Using DH to resell?

Hello,

I have a few customers that I'd like to host. They all have corporate web sites and I was thinking how you would do if you were me, to host them on DH. I'd like to order a 500GB account from DH and to host all of them on this account but them if one of them goes mad and start sending a spam mailing list, DH will terminate my account right away and all my customers will be without their web site until I solve the situation. Ordering 500GB per account is carried away because most web sites are 1-2MB. What do you think?
Thanks,

Calande.

In reply to:
...if one of them goes mad and start sending a spam mailing list, DH will terminate my account right away and all my customers will be without their web site until I solve the situation.

That is most certainly a potential problem with reselling hosting under an account you own.

You can't even minimize that exposure by controlling all the sites yourself (no client log-in to FTP or shell) as they can *still* spam.

--rlparker

This email spam issue is an interesting one. Under what circumstances will Dreamhost terminate an accout for spamming? Does it have to be through the dreamhost smtp? Does the return address have to be marked as a dreamhost web hosted domain?

In other words, would it indemnify you from the spam rules by using a non-dreamhost mail server?

In reply to:
This email spam issue is an interesting one. Under what circumstances will Dreamhost terminate an accout for spamming? Does it have to be through the dreamhost smtp? Does the return address have to be marked as a dreamhost web hosted domain?

In other words, would it indemnify you from the spam rules by using a non-dreamhost mail server?

Not according to the way I read the Anti-Spam Policy and the information on the DreamHost Abuse Center.

From the Anti-Spam Policy:

In reply to:
Mailing Practices .....

3. Users are responsible for the practices of any affiliate program members they solicit the help of, as if they were hiring an outside advertising agency.

4. Users using either outside advertising companies or 3rd party mailing programs must abide by the same policies and practices as those using DreamHost's own bulk mailing list tools.
,,,

Disablement

1. DreamHost reserves the right to disable any account at any time should it feel there is a reasonable suspicion that it is being used in conjunction with the practice of spamming.

While there may some arguable ambiguity in some of this, the information in the DreamHost Abuse Center makes it pretty clear to me:

In reply to:
Common questions & misunderstandings

There are a number of frequently asked questions we receive about our anti-spam policies, some of which reflect common misunderstandings both about the spam problem and our policies in particular. They are as follows:

"What if I send the email from a non-DreamHost server?"

You are still required to comply with our policies if this mailing is being done in conjunction with our services in any way. That includes emails sent in promotion of a site or domain that we host (ie. you are pointing people toward your site via a link, hosting embedded email graphics on our servers, referring to a DreamHost-hosted email address, etc).

To me, that is pretty clear: If is is not provable confirmed opt-in, and in every other way compliant with DH's Anti Spam policy, and is *in any way* connectible to your DH hosted site, it could result in your account being terminated. And really, that makes perfect sense if they are serious about not being associated with spam operations. wink

--rlparker

Hm, I'd contact DH about the spam thing.

About reselling, I've had a couple clients on DH, and every time I've had them sign up for their own account, rather than just resell my space. It keeps my personal projects separate from their sites. While you might make some extra money from reselling, I think it'd be too much of a hassle. Plus, you can have them put in your email as referring them and get the $97 for yourself.

Just my 2 cents...

In reply to:
To me, that is pretty clear: If is is not provable confirmed opt-in, and in every other way compliant with DH's Anti Spam policy, and is *in any way* connectible to your DH hosted site, it could result in your account being terminated. And really, that makes perfect sense if they are serious about not being associated with spam operations.

This is true, but I do worry then about what I think of as the "rlparker" method of reselling - that is, hosting a domain that you totally control under your account.

If your client chooses to use spam mail marketing completely outside of your control, you could lose everything!

In reply to:
If your client chooses to use spam mail marketing completely outside of your control, you could lose everything!

Well, note that I said "could result in your account being terminated".

I always see that as a distinct possibility, and select my clients accordingly. I also obtain agreement from the client that *the only* email marketing allowed in conjunction with any site I manage must be in complete compliance with the DreamHost Anti-Spam policy, and that *I* must approve of it *before* the first piece of mail is sent.

While it has been rare, I have terminated my business relationship with the occasional problematic client and just "sent him the tarball" of his site saying, "I'm sorry, You will need to make your own hosting arrangements. Good luck in your continued endeavors." wink

I also believe, though I have never had it tested, that a long history of hosting spam-free sites and a demonstrated commitment to continuing to do so, is important to a host deciding how to handle the atypical situation where/if a "rogue" client should "go off the reservation".

--rlparker

In reply to:
If your client chooses to use spam mail marketing completely outside of your control, you could lose everything!

Including domain control registered through Dreamhost ?

Dino

You can always transfer your domain away.

Wholly - Use promo code WhollyMindless for full 97$ credit until 12/11/07.