Who doesn’t tend to make some extra money? Nobody, for sure!
In this era, all of us are working hard to run our lives in the best way possible. There may be no time left to work more and make some extra income. However, it doesn’t mean earning additional money is impossible.
There are two great approaches that can help you earn extra income. Signing up for a reseller program and becoming an affiliate! And guess what? This blog post is about reseller vs affiliate. We are going to compare these two methods and determine which is best suited for you.
First, let’s take a closer look to find out the meaning of being a reseller. Keep reading to learn more.
What is a reseller program?
Be Simply said, a reseller program means buying services or products from a vendor and reselling it to your pool of customers. It’s similar to traditional businesses in many ways.
When someone owns a traditional business, they usually buy products and offer them to the consumers visiting the store.
Perhaps the most significant difference is the branding. Resellers often market the service or product under their own brand name. Classic businesses usually don’t care about it; the products go to customers’ shipping carts with the vendor’s name.
When you sign up for a reseller program, you only have to care about marketing and sales. Sometimes it requires a bit of customer support too. But you don’t have to worry about the manufacturing phase or things like that; the bigger company you are buying from is responsible for most of the matters.
As a result, the reseller has much fewer responsibilities.
Being a reseller is an excellent choice if you are planning to start a business and are in shortage of resources. There is no need for notable investments and providing the infrastructure; the parent company will do it all.
Resellers usually buy in bulk, so the price is lower for them. For example, they buy 100 of product A for 100 USD. The total price of the product is 10 USD. Hence, the reseller can resell the product to his/her community of users with 9 USD profit.
The reseller program can be used as a side hustle or even a full-time job, as it requires time and energy to succeed.
There is a concept named white labeling in this field. When you work as a reseller and contract with one or more providers, purchasing the product or service with no names on it is possible. Therefore, you can write down your own name and build a brand.
So if you have a network of customers interested in a particular product or service, there is no need to be a manufacturer to fulfill their requirements. You can work as a reseller, buy the goods from a big vendor with a lower price, and resell them to your community.
Let’s talk about the benefits of this kind of program.
Merits of being a reseller:
Being a reseller is a great way to earn some extra money. Although, as I said earlier, many take this approach as their primary job.
Here are the most notable advantages of working as a reseller.
Possible to start with low budget
To start a business from scratch, you’ll need a lot of money!
Creating a production line can be too expensive for a new business owner. Additionally, they should spend a lot on hiring experts and needed staff to keep the business running.
In simpler words, a business needs a high amount of investments to start. But when it comes to resellers, it is highly affordable. As mentioned earlier, you don’t have to buy expensive machines and worry about the production line in the shoes of a reseller.
Therefore, starting a business as a reseller with less budget is possible. You must have enough money to buy the products in bulk, which we said are cheaper than usual. That’s all! Marketing and finding customers are the next steps in the process.
There is room for scalability
Growth potential is one of the most important factors to consider when starting a new business. Are you planning to get to the top of the competition, or are you fine with where you stand right now?
If you want to grow your business rapidly, being a reseller won’t let you down.
Amplifying your revenue is feasible when you’re able to attract more customers and grow your network.
There are no limits, and you can get as big as existing giants in the market. All you have to do is buy more and sell more. Of course, it requires more work, but if you dream of flying high, it gives you the opportunity to.
You can create your own brand
Remember we’ve talked about a concept named white labeling? With that, you can build your brand and try selling goods in the market.
Not everyone can create big brands by making their own products and services! With a reseller program, all can build their brand in a specific niche.
This is one of the benefits of this kind of work. If you work with high-quality providers, you’ll inherit their good reputation as you sell the satisfying product or service with your name on it!
There are downsides too!
Demerits of being a reseller:
Not everything is cool about being a reseller. There are some serious challenges that you should know before signing for one.
Competing on price is impossible
Right, resellers buy in bulk and cheaper than others, but when competing, can a reseller sell at a lower price than the giant providers? Short answer: NO!
Opponents are always around. They are trying to win the race and have more customers than you. You can’t defeat them regarding selling cheaper when you are a reseller, especially when the competitor is a parent company that produces its own product or service.
So to win the competition, offering lower prices is off the table. You must focus on other competitive advantages.
No full control over products or services
As we said, you are not responsible for product design and manufacturing as a reseller. Although it may sound like an advantage, it can cause trouble too.
What if severe problems with the service or product make customers unhappy? The kind of problems that you don’t have any control over it! Like the low quality of materials.
What can you do? You can stand in a long line to inform the parent company about the issue. Do they care? Not necessarily! So what happens after that?
If the problem continues to exist, you’ll probably lose some dissatisfied clients. Then you have to look for another vendor whose products and services meet the standards of your customer base.
According to the main title, this blog post is about reseller vs affiliate. Thus, we are going to cover affiliate marketing in the next section.
What is an Affiliate program?
Working in an affiliate program is much easier than the reselling approach. If being a reseller is like driving a manual car, being an affiliate marketer is like enjoying the view seating in a self-driving car!
The affiliate program works with a link! A unique trackable link for each individual to share with their audiences. Let us cite an example.
Assume you are an Instagram influencer with over one million followers involved in site development.
There is a hosting company that offers affiliate programs for people like you, the influencers. You can simply sign up for this program and get your unique link! Return to your Instagram account and share a story saying:
“Hey there, I recently found an amazing hosting company with the highest uptime possible; use this link to see their plans and purchase the one you need.”
After that, each customer that used your link to get to the site and purchchased a package, will bring you a commission.
With reseller programs, although resellers have few responsibilities, they should still deal with customers and fulfill their needs to engage them to come for more. But in affiliate programs, all you have to do is share a link and ask your audience to click on it.
Some companies give commissions based on the traffic from an affiliate link, while most offer commissions for each purchase made through the affiliate link.
Because of that, it’s not always guaranteed that each click will make you a fortune.
There are some ways you can earn extra money using affiliate programs:
- Create a review website in a specific niche and put affiliate links for each product you are reviewing.
- Use your newsletter to send affiliate links to your email list subscribers.
- Add affiliate links to the content on your website or social media account.
Let’s see what pros and cons this kind of program has.
Merits of being an affiliate:
Well, there are lots of good points about working as an affiliate marketer. Here are some:
Super easy to start
When comparing reseller vs affiliate, it’s fair to say becoming an affiliate is even easier than becoming a reseller. Just partner with the company offering the program and get your link.
After that, you can share it with your audiences in a way that suits you best.
Some people send the link to their email subscribers, while others post it in a blog post related to the product or service.
The more purchases made through your link, the higher your commission.
Generating effortless passive income
Do you like making money without trying so hard? Who doesn’t?
Affiliate programs help you with this. Literally, you don’t have to do anything. As we said, just share the link and encourage your audience to click on it and make a purchase.
You can expect this revenue to be ongoing when you have large, engaging audiences, especially when you put the link within the content on your website. As your content ranks high on search engine results, more people will likely click on it and generate more commission for you.
Minimum to Zero responsibilities
You have nothing to do with the product’s origin, manufacturing, consumers’ troubles, etc. All you have to do is share the link dedicated to you. That’s your entire responsibility.
In this blog post about reseller vs affiliate program, you’ve learned that a reseller often has to deal with and support customers’ needs.
An affiliate marketer isn’t accountable for any of the above!
However, here we have the trust factor. If the affiliate marketer shares a link to a product or service that is extremely poor quality, the buyers who made a purchase, won’t trust the affiliate again.
So, it’s important not to participate in just any affiliate programs. Choose the ones that you know will satisfy your audience.
Demerits of being an affiliate:
Although making money with affiliate programs sounds exciting, there is one downside you should be aware of:
You have no role
Some people want to take control of everything and get their hands dirty. If you are so, we suggest you avoid any affiliate programs.
You can’t do anything to change any tiny part of the whole business. You are just a seller who will get his/her commission.
Many find this a huge benefit, but as mentioned, some people are thriving for control. The latter won’t see being an affiliate as a good opportunity.
You learned what reseller programs and affiliate programs are. Now, it’s time to examine reseller vs affiliate quickly. Let’s continue.
Reseller vs Affiliate at a glance
These approaches are similar in many ways; however, there are some major differences that we’ve already discussed in explaining each under different headings.
Look at the table below to understand distinctions better:
| Reseller Program | Affiliate Program |
| More control over product or service | Less control over product or service |
| Customization is possible | Customization is very limited |
| More responsibilities | Less responsibilities |
| More work required | Less work required |
| Earning profit by marking up the price | Earning commission with ever purchase made through the link |
Besides all the above in the table, the relationship between affiliates and customers differs from that between resellers and consumers.
As a reseller, you are a bridge connecting the supplier to the final customer. You get the product and sell it to individuals and businesses.
In contrast, you only promote a specific product or service as an affiliate. If anyone gets to the payment process and finalizes the shopping through your link, you’ll get an amount of money or credit as your commission.
Are you curious about how much money each method can make? It depends.
Many factors are involved when calculating how much income a reseller or affiliate program can expect.
For example, about reselling, you should know how many goods you can sell and how extensive your customer network is. How much profit do you make upon each sale? All of these can affect your final income.
About affiliates, it heavily depends on one fact! Do the ones who click on your link make a purchase? The number of viewers and the product or service’s popularity also matter. If you promote a highly desired creations, the chances are many people will buy it.
If you plan to become a web hosting reseller, the next section is written for you.
How to become a web hosting reseller?
First of all, you should find a hosting company that offers this kind of program. It’s one of the most critical steps. Partnering with good-quality services will protect your reputation as a reseller.
After joining the web hosting plan, create a website and your hosting packages. You can get a dedicated or cloud server and divide it into several spaces in order to sell it to different users.
We said that you could use your own brand name in reselling. Put your name and logo on the services you offer. In other words, customize it with your style! Now that everything seems ready, you have to develop a marketing strategy to raise the awareness of your brand; this way, you can attract eager customers.
In the web hosting business, giving good support to customers is a must. Create a support page on your website and tell them how they can expect the help they need.
After acquiring more customers, contact the parent company you partnered with before. Buy more resources and divide them into more spaces again. This way, you can scale your business.
But why should people come to you when they can go straight for giant host providers?
In many cases, consumers prefer to work with smaller companies, as they offer more customization and are easier to interact with.
If you can provide excellent support for your clients, they will always choose you over the big names in the market.
Next section in reseller vs affiliate is about requirements in becoming an affiliate.
What do you need for a web hosting affiliate program?
The first thing to do is find a web hosting company offering an affiliate program. When you find it, sign up for the program and get your unique link, specifically yours.
After that, you have to promote the link and ask people to click on it. As it is about web hosting, your audience must be the ones with the need for such services.
That is fine if you have one hundred who are related to the topic somehow. But having one million who don’t know what you are talking about, won’t be beneficial.
By promoting the link, your job is over. As said earlier in the blog post, you earn a commission whenever someone purchases through your link.
Encourage your audience to click on your link and buy the hosting package you offer; if they don’t, you earn zero money.
All done! Now let’s wrap up the reseller vs affiliate.
Reseller or affiliate? Which is the better solution for making money?
If you have read the entire blog post, you know this question has no correct answer! It depends on various factors.
Being an affiliate is much easier than being a reseller. Your only responsibility is to share the link made uniquely for you. Also, you have no control over the product or service, just an ambassador who is advertising something.
As a reseller, you have more control over your business. You can build your brand and start marketing and increase sales. Despite affiliate programs, you profit by marking up prices and not a commission per each sale.
Needless to say, you can keep in touch with Zoneit experts and use their advice for starting an affordable hosting reseller program.
We’ve tried to cover every aspect of the affiliate program vs reseller. If questions are still bothering you, don’t hesitate to ask!
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