Thread: Reseller Hosting: Dangerous!

Hi everyone.

On too many occasions have I seen industrious webmasters decide to start a reseller site using HostGator or another popular service. They put some effort into it, fit their site with the latest software (WHMCS and whatnot) then advertise on every forum they can to find some customers. Many times, the prices are reasonable and the packages attractive... but what about the downside?

If the owner gives up on the project or later realizes that making it profitable is quite difficult, they may decide to simply shut down their reseller account and stop paying the bill. So what does that mean for you? Your data will be gone. Your websites will stop working. So while you may be saving money or getting a great resource package... is it really worth the risk?

I think not. I recommend that you only seek hosting services from reputable companies that are well-established and have been around for a long time. It may cost you a little extra, but the security, peace of mind, and professionalism (ex. they can fix problems without going through a middle man, like a reseller) are worth the price.

Check out this post for more information on web hosting:
http://www.runningonlinebusiness.com/web-hosting/

Hi,

I have went through tons of different host, and have been burnt big time. Now I have three very good hosts. I found a few questions to ask to see about the host.

1.) Do you have root access to the server?

2.) Will I be dealing with you always?

3.) Do you offer a contact phone number?

These have helped me find good hosts I hope that they help others.

Butterflies Forever

Sami

A problem with a reseller can be costly in both time and money. You can use the fly-by-nights but make sure that you have a good back-up. Using a program like WordPress › WP-DB-Backup WordPress Plugins can help.

But in the end, a reliable host can be a big problem should you have a lot of sites to move.

Originally Posted by Kovich

Hi everyone.

Hello!

Originally Posted by Kovich

If the owner gives up on the project or later realizes that making it profitable is quite difficult, they may decide to simply shut down their reseller account and stop paying the bill.

The same thing happens to companies running off of dedicated servers or VPSs as well - it's not limited to just reseller accounts but I would say the majority are on reseller accounts.

Originally Posted by Kovich

So what does that mean for you? Your data will be gone. Your websites will stop working. So while you may be saving money or getting a great resource package... is it really worth the risk?

If you care about your sites you'll keep your own off-provider backups so that if something like this happened you'd only be out the $$$ you paid to host the site (it sucks, but that's life). If you don't do long term commitments (i.e. pay monthly) then you stand to lose very little.

Originally Posted by Kovich

I think not. I recommend that you only seek hosting services from reputable companies that are well-established and have been around for a long time.

Every company has to start somewhere - simply not paying more to a provider than you could stand to lose and keeping your own backups should insulate you from what you are worried about.

On a side-note... most customers that sign up for these sort of plans from resellers are not the type that do research or keep backups - you gotta learn somehow and unfortunately most learn the hard way.