Do you tell your clients that you are a reseller? Have you ever had a contract gone sour because of this?

I don't mention that I am a reseller. I don't think most of my client base really knows about reselling, but I just think that it might lower their trust in me, like they should be getting a better deal (I'm not robbing them, I don't make a lot on reselling). No one has ever asked me any technical questions that would lead me to revealing that I'm a reseller, not that I hide it, but I just don't make it public knowledge.

If the person asks then there is really no need to tell them. If they ask its definately worth telling them straight because it could show your honesty. Not telling someone upfront is not necessarily a bad thing though because it telling them could hurt your business.

Always tell if they ask!! ALWAYS

I think that in modern world everyone is a reseller of someone else. It they ask, tell them that you don't own your own equipment rather renting it at this time, and draw some positives out of that. For example, the advantage of it could be that you always have the latest hardware, and you have specialized people watching the server around the clock, while you fully focus on what's important to your client - and that's service, marketing advice, etc.

I think this hits the mark perfectly.

Being a 'reseller' is only a negative if their provider doesn't doesn't do it's job properly. Too many 'resellers' simply pick the cheapest plan, without regard for quality, and resell it for several times the cost.

Keep in mind that 'reseller' could mean a shared hosting reseller, a dedicated server provider, a VPS provider or just about any level.

If you're never asked about your source, you must have made some good choices.

If you're directly asked, it's probably best to be completely honest about it. It's equally important not to portray your services, on your site, for something that they're not, make your company look way bigger than it really is etc.

Thank you Artashes, this is very insightful. And a much more positive way to look at than to say you are basically a middle man. After thinking about my original post I did recall that once a client was asking me questions about the service and I had to tell that person that I was a broker and I would contact the my service and get answers for him. Totally forgot about that one!

Reselllers are all subject to terms - We leave actual Racks of Servers from Peer1 Networks and we also have a small Cage in Toronto. - So i guess we sort of fall as resellers but in reality we dont want to own any equipment and do not want to build a data center. I know of a fact hosting companies that claim the own their own data centers when all they own is cage with P3 servers in there because they can not afford to upgrade the servers --

Spin the marketing store right as Artashes states above. All customers want is a reliable service, and a person on the end when they call

Well i don't think is any need of teeling all the things to the person also if he make excuses or forse you...