Hidden danger of hosting resellers

There is a hidden danger of hosting resellers, a danger many resellers themselves are unaware of.

When you host with a reseller, you are not the customer of the hosting company. The reseller is the customer. Let me repeat. You are not the customer of the hosting company. This means the hosting company will not work with you. And you can get locked out of your own web site.

If your reseller “disappears” or should you have a falling out with him, the hosting company will not provide you admin access to your web site or email. They don’t know who you are. It is sometimes possible to prove your authenticity to them by providing various legal documents but this takes time and is not always sufficient. Furthermore, if your reseller was using a hosting company in a foreighn country then your chances diminish greatly.

Right now, we are trying to help a prospect who is going through this exact situation. The prospect contacted us because they are no longer working with their hosting reseller. To complicate matters, their web site got hacked so the hosting company shut down their web site. The prospect is not on speaking terms with their [former] reseller, and the hosting company will not talk to them. Remember, the reseller is the actual customer of the hosting company.

Having been in this industry for 18 years and having been through this scenario in the past, we are reasonably confident we can arrange a successful outcome. However, as of this writing it has not yet happened. Hopefully neither the hosting company nor the reseller will delete the web site during the time this takes. And in the meantime, because of this hidden danger of hosting resellers, their web site is down.