Introduction

VoIP.ms Reseller Portal is intended to help our customers resell our services to end-user client.

With the reseller portal, you can create a white label interface and create a client account. Your client will have access to a full range of telephony features, allowing them to manage their phone system autonomously.

As a reseller, you will have the ability to choose the level of feature management your clients will have access to. Depending on if you already have your billing system or not, the Reseller Portal can be configured to handle client's payment through "Paypal" or with our "API", used to only to manage the client's phone system or both.

This guide describes how to activate and customize the reseller portal, explains how to build packages, how to create and manage client's account and finally also explains the reports.

Through the guide, we will use the term "Client" to refer to the resellers' end users.

To activate your Reseller Interface and to start to customize it, you will need to go to your VoIP.ms Customer Portal, and go on the menu "Reseller" where the navigation bar, and click on the "Reseller Main" link.
At the bottom of the page, you will find the button [Activate].

Reseller Configuration

The reseller configuration page, allows you to manage the major part of your reseller portal and what the end-user see, such as the appearance of your portal, the color of the buttons, your logo, the element/service that you would like to display/withdraw to the end-user view.

It will also give you the possibility to integrate your PayPal account and manage the amount that they can deposit in their account.

This page also offers the option to choose a custom hostname (URL) to give direct access to your reseller portal by using your own domain name.

To access the Reseller Configuration page, you will need to go on the navigation bar and go over "Reseller" then, clicking on "Reseller configuration".

Branded Interface

Version of the reseller system

Once the Reseller Portal is activated, the next step is to select the version of the reseller system.

The portal is in constant evolution and brought us to develop a new interface with a nicer look.

To get the most recent version of the portal and all the capabilities, select "New Version".

Interface & Access

The Interface & Access tab in Reseller configuration is divided into three parts. "Client Interface Access", "Auto Connect Form for Clients" and "DID and FAX Access".

Client Interface Access

The purpose of this section is to show the direct link to your reseller interface in order to give your clients access to their account, CDR and manage their services.

This can be useful to insert a link/button in your business customer portal or indirect communication.

You can use your own domain name (URL) refer to the "Hostname" section.

The purpose of this section is to create a direct link, and HTML code to your reseller interface in order to give your clients access to their account, CDR, and manage the services.

This can be useful to insert a link/button in your business customer portal.

Your client will simply have to fill in the login fields via your website, and they will be automatically redirected to his portal.

DID and FAX Access

With this section, you can set a default rate that will be applied to your client's DIDs, (Voice and Fax) such as the one-time setup fee, when they buy or you add a new DID (Voice and Fax) into their account, the recurring monthly fee and the per-minute incoming rate.

Voice DIDs and Faxes [Beta]

Setup: For every regular phone number (DID voice or Fax) number, the Setup fee is the One-time charge that will be billed to your client when you connect a new DID into your client's account.

However, if you allow the purchase of DIDs through the client's interface (in the package), this will be the one-time fee by default that your client will be charged at the end of the order process.

The amount will be deducted from his virtual account balance.

Monthly cost: When your customer purchases a new (DID voice or Fax) number through their client's interface, your client will be billed this monthly recurring rate each month.

It can be edited when you manually connect a DID to your client's account.

Per minute: When a DID is connected to your client's account, all incoming calls will be billed at this rate per minute.

The rate per minute can be edited when you manually connect a DID number to your client’s account.

E911 Fees [Beta]

Setup: When a client activates a "e911 record" for a DID they have in their account, this will be the one-time setup fee they will be billed on their account balance.

This fee is not recurring and is applied to each new record they submitted to the e911 database.

Monthly cost: When an e911 record is created and successfully activated for a specific DID, the monthly cost entered will be the one that your client will be charged each month at the same time as his DID's monthly fee (the DID's billing date).

SMS/MMS Fees [Beta]

Incoming SMS: This is the amount your client will be charged each time a standard incoming text message (SMS) is received.

Outgoing SMS: This will be the fee your client will be charged each time a standard text message is sent.

Incoming MMS: This is the amount that will be charged to your customer each time they receive an incoming multi-media text message (MMS).

Outgoing MMS: This will be the fee your client will be charged each time a multi-media text message (MMS) is sent.

Call Recording Fees [Beta]

Per-Minute: When the call recording feature is enabled for your client's sub-account and/or voice DID, this will be the per minute charge that will be billed to their account. (To give him access to this feature, it must be activated in his "Package").

Branding Management

In this section, you will be able to customize the look and some components that are appearing on your Reseller client's interface.

It will give you the possibility to customize multiple things, such as the title of your reseller client's interface and the colors for the client's interface to reflect your brand.

Use the button [preview] to see the changes made before saving your changes.

Title and Colors

The title will appear as the title of the window and at the top of the client's interface when a user is logged in.

The color of the texts, layouts such as the background, navigation bar, links and text can be changed with the HTML color code or with the color picker.

A preview button is also available to see the color changed before applying your change.

Edit buttons

Some buttons will be displayed in the client's interface to manage different services.

You have different types of buttons, such as the primary, the success, the exit and the delete buttons.

Depending on the action your client would like to do, the proper button will be reflected.

The background color of the button can be customized as well as the text color.

They can be customized by entering the HTML color code or by using the color picker.

Edit Panels

Some display panels are used on different cards in the reseller client's interface such as cards to display the charges and the payments, the total of call etc.

Images

With this section, you can customize multiple part of the client’s interface by adding your logo at different places of the portal.

You can customize the background image and the logo used at the login page, the header image when your client is logged in the client's interface and the logo over the content page (on top of the service column).

Use the [Preview] button to have a preview of your images before applying your changes.

Logo/Images can be uploaded, or you can use a URL.

Display Elements

This tab allows your client to manage his SIP/IAX password and the information that can be displayed or hidden in the client interface.

Display SIP and IAX password

This tool allows showing or hide the end-user password in their client interface under [Services] and [My Services].

Display and allow reset password

With this feature, you can show or hide the link "Forgot your password?" on the login page of your client interface.

If displayed: The end-user will receive an email to reset his password.

You can customize the body of the email under the "Message" tab of the Reseller Configuration page.

See the section Message below to know more.

Signup Form Fields

Use this option if you want to give your clients the opportunity to open their client account autonomously.

To open an account, Clients will have to provide each information selected by check box.

When a client creates his account, he will receive an email that his account is awaiting activation.

The new account will have the status "WAIT" at the page "Manage Client's Accounts" under the reseller portal view, which means that you must activate the client account through your portal, whereby he will not be able to access the interface.

At this point, you will be able to create a sub-account for this client to allow them to connect a device such as a PBX, an IP Phone, a softphone or an ATA.

When the account is activated, the default account balance management is set to "SOFT".

The client's account will not be suspended if their balance reaches $0.

The client will be able to use the service, even if the balance in their accounts is $0.

If happening, their accounts may reach a negative balance. This will represent the amount they owe you.

Once the client's account is activated, you can set the balance management to "HARD".

The client's account will be suspending when his account balance reaches $0.

When the customer account is activated, they will be able to start using their account in a standalone mode. This means they will have access to the default service view that you have set up in the [Services] tab in the main reseller configuration. But no package associated.

Services

In this section, we explain how to manage which service or feature the end-user has access to manage in the client interface.

View settings

With this option, you will have the possibility to choose between 3 types of view, standard view, Simple View and Simple View (Hide Service Page).

The simple view: will allows your client to see his client interface portal in a simpler way. This will hide some features like

- The Call Types filters in the CDR (busy, answered, failed and no answer).

- The panel "This month" and "today's" amount spent on the Balance page.

- Some services specific information (Register type, Allowed codecs, etc.) on the services page

- And some other information that would not be useful for the user.

Services (Show)

In this section, you can select which services will be displayed in the client's interface and which services will not be available for your client.

If you have not chosen to customize the display view and the services authorized in your package plan, we suggest disabling the services in this page and use the in-package service settings instead. In-package service settings will give you more control over how you want to manage the offered service per client and per user within a client’s account.

Messages

This tab will allow you to customize various texts and messages of the client's interface, such as the Welcome Text, the Low Balance Email, Reset Password Recovery Email and Reset Password Completed Email.

Welcome Text

This is the message appearing in the Dashboard section of the client's interface.

The first thing the end-user see when he is accessing the client's interface is the dashboard, including your custom Welcome message.

You can fully customize it by choosing the font, color, size and add images with the text editor.

Low Balance Email

If you have configured your client to receive a notification when their balance reaches a certain threshold, you can customize this email they will receive.

You can customize the body of the email by adding some essential information, such as the current balance and their threshold.

These are the possible [variable] you can add to the email. Each [variable] will be replaced by the proper information when sent.

[firstname]: Will be replaced by the client's first name stated in the client's account.

[lastname]: Will be replaced by the client's last name stated in the client's account.

[balance]: Will be replaced by your client's current balance account

[threshold]: Will be replaced by your client’s balance threshold set in his account.

Reset Password URL Recovery Email

You can customize the body of the email your clients will receive when they use the link "Forgot my password" from the login screen to reset their client's account password.

These are the possible [variable] you can add to the email. Each [variable] will be replaced by the proper information when sent.

[firstname]: Will be replaced by your client's first name stated in the client's account.

[lastname]: Will be replaced by your client's last name stated in the client's account.

Reset Password Completed Email

When your client has reset his password successfully, they will receive a second email confirming that the password has been reset successfully. You can also customize this one.

These are the possible [variable] you can add to the email. Each [variable] will be replaced by the proper information when sent.

[firstname]: Will be replaced by the client’s first name stated in the client's account.

[lastname]: Will be replaced by the client’s last name stated in the client's account.

Payment

The reseller portal and client's interface offer a payment processing tool.

You can link your business PayPal account to receive your client deposit directly into your business PayPal account.

All payments made in the client's interface are automatically credited to your client's virtual balance.

To enable this feature, you will need to input your PayPal email account, input the amounts your customers can deposit.

Each amount will be displayed via a drop-down menu. The different amounts that you have established must be separated by a comma.

Hostname

By default, you have the generic URL including your VoIP.ms ID in it to allow your client to access their client interface. The domain name is voipinterface.net.

You can customize this URL with a custom hostname associated with your current domain name. You can request the change for a one-time fee of $10.

Once done, your client will have the ability to use your custom hostname to access your white-label client interface.

In your domain management tool, you will need to configure a hostname with an A RECORD in your DNS that points to 184.172.106.205.

The hostname usually consists of host.domain.tld.

For example, if your domain is voipxyzservice.com you should enter a hostname that looks like interface.voipxyzservice.com.

Manage Rates and Packages

This section of the reseller portal will allow you to manage custom packages and associate them to your client with his sub-account. To create a new package click on the button .

You can customize your outbound markup, your default rate per minute for a specific destination, create a bundle of free minutes or free zone and customize the services and features you want to give your client access to.

In this section, we will review these tabs and their content.

Create new package

Details Tab

Package name: The package name will be the name of your package.

The package name will appear in the transaction history of your client.

Outbound markup: The outbound markup is a benefit you want to have on the outbound calls. You can set a fix amount or a percentage, or both.

The Outbound Markup is calculated on top of your per-minute cost rate.

Example: Your VoIPms Cost is: 0.009

Fix Rate: 0.0025$

Percentage Rate: 20%

Your client will be charged: 0.0138$/minutes

Pulse:

The "Pulse" is the billing increment.

This is the charge increment you will use for this specific package.

For instance, a pulse of 60 will make calls charged by the minute or having a pulse of 6 will make calls being charged every 10 seconds.

You can read more about this in our Calls Cost article.

Canada and International Route:

For termination (outbound call), VoIP.ms offers two different routes (Value and Premium) for Canada and only a Premium route option for the United States.

You can choose between Value and Premium Route for client's International calls.

VoIP.ms to VoIP.ms Calls:

By checking this box, you will allow free calls between VoIP.ms customer.

The free internal extension to the extension calling is free by default.

Fees Tab

Monthly fee:

Here, you can input a value you want to charge as the monthly base rate.

Setup fee:

This is to charge a predefined one-time fee when connecting the package to a client.

Free minutes Tab

Free total:

This option is to offer free minutes (inbound & outbound calculated).

Free minutes will be calculated from the billing date for the package and will be calculated in total rounded minutes (for example, 3 minutes 11 seconds will be calculated as 4 minutes).

Reseller system configuration

Sub account:

User can edit sub account

If you allow your client to edit their sub accounts, they will have access to manage the sub account setting.

If enabled, the end-user will be able to modify details of the sub account such as Password, Device Type, Authentication Type, CallerID Override, Music on Hold, Allowed Codecs, DTMF Mode and NAT.

The description of this is also described in the client's interface guide.

Services configuration on the reseller

Type of configuration

This option determines the configuration of the services that will be shown in the client's interface.

Default configuration

When the Default Configuration is set, the services displayed will be the ones configured at [Reseller] > [Client Branding and Access] > [Services tab].

Package configuration

If the [Package Configuration] is selected, you will be able to set which services a client or a user within the same client's account will be able to manage.

View Setting

The View Setting options offer the ability to display or not information in the CDR and on the Balance page or to remove the service page view in a bulk way for a specific user.

Your current view is set to:

Standard View

The client's user will see every available information and service.

Simple View

This hides some features like:

Call Types (busy, answered, failed & no answer) filters in the CDR

This month and today's amount spent on the Balance page

Services-specific information (Register type, Allowed codecs, etc.) on the services page

Simple View (Hide Services Page)

This view will change the same displayed information as “Simple View”, but will also hide the service page and withdraw all the service/feature management options.

Services (Show)

In this section, you can select which services will be available and which services will not be available for your client or a specific user within your client's account.

Simply enable or disable the service to allow which feature the client can (or not) manage by themselves.

Moreover, you can withdraw all money-related components from the client's interface.

Additional information at the Tips & Trick section.

DIDs / incoming calls charges:

Edit your packages

Sub Account Relation With Package

The package and the sub account are closely related. You need to link the package to the sub-account and not to the client's account.

That being said, in a Hosted-PBX setup, you can create packages to reflect a "per user" pricing, allow or restrain your client from managing specific features.

If you connect your own PBX, you can create a package that will reflect the overall billing/pricing of the client and chose which service/feature they can manage by themselves.

Edit Rate – (Per Area rates)

If you want to set different rates depending on the destination of the call, you can do this with the edit rates icon from the package, all the custom rates you enter there will override the global markup. You can set a custom rate for all the calls to USA or Canada, by country or Calling code.

Packages specific settings

Rates changed per area with this function will affect only the related packages and the related user connected to this package.

Free Zone

This function allows offering free zone calling in bulk per country, per calling code/prefix or per a maximum calling per minute cost rate.

Manage client's account

This part of the reseller portal is to create and manage the client's account.

When arriving on this page, there is a quick view of all active client's accounts.

We can find the User ID, the Email / Client username, Phone number, Status, and the Last login date.

It is also where you can Edit Client (1), Manage Client (2) and Login to clients' interface (3)

See picture below:

How to add (create) a client

To create a client, simply go to over the [Reseller] tab, then [Manage Client's Accounts] and [Create a new client account].

Once you click on [Create a new client account] you will arrive on this page.

See below the picture, the description of each field.

Firstname* = First name of your client.

Last name* = Last name of your client.

Company = Name of the company of your client. (if applicable).

Address = Address of service of your client.

City = City of the service address of your client.

State = City of the service address of your client.

Country = Country of the service address of your client.

Zip = Zip Code of the service address of your client.

Email = The email address of your client. It will also be used as the username for your client to have access to the client's interface.

Password = Your client password to access the client's interface.

Phone number = The contact phone number of your client.

Next billing date = The next date the charges associated to the packages will be applied to the client's account.

Setup fees = When you created the Packages, if you did input a Setup fee, you can charge them at the creation of the client's account by checking this box.

Balance Management:

You can use this option to automatically suspend your client’s services if their account balance reaches 0$.

Sub account:

You can create or connect an already existing sub account to the client's account.

Sub account connections

Packages are connected to the sub account and the sub account is connected to the client's account.

You need at least one sub account connected to the client's account to enable a package to the client's account.

Edit Client

This function is to edit client's information, delete client's accounts or set a Low balance email threshold.

Once a client's account is created, you will see his information layout like this:

Client information

Here you can edit previously input client's information.

Refer to the previous section for more information.

Balance Management

You can use this option to automatically suspend your client's service if their balance reaches 0$.

Delete Client

This function is to delete a client's account completely. This action cannot be reversed.

Low Balance Email

You can set the portal to send an email to the client when his balance reaches a threshold of your choice between 10$ and 500$.

The email can be sent to a custom email address which it can be different from the client’s interface username.

Manage client

Once you click on the icon, you will have access to Assign Package, apply payment or charges manually, see the history of transactions of the client, link or unconnect phone or fax numbers and unconnect sub account.

Finally, you get an overall view of what is connected to a client's account and the routing of the DIDs for this given client.

Assign a package

This function allows assigning a package to a sub account.

Once you click on [assign package], you will be requiring selecting an existing sub account or create a new one.

When you click on [Next], you will land on a sub account configuration page.

If it is a new sub account, simply fill all the needed information.

On this page, to complete the package assignment, scroll down to "Reseller Configuration", use the drop-down menu and select the appropriate package.

Go to the bottom of the and click "Update Account"

Add Payments/Charges - Transaction history

This option simply gives the ability to write payment or charges manually to the client's account.

It is also where we can see the history of transactions.

Whether is a payment or a charge, it is possible to write the amount and the description of the transaction.

Each manual transaction will be dated for the same day in the transaction history.

The transaction history will show each payment/deposit and each charge.

You also have the option to delete a transaction.

Add Phone/Fax DIDs to your clients

This function is to connect a DID to an already linked sub account.

It is also here the reseller can set incoming per minute rates and DIDs monthly charges, a call forwarding and set-up a voicemail.

In the column [# Phone / Fax numbers] click on the link [add phone numbers] to connect a DID to a client's account.

The following section will explain the DID connections page and rates configuration.

Connect a DID for charging

This submenu will offer, already purchased/ported-in, available DIDs you have in your VoIP.ms account.

Use the drop-down menu to select the DID or click on [Advance] to connect multiple DIDs to the same sub-account.

Setting up the charges for those DID(s)

This submenu is useful to set a monthly charge for the DID(s), a set-up fee and a custom per minute rate.

If in the previous submenu, you selected multiple DIDs, the monthly charge will be multiplicated by the same number of DIDs selected. Same result for the setup rate.

The option [Set per minute rate] is to set a per-minute cost on the incoming call received on a given DID.

Forwarding these DID(s) to a local number

This submenu allows creating a call forwarding to a local phone number as a cell phone instead of routing the incoming calls to an IP phone or an IVR.

Add a voicemail

This submenu allows creating and connecting a voicemail to the selected DID(s).

To create a voicemail from this menu, simply check the box "Add a voicemail for these number(s)" and complete all the field.

At the field "Email" mention the email address, the client wants to receive his voicemail messages in a wave format.

Finally, click on [Connect DID(s) to client] to confirm the connection of those DIDs to the given client.

How to connect a sub-account to a client

There are two methods to connect an existing or a new sub-account to a client.

Assign package

• Under the [Sub Accounts] tab, go to [Manage Sub-Accounts].
• Locate the existing sub account you wish to connect and click on the edit icon
• Scroll down and locate the [Reseller configuration] section.
• Choose your client, package and billing date. You can apply the one-time setup fee by checking the box. (Only if you have specified a one-time setup fee in your package.)

Create a sub account

• Under the [Sub Accounts] tab, go to [Create Sub-Account].
• Fill in all the necessary fields for your client.
• Locate the [Reseller configuration] section.
• Choose your client, package and billing date. You can apply the one-time setup fee by checking the box. (Only if you have specified a one-time setup fee in your package.)

How to unconnect sub-account or DID

Before deleting a client’s account or to simply withdraw a user and/or a DID within a client’s account, you will be required to unconnect the sub account and/or the DID.

Simply go to the “Manage Client’s accounts” page (Under Reseller) then click on the "Manage client" icon beside the chosen client.

Once in the client’s account, it is possible to individually unconnect a sub account (user/device), a DID or a fax number.

Unconnect a Sub account:

Unconnect a Voice DID:

Unconnect a FAX number:

Activate client (autonomous signup)

When your client signed up directly with your signup link. Their account will be automatically created with a "WAIT" status.

You will need to activate the account through your portal in the section "Manage Client's Accounts".

Click on the edit icon beside the profile of your client.

When in the profile you will find the [Activate client] button and the Delete client button.

Login into client's interface

In the "Manage client's Accounts", you will find a blue arrow button ,

This function is to access the client's interface to see it as the client sees it.

It can be useful to create a feature component on behalf of the client.

Reports

In the [Reports] Tab you can generate the Call Detail Records for the calls your clients have made and received.

This will show you the total net earnings gained by establishing the rates on the created packages and gather the information, either per user or for all customers connected to the reseller portal.

Reports are divided in the following categories:

Global CDR

For a selected period, this report gives a Call Detail Record overall view of all users combined.

The cost, the selling price and net profit for each call.

You can also see all the calls (incoming and outgoing) from all your clients.

Per User CDR

For a selected period, this report gives a Call Detail Record overall view of a specific user.

Your cost, your selling price and the net profit for each call.

Per User FAX

For a selected period, this report gives an overall view of a specific user faxes usage.

It also displays the cost, the selling price and the net profit for each fax.

Financial Report

This is a month-to-month view of revenues, deposits and costs related to all the reseller’s clients.

Sub Accounts Report

List of all sub-accounts connected to the reseller clients, with related information.

Here you will find a list of the sub account's associated clients, sub-account, sub account’s associated packages and DID numbers associated with each.

DIDs Report

List of all DID's connected to the reseller's clients, with related information such as related package, associated sub accounts and the rate center of each DID.

Useful API methods with the reseller portal

Reseller Tips & Tricks

Tip #1 - Hide VoIP.ms PoP name with your custom domain name (hostname).

If you have your own DNS server managing your domain name or if your registrar offers you the possibility to manage the "DNS zone" of your domain name, you can create a new host that will point to the IP address of the desired PoP server.

• The new record needs to be a type A (A Records) with the value of your choice. (E.g. "voip1" that will be voip1.domain.tld).
• The TTL value will be 300 seconds and the pointer/IP will be the IP address of the wished PoP Server.
• If the class is needed to specify, indicate IN (for internet).

Tips #2 - Using your own payment gateway.

By using our SOAP and REST/JSON API, you have the ability to use your own payment gateway instead of the integrated Paypal API option.

You will simply need to add into your customer’s database the USER ID associated to your client database.

When your client uses your existing customer portal to process his payment, you can execute a query using our API when the payment is successfully added.

You will simply need to use the method "addPayment" of our API, specify the UserID, the Amount and a description.

The payment will automatically be added into the proper Client account under the VoIP.ms reseller client portal.

If wished, you can indicate in the welcome message, a link to redirect your customer if they would like to add funds to your billing portal.

It also possible to use the method "addCharge" if examples your customer requests a refund or if you would like to apply any charge to clients.

https://voip.ms/m/apidocs.php

Tips #3 - Link feature to client's account.

To link any Hosted-PBX feature to a client’s account and make it appear to the client’s interface, you need to build it from the client interface.

For any service that your customer needs to manage and having access to it, the new entry needs to be created directly from its client interface.

For example, if you create a new voicemail from your VoIP.ms portal, your customer will not be able to see it. You must create this voicemail.

You can connect "as your customer" by going to the option "management of customer accounts."