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Looking for Reseller with end user support
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Looking for Reseller with end user support

CØRECØRE Member
edited April 2015 in Requests

Hello everyone. I'm trying to get started on the web hosting business but after reading a lot on the subject, either here or on WHT, I reached the conclusion that at the moment I do not have the necessary capital to be able to keep buying new servers and licenses and covering eventual loss on the first months without generating actual revenue.

So I decided to look out reseller packages over at WHT, and I found SkyNetHosting which was awesome at first (RAID-10 SSD, CloudLinux, free WHMCS license, free domain reseller, free ssl reseller, white labeled and free end user support) before I started reading the fine print about server usage basically stating that any website with about 500 daily visits would be suspended. As I do not intend to scam or provide a bad service (because there's enough of those already -.-') and I know that support is a key feature which I myself can't be able to provide 24x7, I'm asking here, because you all seem like informed individuals and most of you are business owners. My plan is to reach minimum of 250 clients and then move out to actually setting up dedicated servers.

If you also think this is a bad strategy, feel free to input your opinions on the comments.

Thank you :)

Off-topic questions:

  • Is there a significant difference between providing HDD or SSD storage?
  • Kimsufi is any good? I can't believe the dedi prices they listed.
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Comments

  • ClouviderClouvider Member, Patron Provider

    CØRE said: Is there a significant difference between providing HDD or SSD storage?

    Depends on your setup. You will be able to put more Customers on server with SSD then on HDD.

    Kimsufi is any good? I can't believe the dedi prices they listed.

    Not really, I wouldn't use them for anything more than 'fun'. Kimsufi has very poor records with Customer Service.

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    You won't find resellers with end user hosting at anywhere near LET prices. At least, not with legitimate support by people who you'd actually want to represent your company.

    Here is an old thread from WHT with a mention of InnoHosting, which does end user support.

    Example plan: $25/mo for 30GB disk, 250GB bandwidth, cpanel/WHM, free whmcs, 100 accounts max. Sound expensive? Well, they're providing 24x7 end user support.

    I have never used InnoHosting but they enjoy a good reputation.

    "My plan is to reach minimum of 250 clients and then move out to actually setting up dedicated servers." That isn't really a strategy. The strategy you need to worry about is how to get those 250 accounts. Or, heck, the first 25...

  • JonchunJonchun Member
    edited April 2015

    @raindog308 said:
    You won't find resellers with end user hosting at anywhere near LET prices. At least, not with legitimate support by people who you'd actually want to represent your company.

    Here is an old thread from WHT with a mention of InnoHosting, which does end user support.

    Example plan: $25/mo for 30GB disk, 250GB bandwidth, cpanel/WHM, free whmcs, 100 accounts max. Sound expensive? Well, they're providing 24x7 end user support.

    I have never used InnoHosting but they enjoy a good reputation.

    "My plan is to reach minimum of 250 clients and then move out to actually setting up dedicated servers." That isn't really a strategy. The strategy you need to worry about is how to get those 250 accounts. Or, heck, the first 25...

    How about we start at first 5? (That aren't family/friends)

    Thanked by 1raindog308
  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    Jonchun said: How about we start at first 5? (That aren't family/friends)

    Ironically, the standard book talks about your first thousand...

    http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Managing-First-Clients-Hosting/dp/1448656761

    It's actually not a bad book and has a lot of solid advice. Don't pay for it - I think Hostgator gives it away free if you open a reseller account and it's easy to find on the web.

    The real trick in web hosting is not worrying about $10 a month vs. $20 a month in cost. It's finding customers.

    I hope @C0RE has more of a strategy than "I will post an offer on WHT".

    Thanked by 1earl
  • samblingsambling Member
    edited April 2015

    I would recommend providing support yourself when you start off, rather than getting your reseller provider to do it for you. It's an important learning curve because you'll get to understand what the customer actually wants and some of the common support queries.

  • @sambling said:
    I would recommend providing support yourself when you start off, rather than getting your reseller provider to do it for you. It's an important learning curve because you'll get to understand what the customer actually wants and some of the common support queries.

    I'd say the optimal decision (if you can afford it) is to cover as many shifts as you possibly can yourself, then hire some outsourced VAs/tech representatives to cover nights or whenever you're not available. From my experience, it'll cost roughly $500 a month or so to get 24/7 support that is capable of answering basic questions and esclaating issues as necessary.

  • Hey @CØRE Check our plans out at http://onrahost.com/resellers.html

    First a reseller account is a great way to start off with low overhead, and allow you to provide an excellent service all at once! We've had many resellers start with 1 or two accounts, and over the months grow into their own dedicated servers!

    We pretty much offer everything SkyNet has to offer, besides lacking support like them of course ;) (We get tons of their resellers who switch to us...probably 1 every other day or so). Our support team is some of the best guys around, I think some of our current customers on LET can vouch for this. All servers are optimized and proactively monitored, allowing you to always rest assure your site is going to be and running smoothly. Data is backed up every night through R1Soft with weekly and monthly retention rates. It even has a end-user module allowing you to browse those backups then download/restore on demand as needed.

    (RAID-10 SSD, CloudLinux, free WHMCS license, free domain reseller, free ssl reseller, white labeled and free end user support) ----- All this is included. End-User support is provided in our top plan. (we do have a few amazing specials out, so I'm sure you can dig that up or send me a PM! )

    As for getting 250 customers, you'll honestly want to get out/move on to a VPS/Dedi way earlier then that.... trust me. Once you start getting a good number of customers, your going to want the full control WHM has to offer.

    We also have three US locations to choose from - Lansing, MI - Los Angeles, CA - New York, NY . Plans can even be split to have multiple locations on one plan.

    P.S. One of the popular offers is 60% off any of our packages :)

  • Is there a significant difference between providing HDD or SSD storage?

    Nowadays you should find a provider using SSD at least for the database/MySQL so that abuses or overselling has less impact on clients.

    Kimsufi is any good? I can't believe the dedi prices they listed.

    I think it's not a very good idea to use kimsufi for providing hosting services. Some says they took days to replace failing hardware so if there is any issue with the server, your client will experience a very long downtime.

    Often in my experience, reseller plans with end-user support are weak on response time. And you still need to pay attention to your tickets as sometimes they are missed and left unanswered. So it's good to provide support yourself whenever you can and consider these end-user support as backup when you're away. IMO 250 clients are not that much on support side, provided the hosting service itself is well setup and not problematic.

  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    OnraHost said: P.S. One of the popular offers is 60% off any of our packages :)

    So if he signs up for your unlimited accounts $50/mo plan - 60% = $20/month, you will take an unlimited number of tickets from an unlimited number of his customers, answering their questions about about how to configure Outlook Express for IMAP, how to install a Wordpress theme, why their gramma's mail is going to spam, and why they are getting permission denied on some Ruby on Rails-based forum they installed from Softaculous?

    Even if he signed up for your cheapest plan (which is $6/mo with that 60%) you're promising that kind of support for 25 of his clients?

    What sort of SLA do you offer on ticket response/resolution times?

    I ask only because that seems like a lot to promise for a small amount of money.

  • I can recommend InnoHosting, have been used them for 4 month now. their support is solid. But i never use end user support because no need at this moment.

  • @OnraHost said:

    How are you doing end-user support? Do you have an add-on for client's WHMCS or something?

  • You might also want to check turnkeyinternet.

  • @raindog308 Like I mentioned End User support is only available on our top plan. Why would we ever give away end-user support on a $6 plan....thats just absurd.

    Tickets are handled in the same matter as our own clients tickets. As for "configure Outlook Express for IMAP, how to install a Wordpress theme, why their gramma's mail is going to spam, and why they are getting permission denied on some Ruby on Rails-based forum they installed from Softaculous?".

    Do you run shared hosting? I've been in the industry quite a while, and while I can definitely say i've seen all these questions lol, they are honestly not as often as you think. Most end-user requests have to deal with something the reseller would have to ask us to do anyways, or wouldn't have the full knowledge to (like most DNS matters).

    @DalComp We pipe in replies directly from their ticket system to ours :)

  • BruceBruce Member

    to start with, why not promote hosting that has an affiliate scheme. that way you don't actually run the business. learn about selling/marketing first. then when you think you're ready, move into doing the hosting. less risk, but also less margin.

    there are many providers who support affiliate schemes. not sure how many actually ay out though. some don't, so be careful

  • NomadNomad Member

    @Bruce said:
    to start with, why not promote hosting that has an affiliate scheme. that way you don't actually run the business. learn about selling/marketing first. then when you think you're ready, move into doing the hosting. less risk, but also less margin.

    there are many providers who support affiliate schemes. not sure how many actually ay out though. some don't, so be careful

    Never used one but... I think in that case you do earn money but you can never carry your customers along with you to a dedicated since there won't be any customers of your own.

  • BruceBruce Member

    correct. it is a learning and funding exercise, not ongoing business creation.

  • @Bruce said:
    correct. it is a learning and funding exercise, not ongoing business creation.

    And yes, I can vouch for the fact that marketing/selling is a much more important skill to learn than the "backend stuff". I'd love to hear community thoughts on this, but I find it much easier to find tech support/sysadmins than skilled salespeople who can rake in leads (at least in this industry). Once you know how you're going to get customers, the rest is fairly simple... hell, there's so many managed services out there that you shouldn't be worrying about the rest at all.

  • innohosting was the only one I was happy with

  • You can try misterhost.net with end-user support. But, there is no whmcs and ssd. Good luck

  • May I know whats your budget and needed specifications ? We provide free WHMS license, afree ssl and a dedi IP.
    And I can include end user support for you.

  • CØRECØRE Member

    I want to thank everyone for contributing, I was not expecting to be answered this fast.

    Thanked by 2BuyAds raindog308
  • @raindog308 said:
    What sort of SLA do you offer on ticket response/resolution times?

    I ask only because that seems like a lot to promise for a small amount of money.

    I 100% agree with you on this, but I'm assuming that the host offers this because he knows that the reseller most likely won't find many clients (he's just reselling... no value added. it's hard enough as it is to sell directly)

    Or the support will just suck. (shrug)

  • @Jonchun We only offer it in our top package...not any of the cheaper ones. Therefore it's really not " a lot to promise for a small amount of money.".

    What most people fail to realize, is about 75% of the support requests that come through end-user support, is something that a reseller would have to ask us/open a ticket to do anyways.

    Theres a simple reason we have very few, if any negative reviews around... we don't promise things we can't do ;)

  • @OnraHost said:
    Jonchun We only offer it in our top package...not any of the cheaper ones. Therefore it's really not " a lot to promise for a small amount of money.".

    What most people fail to realize, is about 75% of the support requests that come through end-user support, is something that a reseller would have to ask us/open a ticket to do anyways.

    Theres a simple reason we have very few, if any negative reviews around... we don't promise things we can't do ;)

    I see where you're coming from. Now that you think about it, there's really not that much that could go wrong from an end-user point of view that a reseller would be able to solve. What do you guys do about software support? Or the clients that are super demanding and ask for out-of-scope things?

  • @raindog308 said:
    Ironically, the standard book talks about your first thousand...

    http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Managing-First-Clients-Hosting/dp/1448656761

    It's actually not a bad book and has a lot of solid advice. Don't pay for it - I think Hostgator gives it away free if you open a reseller account and it's easy to find on the web.

    Like here: http://0701.nccdn.net/4_2/000/000/148/a88/first1000.pdf

  • IshaqIshaq Member

    Clouvider said: You will be able to put more Customers on server with SSD then on HDD.

    This was poorly worded but I personally understand what you're trying to say.

    For those that misunderstood, he didn't mean it in a capacity sense, rather using SSD will offer better performance with more users than HDD.

    Another possibility would be using HDD but with an SSD doing caching, so you get a good amount of space without compromising performance.

  • Almost went with OnraHost for a reseller account based on his response in this thread, but found so many red flags: the confrontational demeanor in sales threads here on LET, slow user support complaints on WHT (t=1477282), and the numerous accusations of desserting clients which is unforgivable in this industry. Will check out Innohosting instead.

  • WHTWHT Member

    @boxelder said:
    Almost went with OnraHost for a reseller account based on his response in this thread, but found so many red flags: the confrontational demeanor in sales threads here on LET, slow user support complaints on WHT (t=1477282), and the numerous accusations of desserting clients which is unforgivable in this industry. Will check out Innohosting instead.

    The thread you posted is before 3 years. Since that time am sure things are changed. They have money back policy so you can try them without risk.
    Am not affiliates with them but he is active here and no complains till now.

    Thanked by 1OnraHost
  • @boxelder said:
    Almost went with OnraHost for a reseller account based on his response in this thread, but found so many red flags: the confrontational demeanor in sales threads here on LET, slow user support complaints on WHT (t=1477282), and the numerous accusations of desserting clients which is unforgivable in this industry. Will check out Innohosting instead.

    And i think cloudlinux and litespeed helped a lot to solve the abuse problems. I dont know they used cloudlinux and litespeed in the past. But seems no.

    Thanked by 1OnraHost
  • wychwych Member
    edited October 2015

    I offer this service, but its not in LET pricing.

    CØRE said: Is there a significant difference between providing HDD or SSD storage?

    SSD is faster and IO wait will be less of an issue.

    Kimsufi is any good? I can't believe the dedi prices they listed.

    No RAID, minimal support in place. No additional IP's.

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