Reselling
Domain Names
Reselling Domain Names
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
with experience in the website hosting industry.
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