My Experiences as a Wild West Super Reseller

Domainer · **My Experiences as a Wild West Super Reseller -** 01-08-2006, 05:20 PM

Hello Everyone...

I became a reseller out of desperate need rather than choice. Network Solutions, Register, Dotster, eNom, Its Your Domain, All Domains, My Domain, Bulk Register and others had all burned me by jeapordizing my intellectual property domains with complete lack of control over my names, dumb-founded techs and useless answers. Most of the time I couldn't even understand the techs because support had been outsourced to India. It was absolutely ridiculous and trying to get my Trademarked Names protected was an excersize in futility that was making me very ill.

Although this required new approach to expanding into the Domain Name Registrations & Budget Web Hosting was a bit scary at first, I had never once been nervous about my (over 550) names registered under my own reseller account since. Wild West Domains is continually updating their software to produce the best Domain Name Manager on the planet (and yes, I have looked around, I do keep an eye on the competition).

Wild West Domains (WWD) has been great with tech support for me as well as my clientele. My customer base is thrilled with the service, the hosting, the expanding software product line, the extra bonuses, the ease of management, and the support. It has been a win-win for us all.

WWD invited me as a "super reseller" and I jumped on the opportunity. Now I can resell the very same reseller accounts that I have used to others for less (as most of us super resellers do). Don't let anyone kid you though, no WWD Super Reseller can resell the Super Reseller package. If you want the Super Reseller package, you have to get it directly from WWD. But I have quite a few domainers, designers, developers, SEOs and hosts that just love the Basic or Pro packages that I resell and aren't interested in reselling the same reseller services.

All that said I have absolutely no complaints about WWD. I have been reselling their domains, hosting, software tools and services as Domain Hostmaster.com for 3 years now. I have been reselling Basic and Pro WWD Reseller accounts as w3DN for probably about half that time. They listen to my suggestions and although I may not see the results I have expected, I do see results. Sometimes they may well be an improvement over what I had in mind.

The only problem I see is that WWD really offers too much cross-selling. I don't like this, as when I want to see my shopping cart I don't want to be presented with a page of other stuff before I can "continue" on to my shopping cart. This is actually quite ridiculous, to me. They have implemented a "quick checkout" option that you can use for new sales, but this feature is totally absent for renewals. And the "No thanks. Continue to checkout..." link is nearly hidden next to the huge and obtrusive red "Yes! Add these to my order." graphic button which screams out as if it is the only option on the page that can be clicked. Pretty spammy if you ask me. But, they did install that "Quick Checkout" option at my request, so maybe I just have to make some more requests.

I also have a reseller account with eNom. I have about 3 domains in my account there which I grabbed from the drop club auctions. Quite honestly, I am really aggrevated with my eNom account. The reason is that I can NOT transfer away any domains. I guess that's because I was signed-up under some other guy, so for some reason I can't get my authorization codes to transfer the domains away. I don't even get an interface or javascript link with which to look-up Domain Names. This is really quite outrageous. It is ridiculous to tell someone they have a reseller account that they can't even use, not even for their own domains.

The only reason I tried eNom is because I had heard that they got a whole lot better since I had used them before. I know that a few fellow domainers really like them, but they obviously did not sign-up under anyone else since they can't believe that a person such as myself who signs up under someone else is presented with so many ridiculous problems. But based on this experience, I know that the WWD reseller program RULES. As you may well know, Wild West Domains is a part of the GoDaddy Group, but is a seperate entity (as well as a seperate ICANN Accredited Registrar) from GoDaddy.

And of course, GoDaddy is the #1 Registrar in the world at the moment. GoDaddy got to this position by taking advantage of Network Solution's weakest problems of piss-poor support and grossly over-charging the public for Domain Names. So it is good to have such a big brother.

Wild West Domains only sells through resellers. GoDaddy sells directly to the public. The website and software is developed by another member of the GoDaddy Group, Starfield Technologies. First, products and offers are implemented at GoDaddy and they iron out any problems. This is actually quite helpful since GoDaddy sometimes, through its agressive marketing campaigns, may just stab itself in the foot. IE: GoDaddy was offering a promotion that allowed a user to register Domains for approximately $5.17. Since they pay Net Sol $6.00 per domain, they were actually eating some of the cost. GoDaddy figured out the problem and straightened things out. If WWD gets this promotion, the problems have been worked out by someone who can afford the mistakes (GoDaddy).

At first, WWD web hosting was a little lame. Now, we are offering some great deals on our web hosting plans, and even our new dedicated server plans are rock solid.

Overall, my experience as a Wild West Domains reseller has been fantastic. I really don't understand why the other companies can't do right for thier resellers. I am a little more upfront with my WWD reseller account. I am more than happy to let you know that I am a reseller and why. I honestly can't trust anyone else with my Domains.

If you would like to stop in, please do. I keep my 1-800 Toll-Free USA phone number posted on the homepage should you have any problems.

Domain Hostmaster.com
Complete web hosting and e-commerce solutions (Linux or Windows). Our shared web hosting accounts or dedicated servers use best of breed technologies in a secure world-class data center. Complimenting our web hosting is a complete line of services and products; domain name registration, website builders, SSL security certificates, shopping carts, merchant accounts, traffic tools and more. 24/7 Tech support.

Resell W3 & DN Services
Resell vital internet world wide web and domain name services. Offer your choice of services including domain registrations, transfers, backorders, free domain parking, web hosting, dedicated servers, site builders, traffic tools, SSL security certificates, shopping carts and even merchant accounts. Set your own pricing (within guidelines). Excellent (no inventory) business opportunity. Tech support can be handled by us as your staff.

Thanks! -Doug

johnd12 · **Good review and overview -** 01-09-2006, 09:22 PM

Hi Domainer,

this is actually a good review and overview of WWD. Most of the times people will just post an entry in the forum to pitch their site. You are very honest and upfront and I like that. This is what I call fair marketing practices.

In regards to the annoying cross-selling pages, I would not be concerned too much about it. I bet you they constantly test these out at GoDaddy and it must be that they help generating additional business in the end. Sure, you will have some people who are annoyed by them, but overall it must have a positive impact.

Cheers.
John D.

Domainer · 01-10-2006, 03:44 AM

Hi johnd12...

Thanks for the compliment. The way I see it, since I can't display an "ICANN Accredited" logo on my site, I put the WWD in the spotlight since they are. But you know, I am finding that ICANN is less and less interested in the Domain owner. I had a few complaints with them this summer when I couldn't transfer away my free 1 year dot infos at some "ICANN Accredited" Registrars and they did nothing. It seems to me that "ICANN Accredation" literally means nothing. And so I am less and less interested in getting accredation for myself (I was EXTREMELY interested when I was starting out).

As far as the cross-selling pages go, I know that they are not a big deal to the normal customer who buys a set of domains and puts up a website or two. But as I tend to spend alot of time discussing Domainer issues with other Domainers like myself, I wind-up marketing my services to them. And as I use my own services, I am critical of this one thing. But you are right, I shouldn't get my wife's panties in a twist.

I am currently looking into trying to add little features for customers so that I can consider myself a "value added" reseller.

I'm actually trying to get a CMS ready, but I have very little time at the moment.

Thanks for your comments! -Doug

charly11 · 01-29-2006, 03:51 PM

I have been using WWD myself for a while and have to say that I am very satisfied. These are the things I like most:

- WWD handles all customer service
- Turnkey website with little or no programming requirements
- Good wholesale prices with no revenue share
- Broad range of products to resell
- Ongoing development of new tools and services (i.e. PPC Park Pages)

Some of the things I think could need some improvement:

- Reports in the Control Center
- Ability to track customer funnel from home page to sale
- Not all affiliate revenue is yet shared with resellers (i.e. referrals to Kanoodle)

Overall, this is a good way to get into the reseller business without to much effort to set up the site. However, if you are just looking at buying domains at discounted prices, you may be better of with BlueRazor, another one of GoDaddy's sistem companies, as they charge a much lower annual fee.

masterofdomain · **customer service -** 01-31-2006, 11:12 AM

people forget when shopping for hosting you have a right to look at all the elements. Yes those clickthru pages are a bother. And the cart installation and hookup process could be simplified a bit.. But that's the magic of the Internet.

Customer service is a big deal to me. I joined a new hosting co because my free reseller account was so fraught with virii and problems it was a 50/50 proposition. Breakfast was script errors and milk. Fantastico installs were broken puzzle pieces.

Now I have someone to "talk to" , voice my concern, fix the issue, and get to the next beat.