The word reseller refers to selling again. Literally reseller means to sale something to the end user by acting an agent or authorized dealer of that product and then in turn earning profit on it.

Reseller hosting is a term evolved after the Web Hosting, but in case of reseller hosting, a reseller buys a Reseller Web Hosting Package from a hosting company and tries to sell it independently.

There are number of webhosting resellers, who purchase reseller hosting accounts from any web host and then sell reseller packages or reseller webhosting services to the users. In case of reseller web hosting packages, the resellers earns in either of these two ways:

•  The discount given by the web host on the sale of any reseller web hosting plan.

•  The commission directly received from the customer to whom the reseller sells a reseller hosting package.

Pros of being a Web Hosting Reseller

• A hosting reseller saves money and capital through selling reseller webhosting plans.
• Through reseller web hosting more revenue can be earned at a little cost.
• After selling reseller hosting packages, the reseller only needs to concentrate on customer support and leave the technical support on the web host.
• The web host bears the cost of server maintenance and not the hosting reseller.

Cons of being a Web Hosting Reseller

• You take full liability of all the services of the web host in front of the customer who bought the reseller web hosting plan from you. In case of any mishap from the hosting company's side, the reseller will loose the goodwill in front of customers.
• In case reseller needs to change your web hosting service provider or reseller hosting accounts/plans, it will be inconvenient for the reseller and his clients.

Process for Starting Reseller Hosting or Becoming a Web Hosting Reseller

1. CHOICE OF PLATFORM: As a reseller you need to choose among Windows or UNIX/LINUX web hosting reseller hosting accounts. Reseller hosting LINUX is less expensive and support all kind of basic hosting where as windows has some excessive features like MS ACCESS or ASP etc.
2. CHOICE OF CPANEL: As a reseller you will be given control panel to manage the reseller packages. Choose the appropriate type of cpanel hosting reseller account.
3. FEATURES OFFERED BY THE HOST: For being a web host reseller, closely study all the features offered by that company and then decide if all those features will be beneficial for your clients while selling them reseller plans.
4. GOODWILL OF THE HOST: How long is the host in the business of web hosting and what sort of goodwill does that company enjoys is a key factor while selecting the hosting company.
5. FLEXIBILITY OF UPGRADE: You need to see if the web hosting company provides you the facility of upgrading tour account at later time without any additional cost.
6. PRICE: You need to have cheap accounts in order to provide buyers with cheap reseller hosting package
7. SET UP RESELLER HOSTING PLANS AND PRICES: Divide your bandwidth by your disk space to find out the ratio of bandwidth to disk space that you can offer. For reseller hosting plans and pricing, consider what competitors charge, but also factor in any additional services you'll be offering. As you need to offer cheap reseller hosting services, so you need to purchase cheap reseller hosting program from the web hosting company first.
8. DEVELOP YOUR BUSINESS WEBSITE: Build a website that has all the information about the reseller hosting packages you are offering. Include all the information that clients will want to know about your services and company. Your site should be E-Commerce ready and support the billing features for the buyers to pay you online. When you choose a billing software program, check if it's compatible with your server platform and if support is included.
9. MARKET YOUR WEBSITE AND OFFERED PLANS: Submit your site to search engines. Tell your family, friends, and business acquaintances about your website. Include a link to it in your signature line in outgoing emails. Advertise your site via incoming links, advertising, newsletters, and special offers. But don't stop there, hosting resellers apply as many as advertising methods they can to promote their site and show the people that they are offering them the best of the best.