New Reseller Guide
From VoIP.ms Wiki
The Reseller feature is intended for users who want to initiate a business in the VoIP world. This useful tool can help you create and manage accounts for your own clients, you will be able to assign specific rates for them and also provide credentials to register a DID number. You will be able to handle the billing for your customers depending on your needs and how much you want to earn with your business, setting rates and adding credits for them. Additionally we will provide you with information about how to customize your Reseller portal to have a more personalized site.
The Reports section will allow you to check the Call detail records from the customers and review the Financial Reports related to their accounts. To activate your Reseller section, you need first to login to the Customer Portal then go to Reseller >> Reseller Main >> Activate
This guide will focus on the basic information to run the Reseller section properly. Here you can learn how to:
1. Manage Rates and Packages
2. Manage your clients
3. Use the client branding and access
4. Generate Call and Profit Reports
Contents |
Manage Rates and Packages.
This section will focus on how to create packages for the reseller feature, how to edit the rates depending on the destination and how to set a benefit for the calls your clients make. It is important to note that all the calls your customers make are charged to you as per our regulars fees, however on the reseller portal, they will see the charges according to the rates you set here.
Create a new package
From the Customer Portal go to Reseller >> Manage Rates and Packages >> Create a new Package.
Package name: Set a package name.
Outbound Markup: Here you set the benefit you want to have on the calls that your clients make, you can set a fixed amount or a percentage, for this example if you set a 20%, your package will be set as follows ([cost rate] + $ fixed amount) * 20 %.
Example : for 1 cent per minute, the sell rate will (be 0.01 + 0.0000) + 20 % = 0.012
Pulse: This is the charge increments that you will use for this package. For example, a pulse of 60 will make calls charged by the minute. You can read more about this in our Calls Cost article.
Canada Route & International Route: These are the routes that the package will use on outgoing calls. For more information between the differences between Value and Premium, please read our article Value vs Premium
Voip.ms to Voip.ms Calls: This option will make it so calls between VoIP.ms DID numbers are free. Applies to calls to USA and Canada VoIP.ms Numbers.
Under the Fees Tab you will be able to enter a value that you would charge as monthly base rate and a setup rate when connecting the package to a client.
The Free Minutes Tab will let you set a total of free calls, inbound & outbound for the package. If a vlue is entered in this field, the client will have free minutes (inbound & outbound calculated) up to the number of minutes entered here. Free minutes will be calculated from the invoice date for the package and will be calculated in total rounded minutes( for example, 3 minutes 11 seconds will be calculated as 4 minutes). The destinations added to the Free Zones at Reseller > Manage Rates & Packages > Edit Rates > Manage free zone will be able to spend these Free Minutes.
The Reseller System Configuration tab offers several advanced options for the package:
- User can edit Sub Account: 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.
- Type of Configuration: This option determines the configuration of the services that will be shown in the Reseller Customer Portal. If the Default Configuration is set, the Services displayed will be the ones configured at Reseller > Client Branding and Access > Services tab. If the 'Package Configuration' is set, you will be able to set them in the Services section below.
- View Setting: You can set if you want to display the information in the Client Interface on Simple View or Standard View here. Simple View is a feature that allows you to show your voipinterface.voip.ms client inferface in a simpler way to your clients. This hides some features like :
- Call Types (busy, answered, failed & noanswer) 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
- And some other information that would not be useful for "vonage style" clients
- Services: In this section you can select which services will be available and which services will not be available for your customers, if you are using the "Package Configuration" option in the Type of Configuration section. (These Options are only available in the New Version of the reseller system)
Edit Rates
If you want to set different rates depending on the destination of the call, you can do this on the Edit Rates section 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. You can also set your Free Zones here, which will be the destinations that will be included in the Free Minutes offered in the package.
Manage your clients
Now that you have a package, you need to add a client, this section will focus on how to create a client and associate it with a sub account, as well as adding payments and charges for each client, assigning a DID number and also the proper way to delete a client account that is not longer needed.
Adding a client
From the customer portal go to Reseller menu >> Manage Clients acct >> Create a new client account.
Fill the form with the client information and choose between soft and hard balance, when finished click on create account. A customer in HARD balance will be suspended if he is on zero or negative balance, while a customer in SOFT balance will be able to keep making use of the service even if their balance is zero or negative.
On the Manage section, you can add a new package or a DID number. To add numbers to your clients you need to order the number from your Customer Portal first. Don't forget to set a Per Minute rate and/or Monthly fee for your number, as incoming calls are charged independently from the outgoing calls.
Once the client account has been created, you will need to create a sub account for it as well.
Go to Sub accounts menu >> Create Sub account. During the Sub Account creation process, you will reach the Reseller configuration section, here you can choose:
- Reseller client
- Reseller client Package
- Next Billing date
- And if you decide to charge the set up fees now, make sure to check the appropriate box.
If you already have a sub account created, you can modify it at Sub Accounts >> Edit Sub Account >> Manage and add a package there.
Delete a client
You can delete a client on the Edit section from the Client's account, however note that before doing this you need to be sure to unconnect any package or DID number related to the client, you can do this from the Manage section on Client´s account.
Adding Payments manually
You can add payments manually from the customer portal >> Reseller menu >> Manage Clients acct >> Manage Client, then select the Payment button under the Balance panel.
Add Charges manually
You can add charges manually from the customer portal >> Reseller menu >> Manage Clients acct >> Manage Client, then select the Charge button under the Balance panel.
Add phone numbers to your clients (DIDs)
You can add phone numbers to your clients from the Customer portal >> Reseller menu >> Manage Clients acct >> Manage Client >> Package for this clients >> Add Phone number. Please note that you need to order a DID and have it on your account before you can assign it to a client. Don't forget to set a Per Minute rate and/or Monthly fee for your number, as incoming calls are charged independently from the outgoing calls.
Use the client branding and access
It is always important to show a good brand image to your customer, for that reason we offer the option to customize our reseller interface to have the best presentation possible. There is also a useful feature on the site that can allow us to integrate your client's payments with a paypal account, so they can be added automatically as funds to the client.
Branded Interface
At the top of the screen you will see two available options, these are:
Version of the reseller system: This is the version of the Reseller System that will be displayed to your clients. The New Version of the Reseller System offers several customization options as well access to most of the VoIP.ms services, while the Old Version offers limited customization and access to basic services such as direct SIP routing and Call Forwarding
Configure Reseller Version: Determines which version of the Reseller System you will be configuring on this section. Enabling the New Version will offer you the option to modify the color of the panels, buttons and background of your Client Portal, as well as previewing it before making any changes.
Interface and Access
Clients Interface Access: This section will list the URL that you can give your clients to access their Account.
Auto Connect Form for Clients: This is an HTML form that you can use to automatically send your clients to their interface without needing authorization.
DID Access: You can set the pricing here for any DIDs that your clients purchase using the option at Services > Order DIDs on their Client Portal, if you have enabled this service for them.
Branding Management
In this section you will be able to change the Title that will appear in your Reseller Customer Portal page, as well as any of the colors of the interface, including the buttons* and the panels*, as well as selecting a Header, logo* and login background* for the interface.
*Options only available in the New Version of the reseller system.
Display Elements
Here you can choose whether or not you'd like to display the SIP and IAX password(s) in the Reseller Interface, as well as allowing your customers the option to reset their passwords in the Login Reseller Interface.
Lastly, you will be presented with an option to integrate an automated signup form into your website. If so, you can link your signup menu option to the URL presented there. You can also select which fields will be shown in order to sign up with a new account with you.
Services
View Setting: You can set if you want to display the information in the Client Interface on 'Simple View' here. Simple view is a feature that allows you to show your voipinterface.voip.ms client inferface in a simpler way to your clients. This hides some features like :
- Call Types (busy, answered, failed & noanswer) 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
- And some other information that would not be useful for "vonage style" clients
Services*: In this section you can select which services will be available and which services will not be available for your customers, if you are using the "Default Configuration" option in the Type of Configuration section of the Package settings.
*Options only available in the New Version of the reseller system
Text and Messages
In this tab you will be able to personalize the Welcome Text that will appear in the Reseller Customer Portal. You are also able to customize the Emails that will be sent when a Customer's Balance is running low, as well as when they request and complete a Password Reset.
Payment
If you want your clients to deposit directly in your paypal account, you can activate the paypal integration. All payments will be sent to your paypal account and automatically credited in your client interface.
Instructions :
- Enter your paypal email address in the "paypal email account" field
- Enter the amounts that you want to offer, without decimal and separated by a coma
- In your paypal account, go to "Profile" , and under the "Selling preference" section, activate the Instant payment notification(IPN). Enter the url : http://www.voipinterface.net/paynotify.php .
- We strongly recommend to make a live test with an amount of $1.
Host Name
In order to personalize the interface with a hostname
- Configure a host with an A RECORD in your dns that points to 184.172.106.205
- Enter in the field bellow the fully qualified host + domain name (e.g: interface.mydomain.com)
- Click "submit"
There is a one time fee of $10.00 for adding your hostname to our system.
Reports
Here you can see the Call Detail Records for the calls your customers have made and received, with the rates we have established on the packages created, showing a net total of the benefit earned as well.
Reports are divided in the following categories:
- Global CDR: Display cdr report for all your reseller clients calls. You can see all the calls (incoming and outgoing) from all your clients.
- Per User CDR: Display cdr report for a specific client. This filter help you to search calls only for one specific client.
- Financial report: Month to month revenues ,deposits, costs related to the reseller clients. You can see the financial information by month.
- Sub accounts report: List of all sub accounts connected to the reseller clients ,with related information. Here you will find a list of your clients, sub account, package and DID number associated with each one.
- DID(s) Report: List of all DID's connected to the reseller clients, with related information.