Reselling Domain Names
September 2005
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
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.