A few questions from a private label n00b

[justinmdc]

I'm new to the idea of private label hosting & I am looking for a few things, ideally... let me know if any if this is available via host nexus, OR if not, does ANYBODY offer these services? i like what ive seen at host nexus, so i hope they do offer what im looking for.

What i would like...
Ability for customers to come to my website, view my plans & details, pick & purchase a domain & plan, pick their log-in & password to gain access to their control panel... then gain access to their control panel & have the freedom to begin posting to the site ALL WITHOUT MY HAVING TO INTERFERE OR APPROVE ANYTHING DURING THE PROCESS.

also, i havent seen this described in detail enough to see if anybody offers it...

but I would like, ideally, to have my customers be able to call a 800 number OR talk to somebody via Live Chat at the actual hosting company, if they have any problems & make changes to their account of necessary. I think i saw that network solutions offered handling Customer service for their resellers... is that normal? what are my options?

and my last 2 questions
how do people typically handle billing the customer

typically, how does the private label host handle paying the actual hosting company?

thank you in advance.

[RobbieLePommie]

No - you need to "interfere" at HostNexus. I don't know of any hosting company where you can set yourself up as a reseller and operate like that. There may be, but I don;t know of any.

Where you need to intervene is to add the domain and the limits into Plesk. Plus to close accounts when you don't get paid. If you got your own server, then you could write a script to update the Plesk database and vhosts.conf etc, but that's a bit of work. Theoretically it's easy (it's a MySQL database and a few flat files) but you'd need to keep up with all the updates.

In my experience, Network Solutions don't even support their own clients properly - I've not heard of them offering telephone support for clients of resellers. Host Nexus don't, but there is the forum, a server monitor (which you can link into your own site through and XML feed) and mailing lists that you can just unbrand, and resend.

Billing - big issue. It's a manual, pain in the ass thing. There are some software packages that can help, but I've not used any.

You pay the hosting company (if HostNexus) by monthly or annual subscription through PayPal or WorldPay. That's the easy bit

Start small, unless you have lots of clients waiting for you. You'll get into a rythmn and can go from there.

[lharvey]

Last two questions.

I do my billing directly to the customers on an annual basis.

I keep a spread sheet that has every month in it and all the domains that expire that month and what server they are on.

On the first of the month prior to their hosting expiring, I send them an invoice in PDF format generated in QuickBook Pro. In other words.

If your hosting expires May 5th, On April 1 they get an e-mail invoice. When I set up the domain in plesk I set the limit to expire on May 5th what ever year. Plesk will then automatically disable the account if I do not go in and change the limit.

In my QB I have "to do" notes that pop up on the first of every month with all the domains that are expiring or other monthly/yearly things.

As far as paying HN, that's easy. It is set up to automatically wack my credit card for the right amount for each server I have a plan on. I'ts usually the same day of the month and seems to be really steady that way.

As you can see, I've been with HN for a long time, in computer years, and don't plan on leaving soon.

Lee

[justinmdc]

Where you need to intervene is to add the domain and the limits into Plesk. Plus to close accounts when you don't get paid. If you got your own server, then you could write a script to update the Plesk database and vhosts.conf etc, but that's a bit of work. Theoretically it's easy (it's a MySQL database and a few flat files) but you'd need to keep up with all the updates.

Would you recommend somebody with limited coding ability take on this task? The reason I was hoping for an highly automated system was due to my lack of coding abilities. I'm talking. HTML, some css, some php, some xml... and thats it.

--------

Also, this goes to both of the replies I've got about Billing. Ive never paid for hosting that wasn't automated so i frankly dont know how it works. Lets say, in the process of purchasing hosting... you have your customer looking through the list of hosting options on your website, and they decide what they like! so then they pay for it? and then what... you send them a message saying you will contact them within 24 hours with their log-in info?

like I said, 100% unfamiliar with un-automated purchases of hosting.

-----

when you guys offer hosting to your customers... do you offer tiered sizes? for example:
BASIC PLAN = 10gb of storage, 150gb of monthly transfer, 100 emails... and
MIDDLE OF THE ROAD PLAN = 20 gb storage, 250 gb monthly transfer,
GOLD PLAN = 100 GB storage, 750 gb transfer, etc. etc.

the reason I ask this is.... if i offered a few tiers for my customers to choose from, would i just set up those exact amounts via plesk, and then theyre not allowed to go over without paying for the next tier up.

-------

it seems like this is going to involve a solid amount of baby sitting to get into some sort of grove. but have you guys noticed that once you have gotten a routine down, that its pretty easy to handle? what do you offer for customer support? meaning.. what kind of problems come up as FAQ or frequent problems you have to manage? i would like to eventually have the routine down, if at all possible, so that eventually I can teach other people how to handle each section of the duties, and just oversee the project to focus on other things. being people who are private label vets... is this plausible?

i REALLY appreciate the feedback so far, im starting to see a project begin to form in my head. lets hope this can work out because for some reason i really enjoy getting people on the web. haha

thanks again!

[lharvey]

I don't do any setups via the web.

Potential customers call me on the 800 Number..

I set the account up while I have them on the phone and give them their login info and also follow up with an e-mail

It takes me about 5 minutes to do the whole tracking thing.

Lee

[lharvey]

justinmdc

I just sent you a PM

Lee

[Mike]

Hello justinmdc,

Welcome to the HostNexus community!

Most everyone has answered your questions extremely well, so I will just add a few comments.

The biggest reason most hosts do not do auto setups is for security reasons. Auto setups do not permit you to first review the order and review the method of payment. If you allow auto setups, a hacker can do immeasurable harm to your account (and our server) before you get to it. Also, you will want to make certain the new user passes all of your own payment security checks. So, as you can see, auto setups are a very bad thing.

We sell you a total block of disk space, traffic per month, number of databases, number of domains and so on. You determine what you want your 'plans' to be. When you sell a plan, whatever the limits for it are, are deducted from your totals that you purchased from us. As you sell more and more and need more space or whatever from us, you can purchase them seperately, or upgrade your account. This allows you to start small and grow your business with a small outlay.

As for coding your site. I would suggest using something like FrontPage. Applications like that allow you to create your site without any knowledge of HTML, etc. If you wish to pay someone to code your site, please email me at sales@hostnexus.com to my attention.

I hope this helps and look forward to seeing you here as a client!