HELP: Managing Hosting Setups and Billing

[action_scripter]

hi, i run a small hosting business with about 5-10 signups a week.

right now, i'm doing everything manually.

1. signupform comes in via email
2. i verify payment (usually by cheque or direct debit into my bank accounts), sometimes via paypal.
3. i manually register the domain name manually with my registrar
4. i setup the account with WHM
5. I enter the new account's Cpanel to edit the "Under Construction" page to reflect his domain name and any setup information
6. i then email the customer the login / password.

Now, that usually takes me 5-10mins.

Is there any way to "automate" this process?

I've seen services like Modernbill and Perlbill.. but they are quite expensive and if i used those services, i wouln't be profitable already.

Also, these scripts usually work on live CC gateway systems. Sometimes, i need to wait for 3 days for the cheque to arrive / clear before i can set up the account. Or sometimes, the customer only debits my account at the end of the day. when he/she passes an ATM.

What do you guys use?

[chin]

I am using one script called ClientExecto do the billing process.

Its supposed to be an automated process too.

You can take a look at www.clientexec.com for demo.

Or you can try whmautopilot.com which will integrate with your WHM and automate the whole set up process..

My new acct set up is almost the same as yours

[Hostings]

My job is not as much as yours, i usually do till the signup and payment part. The tech part are done by my helpers .. usually for free or cup of coffee .. :D

[action_scripter]

Originally posted by chin
I am using one script called ClientExecto do the billing process.

Its supposed to be an automated process too.

You can take a look at www.clientexec.com for demo.

Or you can try whmautopilot.com which will integrate with your WHM and automate the whole set up process..

My new acct set up is almost the same as yours

Clientexec looks good.. with built in support tik and invoice pdf system. WHMautopilot doesn't have these yet.

Hmmm.. US$99. Does Clientexec do the domain checking or do i still need to do that manually? also, i guess all orders will be placed in a pending list, until i verify the payment and "release" the order?

[chin]

well I haven't really implement it fully... just for billing purpose...

[action_scripter]

Originally posted by chin
well I haven't really implement it fully... just for billing purpose...

Hi, just checked it and it doesn't have WHM or Cpanel setups. Just a billing and client manager... sigh.. have to keep looking.. :<

[chin]

WHMautopilot provides full integration with your Cpanel as well as WHM, you can check out www.whmautopilot.com or download the demo to try it out.

[action_scripter]

Originally posted by chin
WHMautopilot provides full integration with your Cpanel as well as WHM, you can check out www.whmautopilot.com or download the demo to try it out.

Hmmm but every $$$ leh :(

[jeremy]

Missed this thread until now :)

I'm using ModernBill right now for the signup, billing, account setup procedure and love the process.

Previously i was doing it the same way as you did. Very tedious so I decided to invest in modernbill.

Here's how a signup works out for my side:

1) Customer enters domain name to purchase .
2) ModernBill does a whois and displays whether the domain is available + displays 2 other domain extentions of your choice. (like user chooses abc.com. -> MB displays results for abc.net & abc.org as well)
3) User signs up and moves on to payment.
4) MB captures order and sends signup email
5) MB captures payment from payment processor (I use Paysystems.com)
6) MB credits user the invoice paid & applies payment to the respective invoice
--- Until now we don't have to do anything on our end. Below is what we need to do---
7) I login to the administrative section of MB & head to the account creation section
8) Activate user account.
9) Click 1 button for creating a CPanel account for the user
10) Click 1 button for registering the domain for the user (requires eNom account)
11) Click 1 button for creating a forum account for the user (Stopped using this for now. Users prefer to create their own account)
12) MB automatically emails the user with your email template informing the user of his account setup + account details.
13) Only thing we need to create ourselves is the PerlDesk account which we use for support issues. There's a modernbill hack for perldesk but I haven't had time to test it out yet :)

Note: 11 & 12 can be simplified by clicking a 'Run All' option but I like to run them 1 by 1 :D

So all in all, modernbill is rather automated and saves quite a lot of time. Especially if you have quite a few signups a day (which I don't :( ) But still, time is money. ;)

[chin]

Yes but considering with the limited funding we had ....

[michaelfoo]

Hmm... why don't you consider Nixt.org since $$ does matter to you? NixtManager is FOC ;)