Hi, I am looking to become a reseller. Have analysed Wildwest (Godaddy) and Resellerclub. Godaddy: Pros - Cheaper buy rates, Direct client support Cons - Annual fee, 2.5% transaction charge, minimum 10GB hosting plans Resellerclub: Pros - No annual fee (they have a refundable deposit instead), good buy rates for hosting plans (starts from 1GB, hence more affordable) Cons - No direct client support, expensive .com buy rate I can't seem to decide which one to go for. I would really appreciate if you share with me your thoughts and experiences. Is it beneficial to become a reseller of a reseller? Await your suggestions.
I think your best choices are Enom or ResellerClub. Both offers domains and SSL certs. However, Enom charges a $6 per domain fee for private registrations while it's free for ResellerClub. I'm not sure about GoDaddy however.
I suggest that you stick with either for domains and deal with a hosting company for hosting. Domain resellers do not specialize in hosting just domains so there control panels normally suck and there support is normally dedicated to domains where as a hosting company there support is dedicated to hosting.
Agreed. If you check out the WHMCS system, it can fully integrate Enom and ResellerClub's APIs making domain reselling a lot easier. All you'll need is to apply for a reseller account. Check the WHMCS site for full details on supported reseller APIs.
Any suggestions for hosting vendors? Does this mean I will have to have 2 different websites..one for domains and one for hosting? I am of the impression that Godaddy has great hosting plans? Do you have reason to believe the opposite?
No this does not mean that you will need a separate web site, as someone has mentioned you can use a payment processor program like WHMCS that will allow you to integrate domains and hosting together and sell both through the same web site. Godaddy does have reliable hosting but there hosting control panel is not very reliable and is very hard to figure out compared to cpanel which is 1 of the most famous and mostly used in the business. Hosting is not that hard of a business to run, the key is support where as domains speak for them selves. Godaddy is widely known for there good services and great rates but offer crap support because they know that support is not as on demand for domains as it is for hosting. I suggest that if you are going to sell hosting and you do not have much time to offer support then contract your support out to a company that specializes in it and you can get great rates. As for hosting companies there are many to choose from. I really suggest that you choose a package that will offer you decent amounts of space and bandwidth and you MUST make sure that the price tag suits the package. For example if you see a package that says unmetered reseller for a yearly rate of under $100 and a monthly rate of under $40 then the odds are very high that the company will not be around for very long as they are just overselling servers. I suggest that you choose a package that will give you like 100GB space and roughly 200GB of bandwidth and you would be looking at around maybe $22.99 - $44.99 per month. The price may seem high but thats you guarantee that the service is not oversold and that they will make enough money to last. Be smart and spend your money wisely because you can get taken very quickly and go bankrupt.
Would you be interested in a concept like RuchieWebHosting.com. 0 investment, either you or the company can provide support.
Thank you for taking out the time to write back. Really appreciated. What has been your experience in domain selling? As per my impression margins are much more in hosting. Is there enough money to be made in domains alone?
There is only 1 way you will ever be able to make money with just selling domains, and that is if you become a registered retailer through the source. Whit becoming a reseller from another company there is no chance that you will ever be able to beat any of the big boys such a godaddy. Companies such as godaddy have so many users that most domains that they register are all free to them because the cost they get them for to begin with. As for hosting if you are interested in some possibilities then shoot me off a PM and I can give you a list of great companies that are reliable and worth the price. Personally I don't believe in companies that offer services and dont have a PR value. This is normally a very good sign of no traffic and that normally equals to no business. Take a look at hostgator for an example, they have a very large PR value!
Godaddy should not even be a choice if you are considering selling those services to your Customers..as for Reselling, Enom and ResellerClub are the best options out there..I personally use and recommend ResellerClub..its got better pricing (volume based), better support and white labeled services..Enom on the other hand has more european ccTLDs and cheaper SSLs..
I totally disagree with the resellers club, I have a very high premium membership with enom and that allows me to purchase .com domains at $5.99 per .com domain and none others higher then $10. It just really depends on how much money you are willing to invest with a company to receive to receive better rates. Now as for godaddy reseller plans are the same, if you have the money to invest into there program you will then receive very good rates on domains. Out of all companies there are I prefer the godaddy control panel since its more easy to use.