending any host I will recommend you to do your research. You can browse through the forums, offer sections etc. You may find some providers which suits your needs. Then you try to find as many reviews as possible on them .Also send some presales queries to concerned providers.

[KMyers]

I need to chime in here - With iAds, you will need a Dedicated Server or VPS to run it (It requires root WHM Access)

[Hostnetric]

I have to agree with Jacob on recommending Innohosting. Great customer service and would meet all your requirements. In addition it looks like you will be hosting mainly in the UK and they have a data center in your area.

[BenReado]

Thank you both for recommending Innohosting. I will have to look into them later tonight... I will also look at the3dev.

I've done some research of my own and have found a company called resellerspanel. Their beginner package is only $25.00/mo, and offers 30 GB disk space, 300 GB bandwidth, cPanel/WHS, billing software (ClientExec - I heard they are quit good), free domain reseller (eNom - $8.95 per domain), RVSkins, and everything else you'd expect from a good hosting company. I also tested their support (5 minute responce time!!!), where they said I could purchase as many domains as I want at $1.50/mo per IP. Just what I wanted to hear .

Would anyone who has used them before recoment (or not) this company? Or is their a better deal to be found?

[2012Panda]

I havnt come across a single web hosting company that offers free billing system at a low budget. However you can get free billing systems from "fantastico" through cPanel if the web hosting company has that addon.

[PremiumHost]

Originally Posted by 2012Panda

I havnt come across a single web hosting company that offers free billing system at a low budget. However you can get free billing systems from "fantastico" through cPanel if the web hosting company has that addon.

The free billing script phpcoin in fantastico is really crap comparing with Clientexec/WHMCS.

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by BenReado

Thanks for the replies so far. You've managed to put me off the idea of the free hosting accounts, and I'll also look into creating a unique website over the course of the summer.

As for budget, of course the business needs to be profitable, but I can spend up to £30 p/m (think that's roughly $50).

Has anyone got any resellers they'd recommend me to look into?

Just my $ .02

I agree with all the negatives about free hosting...In fact a lot of companies will not knowingly take resellers that market free hosting and will aggressively shut them off when they discover that is the plan...as they will because the sites will be exploited and abused to death...

Your budget is great...you should be able to get all you want and more with a nice solid budget like that...and bravo for not saying > $10 USD...

Yes, you need something unique but you do not have to kill yourself...there are templates out there that with a little work you can make "your own"...

Check the offers forum also, that will give you some more people to look at...

[cartika-andrew]

As Mark mentioned, you should check with any reseller provider if they even allow for free hosting. You may need your own server for this. I know we would not allow free hosting services to our resellers. I mean everyone gives some space and resources up for free to friends, family, etc.. that though is a little different then actually marketing a free hosting service (and this is what most providers try and avoid)..