Choosing From Different Types of Reseller Hosting

Web hosting is an obvious necessity for ever single type of website. Most people will choose reseller hosting when seeking out space for their very first website. But is reseller hosting the right choice for you? Let's take a bit of a closer look to see how it all works.

Reseller Hosting in a Nutshell

This type of hosting would best be defined as hosting that is purchased in big chunks for a larger hosting company, and then resold in smaller pieces to website owners and individual users. This can happen in a few different ways. Sometimes a reseller will sell bandwidth and space on a rented dedicated server. Other times, the reseller will obtain permission to sell from a shared server instead. The latter method is the less expensive of the two, and is responsible for most of the lowest priced hosting you will see advertised on the Web.

What is a Reseller?

This can be a little tough to define, as there are many ways for a reseller to operate. Some resellers simply act as a marketing arm for a larger hosting company. Once the reseller has sold the website space, the customer is turned over to the larger company for maintenance and sometime customer service as well. Other resellers operate more independently by selling space purchased from the larger host, and follows up by providing maintenance, support, and all other customer functions themselves.

Which is the Preferred Setup?

A reseller who acts more as a marketing arm will often offer the lowest prices available online. The flip side is that they often don't know the technical aspects of their hosting, and you are dependent on the larger host, who may or may not give the reseller's customer the same level of customer service. The reseller who provides his own maintenance and customer service has more at stake, and is often the preferred choice in vendors.

This can be a vital question to ask when researching reseller hosting companies. Keep it in mind as you make your selection.