What I want to know is the various reasons behind selecting a reseller host provider?

With the huge competition in the hosting industry it will be very difficult to identify a host provider from whom a Reseller hosting account can be taken.

Few Factors may be
1. Cheap prices
2. Unlimited hosting features
3. Reliability.

and what else?

Well think of it this way.
Which is better for you when starting up a new company.
A $100+/month dedicated server, or a reseller package for around $10+/month?

Plus, you get the server reliability of the root host, you save money (money that you wouldn't have saved if spent on your own server).

To be honest, a reseller is meant for new companies.
Big companies, or successful companies, would have their own servers. So apart from the 3 above, there aren't really any others I can think of. Those 3 are what reseller packages are meant for.

Perhaps, ease of use could be another one. You don't have to worry about root access and installing/managing the server. You leave that to the root host.

Experience and reputation would be the first 2 reasons in my opinion.

Reliability is important, but only to the extent you can judge it from a distance. An uptime guarantee is usually not worth the time it takes to read it. A refund will never really compensate you for say a day of downtime.

You want a provider that is going to be the stable foundation you build your business on. Anything else, is secondary. While a bit of focus on being competitive (getting more for less $) is not a bad thing, as a reseller you can never be the cheapest, so your sales proposition must contain other elements anyway.

I do agree with Dan on the uptime guarantee - what's more important is the stability of their network and quality of support you're provided.

There are alot of things you have too look out for when purchasing a reseller host.

- Uptime
- Money back guarantee
- Dedicated IP
- Features inside the cPanel, and WHM
- Support, Live Chat/Phone
- Great service.

There is alot more when considering a reseller, just be aware of the obvious.

Also some resellers offer end-user support, if the support they offer is really good, then this might be something that you can seriously take into consideration when compare reseller hosts.

That's actually true. I never thought of suggesting that.
If they can provide you with good customer support then you have a really good deal. You just do the selling, don't need to worry about managing the servers, running them, just selling.

Good suggestion, SlickWebHost.

I do not agree with the first point at all. Cheap hosting most of the times comes with cheap services because "You get what you pay for".

@ServerSea

I am the current owner, and founder of Hosting42, and i do not agree with "You get what you pay for" My website has 100% uptime, and over 800 facebook fans because of our low prices. You just have to find the cheap reliable hosting providers.

- Chris.

One of my favorite sayings is: "Cheap isn't always better and high prices does not guarantee high quality"

My BEST advice to you is CALL THEM! If they don't have time to answer a pre sales call then it's doubtful you will get much support from their phone support either!

Ask them if they OWN their own servers or resell someone else's services at a markup. You want a real host who owns their equipment or leases it. If they are marking up someone else's service then find who they are using and get the same thing for less money.

redham

You get to create accounts with separate control panel and you get to select the pricing and the resources to be allocated to the accounts.

I agree with call them, unfortunality, with my hosting company we do offer a toll free number, but in order for our pre-sales department to answer, and/or assist you. You would have to submit a support ticket, due to the amount of staff members and high volume of clients.

I agree with Dan. Reputation and Experience should be the first elements you need to look at when choosing a web host.
The price should be the last thing to compare. In the web hosting business, there is a simple rule : "You get what you pay for".
So, remember that if a web host is cheap, it is cheap for a reason.

To me I think that the most important thing of all is their support. It doesn't really matter if it is a few months old company or if it is a 10 year old company, if the support sucks, the rest of the company sucks!

That's my take on it.

The other factors that you guys mentioned comes later.

Exactly, that's why test your target host's support services fully before signing up. Always go with a host having Live chat option as this is the best way to test a host's support quality. Reliable hosts will always have friendly and co orporative support team.