Such third party companies were given incentives to “resell” web hosting services with advanced technical support, private labeling and volume discounts. This helped in making the primary web host completely transparent to the reseller’s customers. Basically, more the number of customers that a hosting reseller can deliver to the web host, greater will be the discount earned by the reseller and more will be the money they can make.
In fact, a large number of today’s primary web hosting companies actually began as web hosting resellers and later bought their own servers and added staff by expanding and reinvesting their profits.
You will come across thousands of resellers who operate under their own brand names but prefer that their web hosting customers do not come to know that they are actually reselling another company’s hosting services. Does that affect your online business?
The answer is Yes and No.
Sometimes, resellers may be able to offer more attention and personalized service to their customers because they don’t have as many customers to deal with as a full-fledged web hosting company. Moreover, they can offer value-added benefits to their customers by including other services in their web hosting packages, like:
- Search engine optimization
- Database management
- Web design
- New applications
Unlike other intermediaries, the resellers may offer hosting packages at the same or even lower price than originally provided by the web hosting company. This will also depend on the volume discount they receive and the margin they need.
However, you must also understand that all web hosting resellers may not be trustworthy and reliable, even if their primary source or web hosting company is an established, reputable entity. If a reseller is unable to pay or chooses not to pay their hosting bills, they can be shutdown by the primary web hosting company without any warning to the customers like you. Since your hosting contract is with the reseller, you may not even get any recourse to the primary web hosting company.
As resellers don’t have any investment in equipment and infrastructure, it is very easy for them to get out of business at any time. They can come up with another name and get associated with another brand, leaving you stranded with a worthless web hosting package.
If you want to avoid such a situation, it will be a good idea to ask the reseller about their company, experience and the primary web hosting company. A reputable reseller will be honest and offer value to its customers through their web hosting packages. If the reseller doesn’t want you to know that they are not the original host, you will find it difficult to confirm about their operations. You could ask to visit their data center and enquire about their services from past customers and in hosting forums.
In short, you need to be inquisitive and investigate about the reseller thoroughly before choosing to host your website with them. Whether it is a reseller or not, your primary concern should be to get quality service for your website and reliable support at all times.
