Hosting reselling: How to become a cloud service provider for your customers

Hosting reselling is a way of reselling cloud hosting when a reseller rents a server from a cloud provider to host their clients' web projects on a commercial basis. The service is useful for users who want to offer customers a comprehensive solution and earn from hosting without large investments in their own IT infrastructure. In the article, we provide more information about the features of the option, as well as share the practical experience of a reseller, which will help you learn about the advantages and disadvantages of the service.

Reselling allows a user to become a cloud service provider, resell hosting services from the cloud provider to their customers under their own brand and at a price they set themselves. 

An important aspect is the separation of the areas of responsibility of the cloud provider and the reseller. Ensuring the stable operation of the server and solving all possible troubles related to the operation of the data center – these tasks are on the side of the cloud provider. The reseller is directly responsible for communication with their customers, independent processing of their requests and provision of technical assistance within the limits of their powers.

As for the capabilities of reseller accounts, they are limited to those functions that are directly needed for working with site files, DNS records, databases, and mail servers running on hosting. That is, the capabilities of the reseller are almost the same as those of any other hosting user. Additionally, resellers can create new user accounts and apply restrictions in the form of service packages (by the number of sites, disk GB traffic, etc.). Resellers can also access the control panel under these user accounts. Such a function is useful when users have difficulties and need help.

Other operations with server administration or advanced settings of remote machine services are the responsibility of the cloud provider.

The reselling option can be utilized by professionals in any field, although it is most commonly beneficial for website and web application developers. The partner Kyrylo Kovalenko, founder of the Planet-IT company, who has been a reseller of Tucha cloud hosting for over 7 years, shared his experience with us. The partner's company specializes in IT outsourcing: from computer maintenance and electronics repair, to solving programming tasks and developing mobile applications. 

According to Kyrylo's experience, clients who use his services as a reseller belong to different spheres. The clientele includes architects, agricultural enterprises, clothing manufacturers, insurance companies, medical clinics, psychological centers, etc. Also, there are online stores that sell television equipment and clothes. The possibility of providing clients with hosting directly from Planet-IT allows the partner to immediately offer a complex of services — site development and hosting in the cloud. At the same time, customers receive a ready-made solution, where the same company is responsible for the creation of web projects and their further operation. 

It is convenient for the customer when everything is in one place and works perfectly. After all, we always choose the best option for the customer

Kyrylo Kovalenko, Planet-IT

One of the main functions of reselling is obtaining financial profit through selling services and the independent setting of prices. With no significant initial investment in IT equipment, you can quickly start providing services on your behalf and easily scale up resources as needed.

The ability to supplement own services and products with cloud hosting allows the reseller to offer a comprehensive solution, such as creating a web project and immediately placing it on the reliable cloud servers. Thus, reselling helps to expand the reseller's business opportunities, as it allows you to offer customers another service – web project hosting in the cloud. 

In addition, if the choice of a cloud provider is made responsibly, the reseller receives quality technical support for their customers who are on reselling. On the example of our partner, you can see the advantages that come with the well-considered choice of the cloud service provider. “If customers have any questions about hosting, the technical support specialists at Tucha are always ready to answer and help the customer. This is a significant advantage that simplifies my work as a reseller,” concludes Kyrylo Kovalenko.

Along with the opportunities that hosting reselling provides to users, the solution also has drawbacks and risks that you should be aware of before starting. If the choice of a cloud provider is not well-considered, the data of customers that are on reselling can be lost, fall into the hands of third parties or become inaccessible. Issues in the supplier's operation will fully affect the quality of service received by the reseller's clients. So, this again proves the following: the choice of a cloud provider should be well-considered.

At the same time, hosting reselling also requires the reseller to have an understanding of many technical aspects and the appropriate experience to solve customer problems. Therefore, providing high-quality and prompt technical support requires a lot of time and effort from the reseller. If customer requests are not given due attention, they may soon choose other providers due to the high competition in this field.

In addition, financial obligations to the cloud provider and related risks are on the reseller. For instance, if a reselling customer fails to pay for services in a timely manner, it is the reseller's responsibility to resolve the issue directly with the customer. However, the reseller is still responsible for paying the provider for the use of the server.

If you do decide to become a reseller, first of all you need to choose a reliable cloud provider that allows users to become hosting resellers. Particular attention should be paid to the reliability of data centers where the provider's facilities are located, and the quality of technical support. Also, the provider's server must have a reselling function, the necessary software must be installed, and a package with a hosting control panel must be configured. 

So, after choosing the cloud provider and renting hosting from them with the appropriate option, the reseller creates separate accounts for the customers to whom he will provide services. In the future, clients place their web projects or applications in the cloud and pay for the use of hosting at regular intervals (daily, monthly or annually). In turn, the reseller pays for the cloud hosting directly to the provider.

Reselling is a convenient solution for those users who want to offer their customers a comprehensive service based on their own services and earn by reselling cloud hosting.

If you want to become a reseller or have additional questions about the option based on the TuchaHosting service, call us at +380 44 583-5-583 or write to us at sales@tucha.ua. We are always happy to help!