Looking for an additional hustle these days? If you’ve been loitering around the internet then chances are you might have heard about reseller and affiliate programs. And there’s no doubt about it, when done right, you can make some serious cash on the side from these ventures.
While both concepts have the same goals and core elements, the execution or dynamics of the two are entirely different. As a reseller, you sell a product or service under your own brand name. As an affiliate, you send leads or business opportunities to another brand for a chance of earning a commission.
Why don’t we explore these concepts a bit further?
What is a Reseller?
A reseller, as the name implies, is someone who purchases products (usually in bulk) or offers services that are not originally theirs, with the intent of selling them to their own pool of customers.
In its most basic sense, you purchase the products or services at a lower price from the original business and sell them with markup to gain profit. While anyone can be a reseller of any products or services, building your network to gain significant profit through this method may take time and a lot of sales talk. Finding a great source of what you resell is also a huge advantage, especially if you’ve already developed a good working relationship.
Say you want to start a web hosting company, for example. You lay out all the plans and the things that you need to get a decent business off the ground. But then you realize that you’ll need a large amount of capital and a lot of other things to do so.
This is where reseller hosting makes sense.
In a reseller hosting plan, you get a chance to buy hosting in bulk. This not only gives you a lot of hosting space that you can divide into your future clients' needs. At the same time, you also gain access to a lot of different tools that would otherwise cost you much more to acquire on your own. As a startup, that is not ideal, and most especially for a side hustle.
Also, one huge advantage of being a reseller is that you can brand everything under your own business. That’s why a reseller program does not actually force you to do something entirely different, because the way of doing business is just about the same as with a traditional one.
Pros and Cons of Reselling
With a reselling business, your startup costs are relatively low, since you don’t have to invest in most of the things that you would otherwise need to get it off the ground. As a reseller, you don’t worry about things like manufacturing. All you need to think about is how to get a steady flow of customers and orders.
Reselling should also facilitate growth in your business. You can keep a consistent flow of products and services, as long as your source does not encounter any issues themselves.
A couple of disadvantages though when it comes to reselling is that you do not have total control over the products or services that you’re going to render, since you don’t do the leg work for a lot of aspects in the business flow. When it comes to quality, you are dependent on your source.
Also, there is a possibility of being unable to resell at a competitive price. So, expect to not have a staggering amount of profit upfront. Reselling might sound easy, but depending on the profit that you want to gain, you will need to put in a lot of work.
What is an Affiliate Program?
If reselling sounds like too much work for you, then you might want to try being an affiliate. While being a reseller allows you to run your own business, as an affiliate you are essentially working as a sales rep for the business you are affiliated with.
How do you become an affiliate? Join an affiliate network of the niche you’d like to be in. You will be given a unique link just for you with a tracking code to embed on your website, content, etc.
When someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase, you make a commission. Affiliate programs work because it generally puts all actors involved in a win-win situation.
This is a great way for businesses to get a steady flow of leads and sales and at the same time, allow smaller businesses to earn off of those sales. The most widely utilized affiliate program is that of Amazon.
Pros and Cons of an Affiliate Program
With an affiliate program, how you earn is quite clear and simple. Through this side hustle, you can earn passive income and it’s quite easy to get started. You will also not have a lot of responsibilities, so it’s less work than being a reseller.
But of course, being just an affiliate, you only earn on commission which, to be honest, can’t be a lot depending on the products or services you’re linking to. Sales here are also not guaranteed.
Which One is Best for You?
So where are you at in the reseller vs affiliate debate? I think by now it’s clear what suits you best:
If you want to start a traditional business, be in control of your profit, and are willing to put in the work, then become a reseller.
If you just need a side hustle or additional passive income, then become an affiliate.
Hosting.com's Reseller Hosting and Affiliate Programs
With Hosting.com Hosting’s white-labeled reseller hosting solutions, your clients are guaranteed to have faster websites on our Turbo servers, enjoy better SEO rankings, very low bounce rates, and high conversion rates. You will also be backed by a 24/7 crew of technical support and servers that guarantee 99% uptime.
And yes, we also offer an affiliate program where you are guaranteed to earn a commission every time you send a customer our way. Now that’s what we call a win-win situation.
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