About reselling!!!

I'd like to sell (resell) web space for site hosting, for an extra income, if I'm lucky.
But I have a question regarding this, though:
- Why wouldn't I use the hosting plan "Swamp" for this, which is cheaper and also gives me more space & bandwidth instead of the reseller plans, where the smallest costs double then the "Swamp" and gives less space and bandwidth ?!
I mean, since I'm trying to earn some money, wouldn't make more sense to get the normal hosting account and then host my client's sites on it?
Thank you!

[smp]

You wouldn't because HG doesn’t allow reselling on their shared plans.

The price of the reseller plans are more expensive for less resources, however you can give your clients their own cPanel, and use the website templates and billing system that HG provides for free.

Regards, Steve Xx

[GvilleRick]

Originally Posted by wattaman

...wouldn't make more sense to get the normal hosting account and then host my client's sites on it?
Thank you!

You might want to read through the Terms of Service.

11.) Shared (non-reseller accounts) / Semidedicated Servers
Shared accounts may not resell web hosting to other people, if you wish to resell hosting you must use a reseller account.

[Woolf]

As for the reason why the shared plans offer more space and bandwidth, that's because it's not likely that one person can even come close to using that much space and bandwidth. Reseller plans, however, in theory, will use more space and bandwidth because they have more individual users hosting their own sites.

Not only that, but chances are that if you actually require that much space and bandwidth (in the shared hosting plan) for your own sites, you'll probably go over the CPU limits and will be required to move to a dedicated server.

Also keep in mind that just because you might generate some extra income, don't expect to have any clients if you're just going to run the business in your "free time" or as a hobby. Running a web hosting business, or any business for that matter, is going to take some time and dedication. For example, if someone had a problem with their site, they wouldn't want to wait 2 days for you to "get the chance" to look at the problem. They want it fixed asap.

Hope that helps.

[slapshotw]

Regardless of the TOS, the swamp plan only gives you one control panel for the various accounts, so if you wanted your clients to have control of their account, they'd get control of every client of yours.

The reseller plans let you give each client a separate login to manage only their own account.

Ohhh, I didn't know normal accounts can't resell their space.
And the Cpanel login access details also made it more clear for me to see the differences.
But, first of all, if it's agaings the TOS then I've already forgot about it.
Thanks for your help, guys!
Cheers!
Btw, Woolf, I think you're right: I probably won't have time to resolve the technical client's problems. Maybe is not a good idea for extra income

[gtgeorge]

Originally Posted by wattaman

Ohhh, I didn't know normal accounts can't resell their space.
And the Cpanel login access details also made it more clear for me to see the differences.
But, first of all, if it's agaings the TOS then I've already forgot about it.
Thanks for your help, guys!
Cheers!
Btw, Woolf, I think you're right: I probably won't have time to resolve the technical client's problems. Maybe is not a good idea for extra income

Good decision then. So many people sell hosting now that think it's an easy way to make some extra money without devoting any time for it.
You may want to consider HG's affiliate system instead as you get paid for sending a customer without having to do anything but send customers. There are many other companies that offer affiliate membership.

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by wattaman

Btw, Woolf, I think you're right: I probably won't have time to resolve the technical client's problems. Maybe is not a good idea for extra income

it totally depends on what you're doing, too. if you do websites, the people are already going to be calling you asking their support questions.

[Wayne Sallee]

If you want to dabble in that direction, you could help people get their web sites set up. Charge a consulting and web design fee, and you would also make money on the referral if they were not already a gator customer. They would own their own account and be responsible for it. If they wanted more web design, they could contact you to build them some more web pages, or edit web pages. This would get your feet wet, but not get yourself in over your head trying to run a reselling server.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne@WayneSallee.com

Thank guys!
I don't trust ANY affiliate system. I already got an adsense account blocked for cheating (they said) and still didn't received the money from adultfriendfinder, after one year ). So if I can't trust google or the biggest dating site over the net, who else can I trust ?! Anyway, that's another discussion.

But, regarding this thread, I've found some scripts that allow me to create subdomains of my site, or subforums or directories (e.g. mysite.com/user) that users can fully administer, like their own sites. Do you think that I'm allowed to install them on a basic customer account, IF I don't charge my users anything? I'll just give the my subdomains to use how they want and I'll probably put some adverts on their subdomains.
I think I won't need all the bandwidth and space for my site and if I give away some subdomains that will contain, let's say, a popunder of my site, will be good for my trafic. What do you think?
And if possible, would it be also OK to charge them something for assistance, if they need it? Like a one time fee for building their site, for example.

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by wattaman

But, regarding this thread, I've found some scripts that allow me to create subdomains of my site, or subforums or directories (e.g. mysite.com/user) that users can fully administer, like their own sites. Do you think that I'm allowed to install them on a basic customer account, IF I don't charge my users anything? I'll just give the my subdomains to use how they want and I'll probably put some adverts on their subdomains.
I think I won't need all the bandwidth and space for my site and if I give away some subdomains that will contain, let's say, a popunder of my site, will be good for my trafic. What do you think?
And if possible, would it be also OK to charge them something for assistance, if they need it? Like a one time fee for building their site, for example.

I doubt that the "subdomain giveaway without a reseller account" would be allowed, but contact sales [at] hostgator.com for a definitive answer for your specific situation

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by wattaman

Thank guys!
I don't trust ANY affiliate system. I already got an adsense account blocked for cheating (they said) and still didn't received the money from adultfriendfinder, after one year ). So if I can't trust google or the biggest dating site over the net, who else can I trust ?! Anyway, that's another discussion.

But, regarding this thread, I've found some scripts that allow me to create subdomains of my site, or subforums or directories (e.g. mysite.com/user) that users can fully administer, like their own sites. Do you think that I'm allowed to install them on a basic customer account, IF I don't charge my users anything? I'll just give the my subdomains to use how they want and I'll probably put some adverts on their subdomains.
I think I won't need all the bandwidth and space for my site and if I give away some subdomains that will contain, let's say, a popunder of my site, will be good for my trafic. What do you think?
And if possible, would it be also OK to charge them something for assistance, if they need it? Like a one time fee for building their site, for example.

Aside from the issue of HG's TOS (which your idea, IMO, violates in spirit at least) this has drawbacks for you.

Big drawbacks. You're taking on all of the responsibility for what those "clients" do, with little authority over them and what they can put on the server.

Any of them could royally screw up your shared account and get you bounced. A resellers' account, with its ability to assign quotas and hand out separate cPanel access, etc., gives you more control and the ability to suspend or terminate any of your clients causing problems.