Reseller Hosting Explained

Hosting services normally have extra hosting space available on their servers and to increase their sales they offer various packages. When this happens, they offer hosting bundles to resellers who can sell the service alone or as a bundle including additional services such as website programming or design to increase the perceived value of their services.

This process benefits both the original hosting service and the reseller as it saves the original hosting service time because they would prefer to sell hosting to larger groups of people, not individuals. The reseller sells to individuals along with other services they need.

Additionally, the original hosting service is getting some additional return on the money they are charging the reseller for the use of their servers.

There are many options when looking for a hosting plan. Some Web customers are looking for a shared hosting plan that will let them put multiple domains online. They could be webmasters or web designers with several sites online or just a business that wants to separate their different brands. They would probably need a dedicated server or multiple hosting accounts and are the perfect customer for the original hosting service which is usually more focused on bulk accounts and not individual clients.

Customers with smaller needs can find the perfect solution with a reseller that would be more responsive to questions and simpler needs. The benefit to the customer here would be cheaper hosting fees on shared hosting accounts. This is perfect for startup businesses, even if they have more than one website to put online.

Customers these days expect to have a good relationship with the people they do business with either offline or online and the days of anonymous sellers with no personal contact is over. Entrepreneurs offering reseller hosting services are paying attention to building relationships and eventually trust, and are the successful resellers online.

There are downsides to operating a reseller account that can cause you headaches you haven’t thought of yet and can actually ruin your business. If there is a problem at the company you are selling hosting with, you are the one in the firing line and the one your customers will send untold numbers of emails to.

The truth is you are not actually responsible for problems like downtime on the servers at the original hosting services but will be the target of your customer’s wrath. Another truth is that you have no control over what happens at the hosting company you are using for your business. If they do not make a phone number public, you don't have a way to contact them either when their servers are down.

Before signing up with a hosting company first check there reputation by visiting related forums and ask about the company’s service. You will soon find out if there have been any problems. Ask the hosting company for a list of references and check them. If you do not get a list of happy customers, find another hosting company.

The question to ask on the forums or to the hosting company is how often they went down and how fast they got back up again. All servers will go down once in a while. There are many factors such as bad weather, floods, lightning strikes or many other reasons that can make the servers go down which are beyond the control of the provider.

The real consideration is how fast they get back online and if they let their customers and resellers know what is happening and the expected return to service. Hosts with one support option, like filling out endless support tickets and leave you waiting for a canned answer, will not do your business any good.

Check your options carefully, like actual bandwidth, enough space, quick support by email or ticket system and whether or not they answer their phones. You are hanging your business on the reliability of their business. Choose carefully.

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I transferred over to D9 Hosting more than a year ago and have never had a problem. They are quick to provide help and give plenty of notice when the server will be down for maintenance. This is normally for a very short period.

Mike