Reseller Website Hosing Recommendations?

[IVUM]

Hi all,
Can anyone recommend a reseller website hosting package? I've been looking at Fasthosts as the cost isn't too bad with the features and potential of hosting a good amount of websites but after reviews it seems they don't like to have websites hosted with them that have more then a couple of thousand visitors, there customer support is next to none and they have hidden fees. I don't mind the fees which they state but as I plan on hosting my clients websites on the package I don't want any fees popping up which I don't know about!

I need the servers located in the UK, I have got a resellers account in the US and its not too bad but the FTP is slow which isn't good when am trying to upload a full e-commerce website so really need a good UK hosting company!

I have looked at 1and1 and have got my own website with them but the servers are not located in the UK and a clients website was removed as he had a complaint against him, (as far as I can see, they didn't give me a reason!) after 3 weeks of phone calls every day I gave up!

Is there anyone here which offer a reseller hosting package or know of a good company? I don't mind paying for 12 months but would prefer monthly, I would also prefer it so that I can stop the hosting package any time if I am unhappy with your service. (hence the monthly payment)

What am looking for is a resellers account which can offer to host between 10-20 websites, can give each domain name its own control panel where they can control their MYSQL database, emails etc, I would also want a control panel for myself where I can control everything on each account. It possible give myself the option of branding the control panel like Fasthosts offer and the server be located in the UK!

Any advice/comments will be greatly appreciated!
Richard

[sabian1982]

I have a reseller hosting (http://www.unitedhosting.co.uk/resellers.php) account through United Hosting (http://www.unitedhosting.co.uk) - service is exceptional and uptime and support are the best i've come across! If their main reseller account is a little big for what you're looking for they can also provide you with a custom built solution for a lower price.

[Jamest]

We use www.internetretailer.co.uk, can't fault them, do monthly payments etc.

Give David a shout about the technical stuff.

James

[awebapart.com]

When you buy a reseller package for 30 websites, in most cases all you are doing is buying cheap shared hosting at bulk discounted price. Cheap shared hosting is where the host stuffs as many websites as possible onto a server in order to bring prices down.

You are not getting a dedicated server to place your 30 websites on, but you are getting space for 30 websites on what probably is a cheap shared hosting server with several hundred other websites on it. That's probably why your other reseller server is slow.

The bottom line is that you really shouldn't be putting full ecommerce sites on the cheapest of shared hosting, there are speed issues (not just for the shop customers browsing, but also for the shop owners trying to upload and edit their products using web-based admin screens), reliability issues, and sometimes security issues.

If you are looking into reseller plans then you really need to ask your hosts what type of servers are your sites being placed on, how many other websites will be on those servers, what security and other monitoring is in place (e.g. to stop other website owners sending spam and thus blacklisting your server as a whole as being a source of spam, thus preventing your online shop customers sending valid emails to their customers), and try to avoid resellers who offer 'unlimited' because there's more chance the server will be overloaded and out of control, and the odd chance you will be sharing your server with a teenager trying to set up the next youtube-like video download site (a big strain on the server). You can sometimes check how many other websites are on the same server as your website by running a reverse ip check at www.domaintools.com (http://www.domaintools.com)

Better still, look into dedicated servers. That way the only sites on your server are your sites and your client's precious ecommerce sites. You can still set up customer control panels on dedicated servers if necessary. We use UK-based dedicated servers for our hosted ecommerce service (http://www.awebapart.com) from www.openhosting.co.uk (http://www.openhosting.co.uk)

[falconinternetlimited]

Richard,

Take a look at www.csnewmedia.co.uk

Carl is a member on this forum and he has reseller packages that would seem to fit your requirements perfectly.

Best wishes,

Rupert

[cmckay]

Another vote for Carl at CS New Media here also!

[Lisette]

Can definitely recommend Carl/CS New Media - I have both a dedicated server and a hosting agreement (different site) and the service is fantastic. I know he does reseller so can only think this would be really good as well.

[ianh]

+1 to everyone who says don't go with shared hosting for an e-commerce site.

You don't want to spend loads of money now but do want the option to expand if you are successful. I woudl suggest a VPS (Virtual Private Server). Plenty of UK providers around with prices starting from about £15 pm. However, given the £ vs $ at the moment, why not go with a US provider, it is effectively half the price is it not? I am with a company called Rimuhosting and pay about £10 a month for their base VPS.

Finally, if you are running an ecommerce system and if you have a VPS, switch off FTP (a security risk) and use SSH instead. Hint: get Putty.exe and WinSCP if you are on Windows!

[IVUM]

Thank you for the replies and recommendations, I will take a look at the 2 companies suggested. I am not interested in a US company because of the speed issue. My clients were happy with the hosting package I offered, if they were not or are not they have the choice to move or for me to move them. I seem to be getting more and more clients from word of mouth and now would like to move them onto a better package and a package hosted in the UK.

Thank you Paul for the time in your long post, I do realise what you are saying and will look into a dedicated server to see what it can offer for my clients.

[openmind]

You know all this talk of VPS servers and dedicated boxes is very misleading. Yes the best solution is a VPS or full dedicated but:

Do you have the experience to run your own server?
Are you ale to secure it again known/future vulnerabilities?
Are you willing to spend time, and money maintaining the box against attack?
Are you willing to back up your essential data and be prepared to take full responsibility?

If you cannot answer yest to the above and the VPS/dedicated box is not fully managed then don't bother unless you really want the pain of having to actually do all of the above...

[Rienne]

A friend of mine runs http://datelhosting.com/

They run their own UK server farm and are real people at the end of the phone.

Hope this helps
regards
Jeff

[maxine]

Hi,
You might like to look at 34sp.com if you havent already. I use them for 7 sites at the moment and their support is fab. Don't know if it is the best value for money as I havent shopped around for the past couple of years and just stuck with them.