Fat alligator?

[Look]

In one year’s time, after selling a number of accounts, open a reseller account and move (for free) the people who are hosted with HG over to your reseller/dedicated account. Your whole first year of clients will then become your client base for the second year. The second year’s clients will become your additional income as they will go directly into your reseller account.

Okay, I've now signed up as a HG affiliate, placed a banner on each page, and just have to wait until I have sold enough accounts to make it viable for me to upgrade from my lowly aluminium reseller account to a dedicated reseller account, which I can do 1 year after becoming an HG affiliate, and then every year after that?

Does this dedicated account include full management (you handle payments, support, and just send me a monthly check or bill)? In other words the webmasters would notice no change, and I'd just be a fat lazy alligator webhost who wouldn't have to do anything other than take the checks to the bank or pay you?

What is the monthly management fee?

I take it HG would subtract the monthly dedicated account fee and the management fee from whatever amount my account was earning if anything. If a negative amount I'd pay you, and if a positive amount you'd pay me?

So, how many accounts would you need to have before you were a fat happy alligator in the black, and not a useless shared reseller alligator sinking in a stagnant pond of red ink??

[Serra]

Originally Posted by Look

Okay, I've now signed up as a HG affiliate, placed a banner on each page, and just have to wait until I have sold enough accounts to make it viable for me to upgrade from my lowly aluminium reseller account to a dedicated reseller account, which I can do 1 year after becoming an HG affiliate, and then every year after that?

If you sell enough accounts in the first year, yes. You need to sell enough accounts to pay for a reseller package each month.

Originally Posted by Look

Does this dedicated account include full management (you handle payments, support, and just send me a monthly check or bill)? In other words the webmasters would notice no change, and I'd just be a fat lazy alligator webhost who wouldn't have to do anything other than take the checks to the bank or pay you?

Right, for the first year, you need not do anything. HG will do it all for you.

Originally Posted by Look

What is the monthly management fee?

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Originally Posted by Look

I take it HG would subtract the monthly dedicated account fee and the management fee from whatever amount my account was earning if anything. If a negative amount I'd pay you, and if a positive amount you'd pay me?

No. You sign up accounts using your affliate account (per your agreement with HG). They send you a check, per the agreement. Those customers become HG customers. In the second year, you offer to take over hosting from the person you signed up the year before. If they agree, you move them to your brand new reseller account and take over managment/customer service and billing on those aco****s. In other words, they close their HG account and open an account with you. Now at this point, you are taking over all of the support and billing.

Originally Posted by Look

So, how many accounts would you need to have before you were a fat happy alligator in the black, and not a useless shared reseller alligator sinking in a stagnant pond of red ink??

That would depend on how much you charge for your accounts in the second year. Keep in mind, while you are selling affilate accounts through HostGator, you are making only a tiny fraction of the amount you can make. You must then successfully transfer those accounts to your system in the second year. In that second year, you are going to make more money, but you are also going to have to do all of the work. HG is out of the loop... you are doing all of the support and billing.

Of course, HG hopes you never take over the accounts because they want to keep them themselves. Also, you will need to do some customer service the first year or your customers will simply stay with HG. This isn't an automatic way of building customers. If you are out front, doing some work, they will never switch from HG's system to your reseller system because they see no value in it for them.