theviewer1985 Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 Hi guys Im new to WHMCS. My business concept is to sell complete packages. Not just hosting.... but hosting, with a website with a domain all for a monthly recurring price. My hosting is sorted and fully automated with WHMCS. I have a payment gateway attached to whmcs and seems to be working... My stumbling block was my hosting company dont have a automatic module thing for WHMCS, so i have to shop elsewhere for my domains. I was under the illusion it would be dead simple process. eg. Become a reseller for a domain company that works through whmcs. And for every domain i sell, i pay that company more. Whether im charging my client £0 or £1000 for the domain wouldnt matter. However when i spoke to HEART about being a reseller of their domains, it all seemed to go as i thought it would, untill i mentioned i would be putting my domains inside the package, so not charging for them individually and they seemed to go wonky.. as if it might not be possible. So maybe my understanding of how the whole domain reseller system works is wrong.... or they didnt understand how WHMCS works... Any guidance would be appreciated. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian! Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Heart will be fully aware of WHMCS, but their concern might be on two grounds... either that you might register the domains in your name and then "rent" them to the client on a monthly basis as part of your "package"... they'd be worried that the client might not be aware that was the case and the domain wasn't "theirs". or what happens after the first month and the client wants to leave - can they transfer their domain name ? there's nothing wrong with offering a free domain name, but it must belong to the client (unless they are specifically told it won't and they're just leasing it - but why would they do that unless you already owned the domain?) this won't be how you promote the package, but from the outside it might look like "as long as you pay your monthly fees to me for the hosting and my template design, you can keep the domain" - if they stop, what happens to the domain? registrars are responsible for their resellers, so Heart may have been just protecting themselves in case your business idea causes them problems down the line. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
And then there was one les Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 The registrars shouldn't care whether you are adding it in the package or not, as brian stated the domain cant be rented out monthly. You can if you want to register the domain names under your own company, IE, your company owns the domain names. If you then choose to provide these free to use as a part of a package to your own clients that is entirely up to you as they are not the registrant you are. In such a case you have to make it very clear to your client, on your website and in your terms and conditions that you are granting them rights to use the domain name that you own as a part of their hosting package but at no time will they own it. This in itself brings about a problem, you would need a "registrar" module for this usage that you could apply a pool of domain names and then display the list on your website for your clients to choose from. You would need an extra option in the domain section of the order form to select from the pool. After that its just a matter of following the normal steps as to provisioning the order. You would have to bear in mind that you are responsible for the domains and the content on them. So the buck stops with you. This is something you would have to work into your terms to enable you to pass that responsibility to the client using the domain name. Also consider, a domain that is fouled by a client will probably be better to be dropped altogether so i wouldnt look to register them in a long term basis, probably just do it one year at a time to limit costs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex - Arvixe Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 We offer a free domain with all of our shared packages and it works great for us. Personally I suggest you go with Resell.Biz (LogicBoxes module at WHMCS) as they are the most cost effective and have very friendly personnel. You can register the domain name in their name or yours depending on what you want (we recommend in your clients name) though make sure you detail that in your terms of service if you register it in your name (as that essentially means you own the domain name, not the client). If you sell a hosting package at say $5/m you will still need to cover the full domain cost upfront (which registers at a minimum of 1 year) so you would be making a loss for the first 1 - 2 months at least - otherwise if you charge higher prices say $10 range you would only loose out for the first month and profit the next (Assuming the client actually renews). You really have to detail your policies around offering free domains, what happens to your refund guarantee should they cancel? Do they keep the domain should they cancel? What do you do with the domain name should they cancel and not want to keep renewing it etc...? You can offer free domains via packages or via promotions (using coupon codes or use the "Free Domain" tab whilst adding / modifying a package. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.