Another running your own webhosting business from a reseller account question . .

[episodic]

Rossman answered alot of questions for me. . . - got a few more I was thinking of.


If you start gettting a number of accounts, and at a later time you want to change to a new reselling account with a different company, does this mean all of your customer's sites will go down for a time?

In a local market, will using paypal/accepting cash, checks, etc. initially be to your detriment greatly?

Does anyone know of or have sample contracts for webhosting that can be modified for my purposes? Like a TOS etc?

If you resell an account to someone and they host something 'inappropriate', ranging from copyright violations to downright illegal stuff - are you liable? In any way? (elaborate greatly here if you can). . .
Obviously, if I catch them, I'd terminate thier account n stuff . . .

Are you liable in any way personally if your upstream provider has problems and your customers feel they had an economic impact due to the outage (probably covered under the TOS, but just want to make sure)

Anyone know a good place online or a some free content that would explain all the various small biz deductions I could make/take. . .

Finally, is there any domain reseller services? You know like godaddy, only where you can sell the domain yourself in your own branded service?

 

[episodic]

Anyone up to tackling some/all of these questions?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

If you start gettting a number of accounts, and at a later time you want to change to a new reselling account with a different company, does this mean all of your customer's sites will go down for a time?

No, just let the two hosts overlap for a few days of hosting. What I mean is, you begin with host A and move to host B. First, copy all files of host A to host B, then change DNS records and leave both host A and host B running. Once switch is completed, no one will notice.

That is all assuming you do this with static pages

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: episodic
Rossman answered alot of questions for me. . . - got a few more I was thinking of.


If you start gettting a number of accounts, and at a later time you want to change to a new reselling account with a different company, does this mean all of your customer's sites will go down for a time?
Probably not, you can purchase the other account, have them transferred, and then shut down the previous account after the DNS has propagated


In a local market, will using paypal/accepting cash, checks, etc. initially be to your detriment greatly?
depends

Does anyone know of or have sample contracts for webhosting that can be modified for my purposes? Like a TOS etc?
normally you can use the company you are buying the webhosting from TOS

If you resell an account to someone and they host something 'inappropriate', ranging from copyright violations to downright illegal stuff - are you liable? In any way? (elaborate greatly here if you can). . .
Obviously, if I catch them, I'd terminate thier account n stuff . . .
You probably will catch it faster than any gov't agency will, specially on a small site. but you could be liable due to the fact you arent a legal company i am assuming

Are you liable in any way personally if your upstream provider has problems and your customers feel they had an economic impact due to the outage (probably covered under the TOS, but just want to make sure)
they have economic impact = you have economic impact = you talk with your provider

Anyone know a good place online or a some free content that would explain all the various small biz deductions I could make/take. . .
search your states website

Finally, is there any domain reseller services? You know like godaddy, only where you can sell the domain yourself in your own branded service?
yes there is, i cant think of it right now. but you need to put a significant downpayment on the domain names. contact devioustrap as he has an account and might be willing to sell to you until you get large enough.

my responces are in bold.

MIKE

 

[episodic]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
If you start gettting a number of accounts, and at a later time you want to change to a new reselling account with a different company, does this mean all of your customer's sites will go down for a time?

No, just let the two hosts overlap for a few days of hosting. What I mean is, you begin with host A and move to host B. First, copy all files of host A to host B, then change DNS records and leave both host A and host B running. Once switch is completed, no one will notice.

That is all assuming you do this with static pages

So ppl using php, mysql, etc - will notice a big problem eh?

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: episodic

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
If you start gettting a number of accounts, and at a later time you want to change to a new reselling account with a different company, does this mean all of your customer's sites will go down for a time?

No, just let the two hosts overlap for a few days of hosting. What I mean is, you begin with host A and move to host B. First, copy all files of host A to host B, then change DNS records and leave both host A and host B running. Once switch is completed, no one will notice.

That is all assuming you do this with static pages

So ppl using php, mysql, etc - will notice a big problem eh?

Yes. Not necessarily a big problem, but they'll definitely notice.

Rob

 

[episodic]

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1

Originally posted by: episodic
Rossman answered alot of questions for me. . . - got a few more I was thinking of.


If you start gettting a number of accounts, and at a later time you want to change to a new reselling account with a different company, does this mean all of your customer's sites will go down for a time?
Probably not, you can purchase the other account, have them transferred, and then shut down the previous account after the DNS has propagated


In a local market, will using paypal/accepting cash, checks, etc. initially be to your detriment greatly?
depends

Does anyone know of or have sample contracts for webhosting that can be modified for my purposes? Like a TOS etc?
normally you can use the company you are buying the webhosting from TOS

If you resell an account to someone and they host something 'inappropriate', ranging from copyright violations to downright illegal stuff - are you liable? In any way? (elaborate greatly here if you can). . .
Obviously, if I catch them, I'd terminate thier account n stuff . . .
You probably will catch it faster than any gov't agency will, specially on a small site. but you could be liable due to the fact you arent a legal company i am assuming

Are you liable in any way personally if your upstream provider has problems and your customers feel they had an economic impact due to the outage (probably covered under the TOS, but just want to make sure)
they have economic impact = you have economic impact = you talk with your provider

Anyone know a good place online or a some free content that would explain all the various small biz deductions I could make/take. . .
search your states website

Finally, is there any domain reseller services? You know like godaddy, only where you can sell the domain yourself in your own branded service?
yes there is, i cant think of it right now. but you need to put a significant downpayment on the domain names. contact devioustrap as he has an account and might be willing to sell to you until you get large enough.

my responces are in bold.

MIKE

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

BTW, I am trying to understand and get all my ducks in a row, so I would be a 'legal' company. I'm investigating an LLC for the idea now. I want to open the business legally, but at the lowest possible cost to me if that makes sense. Don't want to waste 500$ if 300$ will do for instance Especially since this will be part time for quite a while. . .

This place has been most helpful so far in that endeavor. . .

 

[dartworth]

Here is some info for you.

Here are some good places to learn about small business things,

http://www.businessnation.com/index.html
http://www.small-business-forum.com/
http://www.allbusiness.com/articles/SAB_articles.asp
http://www.startups.co.uk/default.aspx?popup=false
http://www.smallbusinessbc.ca/websites/homebase.php


WebHostingTalk is a great place for info

http://www.webhostingtalk.com

Start a web hosting business <--Good link


Check out Hosting Life.


If you start picking up clients...trust me, it is more than part time if you want to keep them your clients.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: episodic

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
If you start gettting a number of accounts, and at a later time you want to change to a new reselling account with a different company, does this mean all of your customer's sites will go down for a time?

No, just let the two hosts overlap for a few days of hosting. What I mean is, you begin with host A and move to host B. First, copy all files of host A to host B, then change DNS records and leave both host A and host B running. Once switch is completed, no one will notice.

That is all assuming you do this with static pages

So ppl using php, mysql, etc - will notice a big problem eh?

Well, if you keep it simple like I plan to, it will be only html pages

I'm not wasting time on all that stuff just for local shops, but if some business is willing to pay enough where it'd be worth it, sure, I'll do it since more money is usually good

 

[episodic]

If you start picking up clients...trust me, it is more than part time if you want to keep them your clients.

Great post! :beer:

Care to elaborate on time requirements?

 

[RossMAN]

If you start gettting a number of accounts, and at a later time you want to change to a new reselling account with a different company, does this mean all of your customer's sites will go down for a time?

No one likes downtime. Most quality web hosts will offer to edit the DNS zones and transfer your existing clients sites, email and MySQL databases for free or for a fee with minimal downtime. This is assuming you're using the same control panel (cPanel being the most popular). When I transferred some web hosting clients to Idologic.com they transferred all my sites, emails and MySQL databases for free and quickly. Downtime was around 10 minutes, not hours or days.

In a local market, will using paypal/accepting cash, checks, etc. initially be to your detriment greatly?

If the price and service are there I think your clients won't mind but they can pay via credit card through Paypal. It is highly recommended that you open an account with Paysystems.com ASAP this will enable you to accept credit cards and eChecks online. $50 setup fee and no monthly fees (other than their fees from every transaction). Paysystems.com pays you every Friday via ACH direct deposit to your bank's account.

Does anyone know of or have sample contracts for webhosting that can be modified for my purposes? Like a TOS etc?

Most reseller web hosts will allow you to "borrow" and edit their TOS/AUP as long as you remain a customer.

If you resell an account to someone and they host something 'inappropriate', ranging from copyright violations to downright illegal stuff - are you liable? In any way? (elaborate greatly here if you can). . .
Obviously, if I catch them, I'd terminate thier account n stuff . . .

My reseller web host(s) take care of this for me. They inform me, then I inform my client that their site has been taken offline. They have 24 hours to recover their data then the account is deleted.

Anyone know a good place online or a some free content that would explain all the various small biz deductions I could make/take. . .

I would recommend looking into LLC

Finally, is there any domain reseller services? You know like godaddy, only where you can sell the domain yourself in your own branded service?

Excellent question. You can easily purchase domains for $6.95/yr (with an investment) and charge your clients $14.95/yr (most web hosts do this) with your own domain resellers account. Here's a list of domain resellers zoltan comes highly recommended and knows his stuff.

Good luck - it isn't easy but after the first dozen customers it gets easier and you should always look for ways to improve improve improve

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: episodic

If you start picking up clients...trust me, it is more than part time if you want to keep them your clients.

Great post! :beer:

Care to elaborate on time requirements?

That depends on a few factors. First, will you be designing the pages and maintaining the sites or will you just be providing hosting?

If all you do is provide hosting, then you will spend more time getting customers and making sure payments come in on time. That is assuming, you keep support requests down by only allowing basic html pages

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga

Originally posted by: episodic

If you start picking up clients...trust me, it is more than part time if you want to keep them your clients.

Great post! :beer:

Care to elaborate on time requirements?

That depends on a few factors. First, will you be designing the pages and maintaining the sites or will you just be providing hosting?

If all you do is provide hosting, then you will spend more time getting customers and making sure payments come in on time. That is assuming, you keep support requests down by only allowing basic html pages

AgaBooga makes two good points.

1) The average client thinks (assumes) web hosting and web design go hand in hand. I dunno about you but I SUCK at web design. Just keep this in mind and make it clear that you only offer web hosting. Perhaps you could refer web design clients to design firms for a small referral fee?

2) To minimize support requests you may consider only allowing static HTML sites for your low end clients. So they would only get access to FTP and a cPanel E-Mail only skin. This is important because they won't have access to PHP/MySQL to screw it up which means less support for you to provide.

 

[episodic]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga

Originally posted by: episodic

If you start picking up clients...trust me, it is more than part time if you want to keep them your clients.

Great post! :beer:

Care to elaborate on time requirements?

That depends on a few factors. First, will you be designing the pages and maintaining the sites or will you just be providing hosting?

If all you do is provide hosting, then you will spend more time getting customers and making sure payments come in on time. That is assuming, you keep support requests down by only allowing basic html pages

That is something I need more elaboration on. I don't want to offer 'crippled hosting' by only allowing static pages - but will I have to support thier scripts? Will a simple - "We just provide the hosting, your scripts are your problem (toned down for being nice to the customer) work?"

I don't want to get into script support or 'html' questions, etc. I'd be happy to explain the process of creating their site and all, but I don't want to hold thier hand.

Do other hosts 'hold hands?'

Whats your take on this?

 

[amdskip]

Wow, nice thread here. I've gotta check some of these links out.

 

[Fiveohhh]

Originally posted by: episodic

Originally posted by: AgaBooga

Originally posted by: episodic

If you start picking up clients...trust me, it is more than part time if you want to keep them your clients.

Great post! :beer:

Care to elaborate on time requirements?

That depends on a few factors. First, will you be designing the pages and maintaining the sites or will you just be providing hosting?

If all you do is provide hosting, then you will spend more time getting customers and making sure payments come in on time. That is assuming, you keep support requests down by only allowing basic html pages

That is something I need more elaboration on. I don't want to offer 'crippled hosting' by only allowing static pages - but will I have to support thier scripts? Will a simple - "We just provide the hosting, your scripts are your problem (toned down for being nice to the customer) work?"

I don't want to get into script support or 'html' questions, etc. I'd be happy to explain the process of creating their site and all, but I don't want to hold thier hand.

Do other hosts 'hold hands?'

Whats your take on this?

If they want someone to hold their hand, they're going to have to pay a premium in prices. I offer my clients just hosting, and I teamed up with a designer that does the sites. Its harder to find clients if all you do is hosting, since most designers offer hosting or recommend a certain place for them to have their site hosted at. I'll provide support if its something server related, and maybe some other minor questions, but I'm not going to hold there hand to figure out how to setup a site.

 

[episodic]

Since site design could obviously be handled 'at a distance' are there any repuatble folks here at anandtech that if I get this thing going, and if I get a request for site design, that I could throw the bone to and not make me look bad? Keeping in mind my market as well - a southern state. In other words you might not be able to charge California prices . . .

 

[Fiveohhh]

Originally posted by: episodic
Since site design could obviously be handled 'at a distance' are there any repuatble folks here at anandtech that if I get this thing going, and if I get a request for site design, that I could throw the bone to and not make me look bad? Keeping in mind my market as well - a southern state. In other words you might not be able to charge California prices . . .

If they want generic stuff have them buy a template from template monster and just edit the text to fit them. Good way to make a few extra bucks. Otherwise, you can find some cheap and good (normally not both)designers at webhostingtalk.com

 

[dartworth]

Originally posted by: episodic
Since site design could obviously be handled 'at a distance' are there any repuatble folks here at anandtech that if I get this thing going, and if I get a request for site design, that I could throw the bone to and not make me look bad? Keeping in mind my market as well - a southern state. In other words you might not be able to charge California prices . . .

Check the forums over at webhostingtalk.com...

I have a few people doing design for me right now. We have a whole team of designers behind us