johntabita - 2:03 pm on Sep 30, 2005 (gmt 0)

The thing with reseller hosting is that you are ultimately responsible for your users technical support. While reseller hosting is inexpensive (our accounts start at only $24.95 per month - 3000mb space - unlimited domains - unlimited databases - plesk control panels)It can still be difficult to manage if you dont want to provide the support.

It really depends on your client base. All of my clients are non-technical, meaning that they don't mess with their website at all. (None of them have ever requested an FTP account.) One of them uses an Exchange server, so they run into email problems every so often, but that's when I utilize my reseller's tech support for answers. Aside from that, the most "technical" help I have to provide is occassionally setting up a new email account or retrieving a password.

Even if you have to pay a little more money, I highly recommend avoiding resellers who provide "email only" tech support. Also, Windows resellers are a lot more expensive than Unix/Linux.

One advantage to being the front line is my clients know they don't have to deal with tech support themselves, that they can take a minute or so to call me, rather than spend twenty on hold. This is why you can charge more for hosting.

It's not a huge profit, but the money I make on hosting covers not only my reseller cost, but all of my other utilities as well (phone, fax, internet). So if I have a slow month, I know my fixed costs are covered.