The Best Domain Reseller Program: How to Choose

Becoming a part of a white-label reseller program is a great way to create extra income on the side. Unlike most entrepreneurs who take the time to build a company from the ground up, resellers can quickly and easily start and scale a business with little capital. This is because resellers do not create the goods and services they sell.

Many providers of domain name registrations and web hosting are resellers. NameCheap, for example, is a leader in the domain name industry with more than 10 million domains under management. However, the company is a part of a reseller program offered by eNom, the world's second-largest domain registrar.

In other words, NameCheap resells eNom's services under its own brand. GoDaddy, another leading domain registrar, also allows other individuals and businesses to white-label and sell their services such as email, hosting, and SSL certificates.

Understanding the Best Domain Reseller Program to Use

In today’s world, there are endless opportunities to open a business, even if you don't have major capital. One way of doing this is by becoming a reseller for a particular product or service. GoDaddy and eNom are the largest providers in the domain name industry.

Also, both companies offer reseller packages that allow individuals and businesses to sell their products under a white-labeled brand.

Overview of GoDaddy and eNom

With almost 9,000 full-time employees in 2019 and 78 million domains under management, GoDaddy is the largest domain registrar in the world. The company was founded in 1997 by Bob Parsons and is currently headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz.

In early 2014, GoDaddy had its initial public offering (IPO), which valued the company at $4.5 billion. At the end of that same year, the company reported $1.38 billion dollars in gross revenue and a net loss of $143.31 million. As of November 2019, GoDaddy’s market capitalization was more than $11.47 billion.

Like GoDaddy, eNom’s history dates back to 1997. The company was based in Kirkland, Wash., and focused on operating as a wholesale business. In 2013, eNom became a subsidiary of the Rightside Group, a publicly-traded domain name conglomerate, before being sold to Tucows in January 2017 for $83.5 million. 

Startup Costs

To become a reseller for GoDaddy, one must choose between two packages. The Basic Reseller package costs $8.99 and is recommended to account owners who intend to have no more than 25 customers. The Pro Reseller package goes for $14.99 a month.

The main difference between the two packages is the pricing that account owners receive. Resellers on the basic plan receive up to 20% off GoDaddy’s retail pricing, while subscribers of the Pro plan get as much as 40% off GoDaddy’s pricing. While the price of being a reseller is quoted at a monthly rate, the minimum contract that a GoDaddy reseller can buy is one year.

On the other hand, becoming an eNom reseller only requires the payment of a one-time enrollment fee. The enrollment fee is based upon one of three packages selected. The Silver, Gold, and Platinum plans cost $50, $199, and $795, respectively. Like GoDaddy, the difference between each of eNom’s reseller plans is product pricing. As the name suggests, Platinum resellers get the highest discounts on pricing.

Notably, eNom also offers an extra service to its resellers called the Instant Reseller, which gives them a ready-made online storefront to start selling in minutes. This service does come with an additional cost of $99 per year. Both of GoDaddy's reseller packages come with a white-label storefront, and as such, there is no additional cost for this service with them.

With regard to .com registrations and renewals, GoDaddy's Pro Reseller offers the best pricing at $8.29/year, when compared to $9.00/year offered by eNom's Platinum Reseller.

Product Offerings

GoDaddy and eNom do a good job providing their resellers with a wide range of products and services to sell. These include SEO and marketing services, web hosting, and SSL certificates. Both companies allow their resellers to choose what exactly they would like to sell on their storefront.

However, eNom requires their Instant Resellers to offer the same domain name extensions they sell, while GoDaddy gives their resellers an option to select which extension they’d like to offer.

Sub-Account Sales and Support

GoDaddy's reseller packages come with 24/7 phone support for resellers and their sub-accounts. This is perfect for resellers who may not have the time or technical knowledge to deal with customer service issues. GoDaddy will provide white-labeled customer support, so when customers of resellers call the support line, they won’t know that GoDaddy is providing the support.

Though eNom provides 24/7 phone support as well, it is only available to resellers. This means eNom resellers will have to directly provide support to their customers. In some cases, this can be a good thing, as some resellers may prefer to build a relationship with their sub-accounts.

Brand Customization

Both GoDaddy and eNom provide their resellers with a range of storefront templates to choose from. Resellers can customize the look and feel of their storefront by doing things like changing the colors and adding a logo.

For eNom account owners who do not use the Instant Reseller, there is the option to build a storefront from scratch and connect it with eNom's application program interface (API). GoDaddy also allows this option, however, they require API resellers to pay a yearly fee of $150.