As a webmaster, sometimes I want to do the host reseller job, but I am not sure if this is a good choice, is there anyone has done this? I am looking for some experience sharing. Thanks.
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1Define successful. – ceejayoz Apr 07 '10 at 03:54
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1This is not a system administration question but would be more suitable for something like startup.com. – John Gardeniers Apr 08 '10 at 08:43
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Agreed, this is a question for business people, not techies. – ThatGraemeGuy Oct 23 '10 at 11:58
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I own a sizable hosting/datacenter business - there is certainly a capacity to make money from reselling web hosting to your web development customers, however the hosting industry is consolidating and if you are starting out with nothing then it is difficult to leverage the economy of scale required to compete with the larger providers.
The question you have to ask is: what value will I add to the hosting industry? This becomes increasingly difficult to justify when you are reselling someone elses services, as you also inherit any issues they might be experiencing.
The only people making any money in the hosting industry at the moment are botique providers who cater to certain niches and "everything for nothing" vendors like Dreamhost/HostGator who have the ability to leverage their sheer numbers of customers to provide a service profitably.
I would imagine, if you are asking here, that you do not have any significant amount of floorspace/IP transit at your disposal - ask yourself whether the hassle of running/managing/billing is worth the meagre dollars you will see as a result.
Quincey Adams
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+1 for when you say: "The question you have to ask is: what value will I add to the hosting industry?" – Marco Demaio Aug 09 '11 at 13:06
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Some thoughts ...
1- Many big hosting companies have "affiliate" programs, where you get a commission for accounts that sign up and reference you. Among them is DreamHost, my favorite hosting company. (Disclosure .. I am NOT a DreamHost affiliate.)
2- Another option is the typical "reseller" model, where you pay the host and the customer pays you. This is perfectly legit with most hosting companies, but I would avoid it unless you are actively managing the customer site and the customer gets clear value beyond hosting.
3- Watch for legal and conflict-of-interest issues if you are an employee of a company want to also sell the company hosting.
tomjedrz
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Many people make a living on reselling hosting - it's ain't that bad.
I'm actually using ResellerClub and it's been a good ride.They provide the website, management consoles, billing engine and I face my customers personally. Works for me.
If you already have a set of customers coming to you for other stuff, it should be decently easy to upsell hosting et al. Getting into the business is challenging, no doubt about it.