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
