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You offer web hosting services. Or web design services.
Or both. When your clients need domain names for their
websites, do you want to send them to another site,
possibly to a competitor, to register one?
Of course not. That's part of why domain name registration
is a popular service to offer. Reselling domain names
provides an additional service to attract and keep clients
as well as another source of recurring revenue. You
can offer domain name registrations on their own or
bundled with other services you provide.
Features of domain name reseller programs
When you are a domain name reseller, your clients register
domain names using the service accessed through your
domain name reseller account. The domain name company
bills you, and you bill your clients. Or possibly the
domain company handles the billing.
You decide on the retail pricing, and you market your
services. The wholesale prices you pay before you add
your markup depend on your sales volume and on the domain
name reseller program you choose.
All of the domain name reseller companies compared
in this article offer a reseller API (Application Programming
Interface), which enables you to use the features provided
with the domain reseller program. When your clients
register domain names or update records at your site,
the API communicates with the domain name reseller program
system. With an API at your website, you keep the appearance
and branding of your site when you resell domain names.
Two of the domain name companies compared here offer
website creation tools for resellers, which means that
you can be in the business of reselling domain names
within minutes of having your account set up.
Many domain name reseller programs require the domain
name reseller to pay and regularly top up a deposit
for domain names. By doing this, the domain name reseller
is paying for the domains in advance while making a
profit from them when they're registered.
Domain name companies compared
The starting prices listed are the highest current
wholesale prices for .com domains. Some other extensions
may be higher, and the prices typically decrease with
volume pricing.
See the company websites for more details about what
each domain name reseller program offers.
BulkRegister
BulkRegister's Domain Pilot tool allows domain name
resellers to provide their clients with a unique URL
and access code to make changes to the Whois data for
their domains. Resellers can control which of the fields
to provide their clients with access to. Registration
can be automated or manual.
Resellers become BulkRegister members and are invited
to take part in discussions about product ideas, upgrades,
and updates. A $50 Overture advertising credit comes
with the first year of membership.
- Setup fee: No
- Annual fee: $99
- Deposit required: No
- Starting wholesale pricing for .com domains: $12
- Website creation tool for resellers: No
- SSL certificate: Yes
eNom
If you resell domain names through eNom, you choose
between two eNom tools:
- Automated Registration Software (API), which allows
your clients to register and manage their domains through
your site
- PDQ, a site that you customize and eNom manages —
they handle the billing, and you earn commissions
As an eNom domain name reseller, you can also offer
your clients web hosting, web monitoring, SSL certificates,
and other eNom products as a reseller.
- Setup fee: No
- Annual fee: $99 if you use the PDQ website tool
- Deposit required: Starts at $199 for 199 eNom points
- Starting wholesale pricing for .com domains: $9.95
- Website creation tool for resellers: Yes
- SSL certificate: No
Tucows
A website builder, blogware, SSL certificates, and
email services are among the services you can resell
as well as domain names.
- Setup fee: $95
- Annual fee: No
- Deposit required: No minimum payment, but they recommend
prepaying one month of credit in advance
- Starting wholesale pricing for .com domains: $9.85
- Website creation tool for resellers: No
- SSL certificate: No
Wild West Domains
Owned by The Go Daddy Group, Inc., Wild West Domains
offers several reseller packages. They also offer other
products to resell in addition to domain names, including
hosting, website builders, email plans, SSL certificates,
and merchant accounts.
- Setup fee: No
- Annual fee: Starting at $99; $249 with the API
- Deposit required: No
- Starting wholesale pricing for .com domains: $7.75
- Website creation tool for resellers: Yes
- SSL certificate: Yes
About the author:
Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for http://www.websitesource.com
and http://www.lowpricedomains.com
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