Domain Registration - DirectI

[impactgc]

Why does whmcs add all domains under one customer? Why doesn't it add a new customer in directi under the reseller account?

 

I would prefer it to make seperate accounts under my reseller account.

 

I came from AWBS and they added domains from the reseller level and not a customer level.

 

Why doesn't whmcs work that same way?

 

Or am I configuring wrong and misunderstanding the whole thing

 

Thanks,

Adam

[trine]

Adam, There are different ways of using the directi API to manage customers. With WHMCS, they have decided to have everything under one sole customer, because they thought it makes management easier. It does to a good extent -- for the you, the reseller.

 

I know what you mean, although have no experience with AWBS. It makes also makes good sense to offer accounts as their own client at directi -- since the customer could theoretically go to your directi reseller site and manage the domain or add on products.

 

This is something that will not be changing in WHMCS according to one of Matt's replies earlier this year. Once you accustom yourself, you will note that for basic management tasks, it makes it more manageable and simple.

[meeven]

This is something that will not be changing in WHMCS according to one of Matt's replies earlier this year.

 

I have found using the directi integration feature to be the most difficult to understand part of using whmcs so far.

 

And, if Matt is listening, I sincerely hope he will reconsider the decision to create all the domains under one account. People are pretty savvy these days and they want access to their domain's control panel.

 

I have personally lost the domain purchase orders of at least 6-10 clients in the last three months I have been using WHMCS because they each wanted their individual domain account. I ended up locking $50 in my directi reseller account. Not much by U.S standards, but when you convert it to Indian rupees, that's nearly Rs.2000/- sitting idle since three months. That's a lot of money.

 

I wonder if there is any technical difficulty in implementing the directi api to create separate accounts.

[impactgc]

I say give the choice!

 

The issue is - most client want to manage their own information - either from whmcs or from reseller web site. I THINK this way is way more confusing for the customers.

 

Also add-on sales -- can't sell them if they can't get a login to my reseller site.

 

Also I just moved from AWBS -- what happens to the domains that were in their? How are they managed now?

 

What if the customer wants to move the domain to another registrant? Now we have to get involved. There is a manual process when you have it this way.

 

I think it was easier to program one customer- may domains -- instead of many customers under one reseller.

 

Instead of a two step process -- make customer then add domain - all you have to do is just add the domain.

 

I want to know why it was decided this this way? Maybe I am missing the reason for it.

 

Thanks,

Adam

[Matt]

I want to know why it was decided this this way? Maybe I am missing the reason for it.

In additon to the ease of management features already outlined above, it also offers better performance as we don't have to lookup the customer ID on every call which was found to add around 5 seconds to easy query and it means changing the email of a user in WHMCS causes no problems. If there were individual customer accounts at DirectI, they have to be looked up by email so if you change the email address of a client in WHMCS it stops all domain management working until you login and do the same change at DirectI.

 

Matt

[impactgc]

Ok --

 

Are all the features that DirectI has on the account be added to Whmcs?

 

Tranfer of domain to new registration-- send of "domain secret"?

Add of custom nameservers

Add private protection

 

 

Thanks,

Adam

[meeven]

In additon to the ease of management features already outlined above, it also offers better performance as we don't have to lookup the customer ID on every call which was found to add around 5 seconds to easy query and it means changing the email of a user in WHMCS causes no problems. If there were individual customer accounts at DirectI, they have to be looked up by email so if you change the email address of a client in WHMCS it stops all domain management working until you login and do the same change at DirectI.

I have been thinking about this and it occurred to me that one way to solve this issue would be to push the domain to the customer account. Many registrars support this feature. This is how I do it at namecheap. I register the domain for my customers, create a namecheap account for them and then login to my account and push it to the new account. The domain is moved to the new account the very next second and the client manages it thereafter.

 

Can something similar be done here? Does Directi offer this feature in its API and does the whmcs integration implement it?

 

If not, can WHMCS at least provide the push feature as a choice? WHMCS admins using it will probably (well, at least I can speak for myself) not mind the extra time involved in the API call being made.

 

It still may not help in reselling the add-on services offered by Directi but at least the domain name mgt. would be in the customer's hands.

 

I think the issue of the problems caused by emails changed in WHMCS can be quite easily addressed by educating the customer about it.

[Troy]

As a new user of WHMCS, transitioning from AWBS, I can tell you of at least one additional reason that WHMCS putting all domains under a single customer is good - transferring a domain from one customer to another.

 

In AWBS, if you simply change a Directi domain record's owner, the domain becomes unmanageable until you also log in to your Directi account and move the domain to the new customer there as well.

 

With all domains under one customer, that's not an issue.

 

Enom does it the same way, your customers don't have individual accounts at Enom either.

 

At first, I didn't think I would like the way WHMCS handled DirectI domains, but after some thought, I realized it's better this way. The only drawback is you can't make additional services available to the customer through your DirectI super site. Personally, I want to get away from all extra stuff anyway that just turns into more support work anyway, so it's no big deal.

[meeven]

Enom does it the same way, your customers don't have individual accounts at Enom either.

You mean that if I am an Enom reseller and customers buy domains from me, they won't get individual domain accounts? I doubt that is correct because Namecheap is an Enom reseller and I have always been able to create separate customer accounts at Namecheap.

 

Or, do you mean that although I may get a Namecheap account while still purchasing from Enom, I won't actually get an Enom account?

 

The only drawback is you can't make additional services available to the customer through your DirectI super site. Personally, I want to get away from all extra stuff anyway that just turns into more support work anyway, so it's no big deal.

I don't find them too attractive either, except for SSL certs.

 

For me, I know I will be happy if WHMCS supports the Directi push domain feature so that my customers can be happy about having their own domain control panel. But, may be I still don't understand the technical aspects of making this possible. I am willing to listen

[othellotech]

I have personally lost the domain purchase orders of at least 6-10 clients in the last three months I have been using WHMCS because they each wanted their individual domain account.

 

How do you know that was the reason they didn't buy ?

How did they know they wouldn't get an individual domain account ?

What do they think they'll get from an individual domain account ?

If it was apparantly such a big issue, why not just create an account for them ?

 

In 12 years, and over 400,000 domain sales/transfers/renewals, I've *never* known a single client "need" their own account with a registrar, and unless they're some sort of reseller, they dont even know what one is.

[meeven]

How do you know that was the reason they didn't buy ?

Because they told me so. At least 1 of them had been (and still are) locked out of their old domain by a directi reseller who is giving them the worst possible service imaginable.

How did they know they wouldn't get an individual domain account ?

Because I told them the domain would be booked under my reseller account.

What do they think they'll get from an individual domain account ?

Full control over all aspects of their domain instead of having to rely on me as the intermediary.

If it was apparantly such a big issue, why not just create an account for them ?

Apparently it is a big issue for them. Two of my other business clients wouldn't rest until I had created separate namecheap accounts for them and pushed the domains to their accounts.

 

And, creating an account for them is what I am trying to understand. As far as I have seen, registering a domain through WHMCS with the directi integration turned on still doesn't automatically create a customer account at directi. If you refer to my previous post, I was asking whether I could create an account for them at the supersite, push the domain from my reseller account to that account and still maintain the domain from within WHMCS.

In 12 years, and over 400,000 domain sales/transfers/renewals, I've *never* known a single client "need" their own account with a registrar, and unless they're some sort of reseller, they dont even know what one is.

Great. I respect your experience. But, my clients (all I.T guys mostly) routinely ask for their own account and do know what one is although they're not resellers.

 

Edited as I felt my last sentence above might be misunderstood as a retort.

[othellotech]

How do you know that was the reason they didn't buy ?

Because they told me so. At least 1 of them had been (and still are) locked out of their old domain by a directi reseller who is giving them the worst possible service imaginable.

Ok, so you simply create an account for them at directi and push the domain to that - and *they* become 100% responsible for it - job done

 

Great. I respect your experience. But, my clients (all I.T guys mostly) routinely ask for their own account and do know what one is although they're not resellers.

 

Edited as I felt my last sentence above might be misunderstood as a retort.

 

hehe, no worries about it being misunderstood quite why they'd buy from a reseller (you) rather than going direct is obviously a "local" issue with your clientbase and I can respect that.

 

In answer to your actual question regarding the management - no.

The WHMCS registrar management features expect the domains to be in your reseller account (enom, directi, whatever) not a "sub-account".

 

So yoru clients have to chose between managing their domain through your interface (WHMCS) or the registrar (DIRECTI) with all the associated junk that some registrars try and sell to the clients directly rather than the business relationship being with you.

 

Sorry its not the news you wanted, but at least you have an answer

[trine]

I don't want to speak on Matt's behalf, but I am sure that over time, WHMCS will offer more complete and robust domain name management through it's own interface. There are only incentives to do so.

[meeven]

So yoru clients have to chose between managing their domain through your interface (WHMCS) or the registrar (DIRECTI) with all the associated junk that some registrars try and sell to the clients directly rather than the business relationship being with you.

Ah, so domain management *is* possible for a client through their WHMCS account's interface! This is the vexed issue I have been trying to understand. Thanks for clearing this up for me.

 

It will now be easier for me to educate my clients about the pros and cons of operating their own account at directi versus managing their domain from within the whmcs interface.

 

While I don't like all the baggage that registrars try to sell through ready made sites, I will second trine and still hope Matt may see some value in a more complete integration with directi etc in the future.