Start selling hosting with WHMCS on a reseller or master reseller plan

With a reseller or master reseller hosting plan and WHMCS, you can run your own hosting brand without managing servers. Customers order on your website, pay through WHMCS and receive a cPanel account automatically. This guide is a roadmap that links to the detailed steps.

Before you start

• A domain for your brand and, ideally, a separate subdomain for billing, for example billing.yourbrand.com.
• A PayPal business or Stripe account for payments.
• A clear idea of the plans you want to sell.

Choose reseller or master reseller

• Reseller hosting gives you a WHM account to create cPanel accounts for your customers. MdmHost offers the Starter, Advance, Business and Supreme reseller plans – see reseller hosting.
• Master reseller hosting also lets you create your own reseller accounts and sell reseller hosting. MdmHost's VIP Starter, VIP Advance, VIP Business and VIP Supreme plans are on master reseller hosting. The top plan includes a free WHMCS licence and a dedicated IP.

All plans run on cPanel/WHM with LiteSpeed, NVMe storage, CloudLinux, free AutoSSL, daily JetBackup backups and Softaculous, available in Germany, the USA and Singapore.

Set up WHM

1. Open WHM from Services in the MdmHost dashboard.
2. Create hosting packages that match the plans you will sell (disk, bandwidth, mailboxes, databases).
3. Set up private nameservers such as ns1.yourbrand.com if you want full white-label branding, or use the default nameservers.
4. Create a WHM API token for WHMCS under Development → Manage API Tokens.

Install and configure WHMCS

1. Install WHMCS on a cPanel account: install WHMCS on cPanel.
2. Configure your company details, mail and invoices: first configuration.
3. Connect WHM: cPanel/WHM server module.
4. Add the cron job: cron and automation.

Create products and payments

1. Create a product per WHM package: product groups and products.
2. Add payment gateways: PayPal and Stripe.
3. Configure tax if required: tax and VAT.
4. Optionally sell domains with a registrar module: registrar setup.

Launch checklist

• Place a full test order and confirm the cPanel account is created and the welcome email arrives.
• Test suspension and unsuspension on an unpaid test invoice.
• Brand the client area and emails.
• Publish terms of service, privacy policy and an acceptable use policy.
• Set up a support department and email import.
• Harden WHMCS: security checklist.

Supporting your customers

You handle first-line support for your clients; MdmHost's 24/7 human support helps you with the server and WHM side. Escalate server issues through a support ticket with the affected account and the error.

Common mistakes

• Package names in WHMCS that do not exactly match WHM, so provisioning fails.
• Leaving PHP Mail on, so welcome emails land in spam.
• No cron job, so invoices are never generated.
• Unlimited plans you cannot actually support within your reseller limits.

Next steps

• Launch with a promotion.
• Start an affiliate program.
• Set up your helpdesk.