Cost per billable account

[Spirited]

This is not a critical comment, but a question about how best to structure our reseller plans.

1. Background:

The cost structure for the Vortech plans first show a decreasing per unit cost as the plans became more advanced. At certain points the per unit cost starts increasing again. Below is the info for the respective plans -- Cypher Plan, Morpheus Plan, Neo Plan, Zion Plan, Matrix Plan, Reload Plan, Revolutions Plan

Monthly Cost
$35, $45, $60, $100, $200, $300, $400,

Cost Per billable account
$2.33, $1.80, $2.22, $4.00, $5.00, $5.71

Cost Per Cold Fusion account
$35.00, $9.00, $6.00, $5.00, $6.67, $7.50, $8.00

In both cases the resellers' costs dips then goes back up.

This seems to suggest that for a reseller (when reaching an account limit) the best pricing would be signing up for multiple Morpheus accounts, rather than bumping up to the next level? Or, in the case of Cold Fusion multiple Zion.

2. Assuming this assumption is correct? There are still other complications, some I may not be aware of. I would like to hear some others comment on what they find to be the most cost effective approach.

Thanks,

Nick

[cleonard]

I'll share my take on it.

I personally have 2 Cypher accounts. My client base is such that they don't utilize coldfusion, very few dedicated IP's, they don't utilize much bandwidth or disk space. I found utilizing multiple Cypher accounts was the most cost effective method for me.

I end up paying $4 for each signup in the H-Sphere licence charge, but that is far cheaper than upgrading plans just to have more user licences. Somewhere on the board there is an ASP script that allows a person to login on your site and be directed to the correct control panel URL.

The down side:

I've had expenses I wouldn't of had otherwise in domain names and SSL certs (2 instead of 1). I've utilized different extensions to keep the branding the same. (.com and .net) and have one service domain pointed to the "real" one. Only time customers see the .net is in the welcome email for control panel access.

When a ticket is submitted I have to "guess" which admin account it went to.

When I updated plans, knowledge base, custom emails, etc I have to do it twice.

I have to remember that many more logins, passwords

Overall it works for me and my customer base. Won't be long before I need a third one.

I hope that helps

[generic]

In my opinion, convenience is the key, and time is worth money.

It may seem like it costs you more for a larger account, but in the long run the need to purchase two ssl's, two domain names, maintain two sites, etc, will cost you more than the single larger account.

I plan on moving up in plans next month and will go a higher plan rather than getting 2 accounts. Can you imagine having to go through the entire setup process again, just shoot me now!

[mresell]

I have to say cleonard not so sure your coming out ahead...all that will affect your customers. Maybe you can improve management w/ the api. But hey diff strokes. Yeah, I can identify trace some of us have been here for awhile and have had to learn the hard way. That initial signup was a mess.