Selling Domains on WHMCS

[Kianwalters05]

Hi!

I'm new to WHMCS and I wanted to sell domains on here, I never knew I had to pay to sell domains, and make very little profit back. I was wondering if I could buy my own nameservers, then sell domains on them via them instead of paying to sell them. I'm simply asking if i can host domains on WHMCS myself without paying another company for a minimum deposit. If this is possible please tell me how, I would  be eternally grateful!

Thanks,

Kian

[WHMCS ChrisD]

Hi @Kianwalters05

A number of providers provide you with the ability to run DNS off their servers , providers such as eNom allow you to do this and clients can update their nameservers via your WHMCS Client ARea.

[yggdrasil]

6 hours ago, Kianwalters05 said:

Hi!

I'm new to WHMCS and I wanted to sell domains on here, I never knew I had to pay to sell domains, and make very little profit back. I was wondering if I could buy my own nameservers, then sell domains on them via them instead of paying to sell them. I'm simply asking if i can host domains on WHMCS myself without paying another company for a minimum deposit. If this is possible please tell me how, I would  be eternally grateful!

Thanks,

Kian

Do you mean selling domain registrations to others like "yourbusinessname.com"?

Then yes, they are not free. You need to pay the registry that maintains the extension. For .com just to name one example that is VeriSign. As they maintain the entire DNS infrastructure for all .com sites in the world, that has a huge cost to them and obviously it's not free. Servers are computers and as such cost money to run as they consume electricity and bandwidth.

If you mean hosting domains for others, as hosting their websites, then no, you cannot do this with WHMCS. WHMCS is only a software. You need other servers and services to host the customers' website files (hosting).

I think you are a bit confused about what WHMCS does. WHMCS is a piece of software that lets you bill and automate services. Those other services will cost you money, if you resell them from others or create your own, they will still cost money.

To directly answer your question. No, you cannot sell domains with WHMCS without paying someone else. Nothing is really free on the Internet, even Gmail or YouTube aren't free either, Google is paying the costs for every person.

[brian!]

5 hours ago, yggdrasil said:

To directly answer your question. No, you cannot sell domains with WHMCS without paying someone else.

technically, you could register some TLDs for free - .tk, .ma, .ga etc - but any sensible user probably wouldn't want to base a commercial enterprise using one of them.... as yggdrasil says, there's no free lunch.

[Kianwalters05]

What I meant was, I dont see why I have to pay for the domain and lose money with little profit. Is there any registrar with instead of it going WHMCS-My reseller account-registrar it goes WHMCS-registrar and any profits go onto my WHMCS? Then i dont get charged, the amount they pay on WHMCS goes straight to the registrar?

 

[yggdrasil]

1 hour ago, brian! said:

technically, you could register some TLDs for free - .tk, .ma, .ga etc - but any sensible user probably wouldn't want to base a commercial enterprise using one of them.... as yggdrasil says, there's no free lunch.

I didn't check for a while now, but isn't  .TK only free until you want to change the DNS nameservers to something else? At that point you need to pay which makes it useless to actually host anything as you can only do a URL redirection on the free domain.

[brian!]

27 minutes ago, yggdrasil said:

I didn't check for a while now, but isn't  .TK only free until you want to change the DNS nameservers to something else?

I don't believe so...

http://www.freenom.com/en/freeandpaiddomains.html

32 minutes ago, yggdrasil said:

At that point you need to pay which makes it useless to actually host anything as you can only do a URL redirection on the free domain.

as I said, I wouldn't use this commercially, but if the OP wants a source of "free" domains, and understands their limitations, then it's an option for him to go down....

[yggdrasil]

1 hour ago, brian! said:

I don't believe so...

http://www.freenom.com/en/freeandpaiddomains.html

as I said, I wouldn't use this commercially, but if the OP wants a source of "free" domains, and understands their limitations, then it's an option for him to go down....

They changed that then. It seems they now allow to change the nameservers which is a welcome change on the option. But the free option does not work with WHMCS anyway:

How to use the WHMCS plugin? - Knowledgebase - Freenom

Edited April 1, 2021 by yggdrasil

[brian!]

On 01/04/2021 at 12:46, Kianwalters05 said:

What I meant was, I don't see why I have to pay for the domain and lose money with little profit.

then charge more, or find a cheaper registrar - you shouldn't be in business to make a loss.

On 01/04/2021 at 12:46, Kianwalters05 said:

Is there any registrar with instead of it going WHMCS-My reseller account-registrar it goes WHMCS-registrar and any profits go onto my WHMCS? Then i dont get charged, the amount they pay on WHMCS goes straight to the registrar?

so you want to sell domains at what you think is cost price - even though there might be hidden additional costs that could come into play - currency fluctuations being the obvious one.

I think most (all?) registrars would want you to pre-fund the account with them first (to ensure you have a balance to pay for registrations/renewals) - it's far less hassle (aka cheaper) for them (and ultimately you) than having to charge you separately for each individual order.... besides in a practical sense, there could/would be a delay between the registrar requesting money from your account and when it attempts to register the domain.. someone else could get in there first.

On 01/04/2021 at 15:09, yggdrasil said:

But the free option does not work with WHMCS anyway:

I wasn't expecting the OP to use the module - just use the email registrar, take the order and manually register.... if he wants to do things on the cheap, then some manual intervention will be needed. 😎

[yggdrasil]

On 4/1/2021 at 7:46 AM, Kianwalters05 said:

What I meant was, I dont see why I have to pay for the domain and lose money with little profit. Is there any registrar with instead of it going WHMCS-My reseller account-registrar it goes WHMCS-registrar and any profits go onto my WHMCS? Then i dont get charged, the amount they pay on WHMCS goes straight to the registrar?

 

Most companies selling domains don't do money with the domains alone, they are in fact in most cases losing money if all they sell are domain names. The only one that do are those that sell millions of domains a month because even while they earn a few cents per customer, it adds up in terms of numbers. If you are expecting to earn money by just selling domains, take into account the big registrars invest fortunes in order to compete, you will have a hard time and will not earn anything or will end up working for pennies a month.

You need to rethink your business strategy and sell the domain as a bundle of something else or give some valued added services with the domains. What is worse, people expect you to give them 24/7 support and all the services that other companies provide with every domain, even if they paid almost nothing for it.

Welcome to the market, most people are not aware how little the profit is.

[Kianwalters05]

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies! Im very, very new to this (as you can tell). I always thought domains were the cheapest and best way to start out, but now I see not. Thanks for all the advice! 🙂

[yggdrasil]

13 minutes ago, Kianwalters05 said:

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies! Im very, very new to this (as you can tell). I always thought domains were the cheapest and best way to start out, but now I see not. Thanks for all the advice! 🙂

Sure, domains are cheap, for the consumer. But its because they are that cheap that the profit margin is close to nothing. It's like trying to SSL certificates today. Who is buying them if LE is free? Unless you need code signing or some specific SAN ones, there is no money to be made unless you have a very exclusive business model.

And unless you are not aware, the new WHMCS license increase makes this completely unsustainable with WHMCS. Imagine if you have one customer that has only one domain registered per year, and never buys anything else from you. The WHMCS license to keep that customer is now superior to your profits, which means you know lost money.

And that is only half of the story. Many people buy domains with stolen credit cards and are fraud orders. You will lose that money, but the registry is still making you pay the registered domain. Internet is full of fraud, the lowest you price the more of those unwanted orders you will get.

[Kianwalters05]

4 minutes ago, yggdrasil said:

Sure, domains are cheap, for the consumer. But its because they are that cheap that the profit margin is close to nothing. It's like trying to SSL certificates today. Who is buying them if LE is free? Unless you need code signing or some specific SAN ones, there is no money to be made unless you have a very exclusive business model.

And unless you are not aware, the new WHMCS license increase makes this completely unsustainable with WHMCS. Imagine if you have one customer that has only one domain registered per year, and never buys anything else from you. The WHMCS license to keep that customer is now superior to your profits, which means you know lost money.

And that is only half of the story. Many people buy domains with stolen credit cards and are fraud orders. You will lose that money, but the registry is still making you pay the registered domain. Internet is full of fraud, the lowest you price the more of those unwanted orders you will get.

I think I am going to cancel WHMCS at the end of my 30day money-back guarantee and then try again when i have more money. I am thinking of selling game servers, which will be hard cause of all the other communities. And i understand thanks for the knowledge!

[yggdrasil]

Just now, Kianwalters05 said:

I think I am going to cancel WHMCS at the end of my 30day money-back guarantee and then try again when i have more money. I am thinking of selling game servers, which will be hard cause of all the other communities. And i understand thanks for the knowledge!

I think you need to cancel before the 30 day, not afterwards. That is if you want your money back. If you have no money, I would start with some free open source billing product or just a simple billing script. Or why not, just do things by hand, you don't need automation if you don't have tons of users every day.

[Kianwalters05]

24 minutes ago, yggdrasil said:

I think you need to cancel before the 30 day, not afterwards. That is if you want your money back. If you have no money, I would start with some free open source billing product or just a simple billing script. Or why not, just do things by hand, you don't need automation if you don't have tons of users every day.

I meant before, sorry. And what would you recommend to start off? I'm quite technically minded, so I would want to do something with technology.

[brian!]

14 minutes ago, yggdrasil said:

I think you need to cancel before the 30 day, not afterwards. That is if you want your money back.

https://www.whmcs.com/terms-of-service/

Quote

30 Day Money Back Guarantee

In the unlikely event that you are not completely satisfied with WHMCS' Software, WHMCS is, subject to the terms of this clause, happy to provide you with a full refund for the cost of your licence. To claim a refund under this money back guarantee you must submit a cancellation request from WHMCS' members area within 30 days of the original purchase date stating why the Software was not to your satisfaction.

The Money Back Guarantee applies to new clients only, and applies to license & addon related charges only. Services that have commenced or completed, or are provided by third parties are not eligible for refund. A new client is determined by both the registered client information and the domain that the WHMCS license is installed on, thus if there is a record of WHMCS having been used in the past by either the same company or person, or on the same domain, then you will not be eligible for refund under WHMCS' Money Back Guarantee.

If WHMCS offer products and services that are provided by third parties, those products and/or services will be subject to the policies of the third party provider regardless of whether those products and/or services appear to be provided by us.

you can do it on day 30, but i'd probably cancel a day or two before then just to make sure.

[Kianwalters05]

18 minutes ago, brian! said:

https://www.whmcs.com/terms-of-service/

you can do it on day 30, but i'd probably cancel a day or two before then just to make sure.

I meant before, sorry for the confusion 🙂

[yggdrasil]

30 minutes ago, Kianwalters05 said:

I meant before, sorry. And what would you recommend to start off? I'm quite technically minded, so I would want to do something with technology.

Boxbilling.org is free and should get you started.

[Kianwalters05]

1 hour ago, yggdrasil said:

Boxbilling.org is free and should get you started.

Hi,

Thanks for this! What do you think the best thing to sell is? To get started? 

[UnwilfulExpenditure]

13 minutes ago, Kianwalters05 said:

Hi,

Thanks for this! What do you think the best thing to sell is? To get started? 

Depends on the target audience! Your knowledge! Your interests!

[Kianwalters05]

22 minutes ago, chrisb2012 said:

Depends on the target audience! Your knowledge! Your interests!

Ok thanks:)

[UnwilfulExpenditure]

Without being nasty, if you're unsure - don't commit to anything serious! We've had so many people with their business in ruins, or their page gone due to people having a go at hosting! 

 

When a company decides to ditch people *cough* owned licenses *cough* it leaves many people in dire conditions and is a stain on their legacy as well as anyone involved in it! 

 

You mentioned game servers, run one for a few months and see how you feel, don't provide them as a business just yet as you seem very unsure! 

[Kianwalters05]

11 minutes ago, chrisb2012 said:

Without being nasty, if you're unsure - don't commit to anything serious! We've had so many people with their business in ruins, or their page gone due to people having a go at hosting! 

 

When a company decides to ditch people *cough* owned licenses *cough* it leaves many people in dire conditions and is a stain on their legacy as well as anyone involved in it! 

 

You mentioned game servers, run one for a few months and see how you feel, don't provide them as a business just yet as you seem very unsure! 

thats what i was gonna do, get a few customers, who want to buy my services, buy a VDS for a few months and see If i can get it to sustain itself.