question about a reseller host I found

[catfish]

Hi everyone. I'm new here...glad I found this board...seems really good.

Anyway, I'm interested in a reseller program, as I already build websites for clients. I've done some research and found a host that seems to have everything I need and want, with good prices at: http://www.successfulhosting.com

A couple of questions/concerns...

For me to sign up as a reseller, it will cost me $21 a month for my own site, and then about half that cost to my clients (i.e. $10 for each site, monthly) when I sign them up. The site offers pretty much everything I need and want (listed below)

Free Set Up
Monthly Fee $20.79*
30 Day satisfaction Guarantee
Control Panel (Demo)
Direct OnNet Connection
99.9% Uptime Guarantee
Email Accounts Unlimited
True Domain Name
Storage 300 MB
Hits Unlimited
Transfer 6000 MB
File Manager
Mailing List Software
Archive Manager
Online Site Creation Tool
Internal Search Engine
Submit to Major Search Engines
Dedicated IP Address
Password Protected Directories
FrontPage 2000,99 & 98
Site Statistics
Chat Room
24/7 Server Monitoring
Custom Error Pages
Spam Filters
Access Raw Logs
File Manager
Unlimited Auto Responders
Unlimited Email Aliases
CGI Access
PHP
SSI
SSL
MySQL
SSH
FTP Access
Telnet/Commandline Access
Anonymous FTP
On-line Billing
Real Audio/Video
Shopping Cart Details
Virtual Nameservers (Choose the "Reseller Plus" plan if you'd like your own name servers.) $5/mo.
Daily Backups
Java Servlet Manager
Web Mail
Shared SSL Certificate

Is this a decent offer? It seems good to me, but figured I'd ask. I'm completely new to reselling, but want to offer it when building sites to clients.

Also, my main concern at this point is, the limited monthly transfer rate of 6000 MB's. One of my sites (http://www.realpolice.net) averages around 20,000 to 30,000 hits a month, but is mostly text. For my site, is this limit ok? I also want to add another site to this server which doesn't get near as many hits.

Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks again. :)

[akashik]

Their offer seems perfectly reasonable and quite common. In other words, they aren't trying to over change, or giving away the farm, offering underpriced products.. Solid business model.

A quick look at their control panel (and a traceroute) seems to put them at Alabanza, who both Martie and myself use and have no complaints. They provide a solid base of operation (which looks a lot more solid in light of a few other Network Operation Center screwups lately :) )

50% profit on a reseller account is very good, some of the larger places like OLM and a few others only have 20-30% which turns into very little at all.

The 6 gig transfer should do you for a mostly text site even with those figures for hits. I'd be far more worried if they DIDN'T set a limit on transfer, as that always leads to your upstream disappearing into the night leaving you holding the baby - or in this business, a few hundred babies waving their lawyers at you :D.

Greg Moore

[catfish]

Just wanted to say thanks akashik for the help. I've signed up with them and so far so good. Thanks again. :)

[akashik]

catfish,

My pleasure. Don't forget to come back in a few months and let us all know how it's going with them.

Greg Moore

[indigocactus]

Here's another one that offers an attractive option for Resellers.

http://www.cihost.com

They are located in the U.S. I spoke to them on the Phone about Hosting and Reselling. Reseller options are very good.

[akashik]

CiHost have created quite a large amount of discussion on various forums. While a percentage of people find their services up to their needs, many others find problems regarding their levels of support and 'quirks' in their billing practices (over charging, and continued billing after they've left).

Naturally your milage may vary regarding how you find them, but my personal opinion would give me pause doing business with them. Of the many hosts available that provide reselling options CiHost isn't one I would put into my top 10 list.

They are a very big outfit, and can afford some good deals, but that same size has left some people feeling they aren't getting attended to in a timely manner, or having their problems recified in a decent way.

Greg Moore

[toneatlas]

Hey cat fish. I would go with a host that suits your needs. my experience in this forum has led me to believe that a lot of the host's here are jealous of another host's success.
I have been attacked and criticized because I use a service that someone doesnt like. I belive that stories from someone that has never used a company's service has no play in making your decision.

[akashik]

Very true and a point well taken. You shouldn't rely on an opinion that isn't based on personal experience. To that end here's a few links for catfish to browse from people who do have personal experience with CI-Host.

Greg Moore


http://danjocreations.com/internet_business/hosting_choices/cihost.htm

http://www.bizwax.net/Steamed/Reviews/ci.shtml

http://www.geocities.com/hostingmonitor/CIHost/

http://www.worldwidewait.com/cihost.html

http://www.signal13.com/ghm/article.asp?aid=34

http://www.epinions.com/inet-Web_Hosting-All-C_I_Host/tk_~BC.1.5

http://www.ipa.net/~drmlink/news.htm

http://www.webfind.net/movies/r/rumble_in_the_bronx.html

http://www.door-county.net/dcn/pages/cihost.htm

[indigocactus]

Holy Cow ! Thanks Greg ! Pretty hard to argue with the facts. I read through most of the messages and it sounds to me like CIHOST is pretty messed up. I recognize most of the issues raised as being real concerns. In this day and age there is really no excuse for downtime. Fake IP's and the like are enough to make anyone run away. I don't have time to monkey around with a WebHost who can't keep the facts straight, and chooses not to reply to Email. I have been with OLM for some time and I would probably stay, but their Reseller agreement is not that good. OLM also lacks Marketing savy. When the Site was projected to go over by 1.4 GB for the Month of June, OLM threatened to disable the Site if we did not "reduce Traffic". As a result, I upgraded the Account and now that Summer is here we are well below our alotted Bandwidth. We probably could have waited. The suggestion that we should "reduce Traffic" is just plain silly coming from a Webhost. What it boils down is now I'm paying for what I don't really need and I feel like OLM is out of touch. Sad part is OLM does deliver in Terms of 99.9% uptime and good Tech support. To be fair OLM did Reply to an Email I sent regarding my concerns over suggesting that we reduce Traffic. I simply stated that it has the effect of alienating Customers when you threaten to shut down Sites, based on projected usage and suggest reudcing Traffic as a solution . They did concede that maybe they should consider the wording on the Notice of Bandwidth Overuse (Projected). Fair enough !

Many Thanks to the people resonsible for this Forum. I wish I had found it sooner !

[bteeter]

Originally posted by indigocactus
Here's another one that offers an attractive option for Resellers.

http://www.cihost.com

They are located in the U.S. I spoke to them on the Phone about Hosting and Reselling. Reseller options are very good.

CIHost has quite a lot of bad press on a lot of forums. I would be careful before I would work with them. As others have said, there have a ton of customers and don't have the ability to provide individualized support for their customers.

Personally, I have no experience with them, but most of what I've read is not good.

Take care,

Brian

[LinkStream]

It's a shame about your sig, Brian. Maybe the mods can fix that for you?

[toneatlas]

Like I said before people love to quote the bad points. Its real easy to dig up negative posts about a host. but little is to be said about the good things in a host. And to go through all the trouble to find something bad. wow you must have a lot of time on your hands. 10 or even a hundred dis satisfied customers out of 100,000 hmm whats that a 1 percent population of unhappy customers? no host is going to make every last customer happy. And the day that one does please let me know.

[indigocactus]

People do tend to focus on the Negative but in the case of CIHOST they seem to all be saying the same thing. Over Billing, screwed up accounts and the biggest no- no of all , not replying to Email. Even if it is 1%, I won't risk falling into that catagory.

[bteeter]

Originally posted by LinkStream
It's a shame about your sig, Brian. Maybe the mods can fix that for you?

Yeah, no kidding. Not only does it filter out my company name and my URL, but my Hometown too! I've already sent them a note about it. We will see what happens...

Take care,

Brian

[Jaiem]

There is no limit of places on and off the web one can go to file a complaint against a company. Few places to file a compliment.

Even worse, many of these places don't bother to try to investigate the complaint. They just file it for public display. And many don't have the facility for the company to respond to the complaint.

To make matters even worse, many keep the complantiffs info a secret claiming "privacy" so who really knows who's making the complaint!! I would not put it past a competitor to file false complaints against a rival company. (people have done much worse to put someone out of business)

[akashik]

Brian,

Tommy's in charge of the nasty word list so with luck he'll see your message and look into it. Personally I think ass <meaning the back of your front, isn't that bad a word so I don't see it should prove too much of an ask. The forum itself tends to be a little gung-ho in what it chooses to censor, when words are just a part of a larger word like your domain name for example.

Greg Moore

[poorapagal]

hmm just checked out successfulhosting.com's plans that look very well for a reseller but some things aren't even showing on the site..


What's this "charts" supposed to be on the page below?

Correct URL
http://www.successfulhosting.com/carts.php

They have the url on their site as
http://www.successfulhosting.com/charts.php

On the most important page, RESELLERS

Their link to show WHAT PLANS WE CAN SELL is a 404 error
repeated TWICE

Just wondering if catfish has had any problems with them as far as other important issues of support are concerned , as i hope that when i get in touch with their support team i don't get a "404" saying NO techs found:)

[ny777]

Originally posted by indigocactus
Here's another one that offers an attractive option for Resellers.

http://www.cihost.com

They are located in the U.S. I spoke to them on the Phone about Hosting and Reselling. Reseller options are very good.

Whatever you do - STAY AWAY for CI Host - or you may be sued as they do not keep their promises and resellers will end up paying for it.

[mdit]

post removed due to self promoting
- moderator