Client is done building his site with weebly. Does he have to continue subscription?

[bluesteam]

Hi,

As the subject says.  My client has used the Weebly interface to complete his website.

I understand that if he cancels the subscription, he wont be able to use the builder to make edits to the site but he has now asked me why he needs to continue paying for the subscription if he is not using the builder anymore.

And to me this is a valid question.  Can anyone shed some light on how this works?  If he cancels the addon service, will he lose his website or just the ability to edit the website using the builder?

 

[bear]

Still a bit vague on the Weebly site, but it *looks* like it terminates the whole thing, removing the account from Cpanel also.

https://cloud-developer.weebly.com/cl_plugins_whmcs_customer.html

[bluesteam]

Ah Thanks for the reply Bear.

I see on that page it says this:

Quote

WHMCS Cancellations

In the event a user (or WHMCS admin) wants to cancel a subscription, the Weebly website will be deleted. This means the user will no longer have access to the site in the Weebly editor. A user can initiate a Request Cancellation within WHMCS under the Management Actions tab of their service details page.

I agree it is a bit vague as it then says:

Quote

...the user will no longer have access to the site in the Weebly editor...

But I don't see whats stopping the client from first copying his content locally,  then cancelling the subscription and then uploading the files again.

Edited October 24, 2018 by bluesteam

[bear]

There may be legal restrictions on that, but I have no experience using it. I know places like Wix state you can't ever take it with you, so I'd assume the folks at Weebly thought of this also. 

[bluesteam]

Yh, look. I actually understand it as a person can easily just build a fully fledged website for a miniscule amount of money and then run.  So I get it.  but I would love to get solid clarity on this.

You have given me more info on this topic than anyone else.  So thanks.

Maybe a WHMCS employee can confirm this.  Maybe I should open a ticket.

[Remitur]

Take any site built using weebly, and analyze the code: you'll find TONS of external material (CSS, javascript, images and so on) which is retrieved using a proprietary CDN channel.

 So, your weebly site is not completely local: many contents are external.

And, I guess, weebly can both track and close the access to those contents.

 

[bluesteam]

Understood....it's kind of good for the resellers because we can just blame Weebly if their site gets deleted if they cancel.  But here is another QUESTION.

What if they want to leave me as a hosting provider?  Can they take their website to the new host?  I would hate to hold my clients ransom with Weebly!

[brian!]

3 hours ago, bluesteam said:

And to me this is a valid question. 

... and an interesting one.

the product that bear refers to is the -pre-MarketConnect Weebly plugin... my guess is that it must be deleted, because otherwise you'd get users subscribing to create the site, cancelling when completed and then only resubscribing to edit the site.

22 minutes ago, bluesteam said:

Maybe a WHMCS employee can confirm this.  Maybe I should open a ticket.

that's your best bet - open a ticket and report back with the answer.

3 minutes ago, bluesteam said:

What if they want to leave me as a hosting provider?  Can they take their website to the new host?  I would hate to hold my clients ransom with Weebly!

I suspect they can if they take a Weebly subscription with the new host.. I daresay Weebly wouldn't care one bit where it was being hosted as long as they get their $$$.

[Remitur]

2 minutes ago, bluesteam said:

What if they want to leave me as a hosting provider?  Can they take their website to the new host?  I would hate to hold my clients ransom with Weebly!

It's like bootstrap: even if your site is local, if you use bootstrap you retrieve contents from bootstrap's CDN.

you can move your site away, but still you'llneed to retrieve contents from bootstrap.

So it's for weebly: if the site was developed using weebly, the site needs to use weebly's material, that is retrieved using CDN.
Even if you move the site elsewhere, every time a user visit it some contents from weebly's CDN will be recovered.

So, if you don't want to make business with weebly, you'll need to use your own sitebuilder...

 

[bluesteam]

2 minutes ago, brian! said:

... and an interesting one.

the product that bear refers to is the -pre-MarketConnect Weebly plugin... my guess is that it must be deleted, because otherwise you'd get users subscribing to create the site, cancelling when completed and then only resubscribing to edit the site.

that's your best bet - open a ticket and report back with the answer.

I suspect they can if they take a Weebly subscription with the new host.. I daresay Weebly wouldn't care one bit where it was being hosted as long as they get their $$$.

Very true...I can see that we as resellers will need a ToS for the MarketConnect Subscriptions.

[bluesteam]

Just now, Remitur said:

It's like bootstrap: even if your site is local, if you use bootstrap you retrieve contents from bootstrap's CDN.

you can move your site away, but still you'llneed to retrieve contents from bootstrap.

So it's for weebly: if the site was developed using weebly, the site needs to use weebly's material, that is retrieved using CDN.
Even if you move the site elsewhere, every time a user visit it some contents from weebly's CDN will be recovered.

So, if you don't want to make business with weebly, you'll need to use your own sitebuilder...

 

Yes, but I DO want to use weebly's site builder but I don't want to hold my clients ransom if they choose to leave.

[bluesteam]

I guess I'm sitting here now and wondering,  why would my client want to buy the weebly subscription through me instead of direct with Weebly and just point the DNS to their server?  It would be MUCH easier to move to a new host without having to move the website around.

Where are the benefits for the client?

[bear]

23 minutes ago, Remitur said:

It's like bootstrap: even if your site is local, if you use bootstrap you retrieve contents from bootstrap's CDN.

you can move your site away, but still you'llneed to retrieve contents from bootstrap.

Not if you download it locally to call it from your own server. 😉

[bluesteam]

So I opened a support ticket with the following questions and this is what I got:

QUESTIONS to support:

1. If the client is done building his site with weebly. Does he have to continue subscription to keep his website?
2. Can the client copy his files from his hosting package, stop the weebly subscription from the client area, then upload the files again?
3. What if they want to leave me as a hosting provider? Can they take their website to the new host? I would hate to hold my clients ransom with a Weebly subscription! That won't be good for my business reputation.
4. Lastly, exactly what benefit is the client getting by subscribing to Weebly through me instead of directly with Weebly? Why would he want to do that? He could rather subscribe to Weebly direct and then point the DNS to Weebly's servers. Not so??
5. If my client already has a hosting subscription that is an annual billing cyle, how will whmcs handle the weebly monthy addon?? will it simply generate an invoice for the monthly subscription separately?

ANSWERS from support:

1. The first thing to realise is that the Weebly tool is the Website builder and without a valid subscription then you won't be able to use the website built by their tool. 
2. The Weebly files are more complex then that and won't work if you just copy them out and paste them once a subscription has ended.
3. They would also leave your Weebly subscription also, you can have a monthly subscription and leave when they wish so they are not held down to a large contract.
4. The benefit to our product is the automatic configuration, you can automatically install the Weebly product onto your own server instead of having to use one of Weebly's.
5. This is exactly how it works. If the order isn't made with the hosting account and Weebly product together then the client will get two invoices to pay, which is how it normally works anyway. Also, If the Weebly invoice isn't paid then the product will not renew.

MY RESPONSE to the above answers from support:

The only things that I am still unsure about after your reply is the following:

Quote

Question 3, they would also leave your Weebly subscription also, you can have a monthly subscription and leave when they wish so they are not held down to a large contract.

This doesn't really tell me what happens to their website if they decide to move to a new hosting provider. If they move to a new hosting provider, how will they manage their website? They will be VERY angry if they can't take their website with them to the new provider. Can they simply go to weebly directly and signup with them t continue their subscription so that they don't lose their website?? What happens? This is extremely unclear at present.

Quote

Question 4, The benefit to our product is the automatic configuration, you can automatically install the Weebly product onto your own server instead of having to use one of Weebly's.

How is this any benefit at all? The client can easily go directly to Weebly and create his website and then come back to his hosting account and simply point the www record to weebly. This would save him far more money than signing up through me. I still cannot see ANY benefits at this stage. The client cannot even move away without losing his weebly subscription. This is going to make my business look VERY bad if I resell these accounts. So, where are the benefits? You haven't listed any.

I haven't had another reply so I am waiting now to see what he says to my response.

Any thoughts?

Edited October 25, 2018 by bluesteam

[bluesteam]

So this is the final answer to the question about what the real benefits of reselling weebly subscriptions are and whether it is feasible and whether the client can actually move away to a new reseller with ease.

The short answer is NO!  It's practically stupid to resell weebly subscriptions because why would anyone in their right mind pay a marked up price for weebly when they can simply pay weebly direct and point their www record straight to weebly instead.  😖

Quote

Hello Brett,

Firstly, the subscription shouldn't be looked at as a subscription with Weebly that you can move between resellers, the subscription is with yourself and the client and you are reselling a Weebly product. If the client wants to move from you as a hosting account and wants to move their Weebly site data over to a new Weebly account then they will have to speak with Weebly themselves about the move, from their forums it seems like its possible but you need both accounts to be active.

The benefit's to using our is the intergration to WHMCS hosting accounts, this allows you as a client to manage your Weebly from within WHMCS where your hosting and domain may already be. Also, as a reseller you aren't tied down to any commitments in sales like you would be if you resold directly through Weebly, you only sell what is ordered by clients.

If you have any further questions please let me know.

Best regards,

 

[Mandalorian]

Wow. Weebly indeed is a disaster. Have you looked at the other available site builders?

[slim]

On 10/24/2018 at 11:48 PM, bluesteam said:

I guess I'm sitting here now and wondering,  why would my client want to buy the weebly subscription through me instead of direct with Weebly and just point the DNS to their server?  It would be MUCH easier to move to a new host without having to move the website around.

Where are the benefits for the client?

Yep - Reselling Weebly is silly - Given they compete directly at prices you cant beat, with more features. I tried, gave up VERY quickly.