Reseller web hosting

Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner has a deal with a webhosting company for reselling their services to end-customers. With traditional forms of reseller hosting, the reseller purchases a "reseller account" typically with larger hard drive space and bandwidth than standard hosting accounts. The webhosting company usually provides account management software, which the reseller can use to split their account into separate accounts to host the websites of their clients.

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Overview

The typical web hosting reseller might be a web design firm, web developer or systems integrator who offers web hosting as an add-on service. Reseller hosting is also an inexpensive way for web hosting entrepreneurs to start a company. Most reseller hosting plans allow resellers to create their own service plans and choose their own pricing structure. In many cases, resellers are able to establish their own branding via customized control panels and servers.

Reseller hosting can be thought of as the relationship between a wholesaler and a retailer. The web hosting company (wholesaler) leases space on their servers to resellers (retailers). The reseller can distribute and price the space they've leased for however much bandwidth, disk-space, and price that they want. A reseller may also rent a dedicated server and use it to host the services of their end-customers.

Reseller hosting does not require extensive knowledge of the technical aspects of web hosting. Usually, the data center operator is responsible for maintaining network infrastructure and hardware, and the dedicated owner configures, secures, and updates the server. A reseller is responsible for interfacing with his or her own customer base, but any hardware, software and connectivity problems are typically forwarded to the server provider from whom the reseller plan was purchased. Being a profitable reseller firm usually involves extensive advertising to get customers. While the fees with major hosts are only a few dollars a month, it is a low-margin business, and resellers must devote large advertising budgets to compete with established competitors. However, web hosting is one of the biggest online businesses, because every website needs hosting.

Resellers can set up and manage customer accounts via a web interface, usually a point-and-click "control panel".

Commonly sold with:

  • Free-end-user-support
  • WHMCS (an all-in-one client management, billing and support solution for online businesses)
  • SSL for hosting domain (add SSL to a domain to secure the billing form of the website)
  • SSL reseller account (resell SSL to clients at discounted prices and keep any profits)
  • Domain reseller account (resell domains as well as hosting from a hosting company)

List of control panels
See also: Comparison of web hosting control panels
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