Creating Lines and Managing Credits in a Reseller Panel
·6 min read
In reselling, the panel takes half an hour to learn: create a line, spend a credit, send the details to the customer. The real work is not in the panel but in credit planning and customer records — and both get messy by the third month if they are not kept from the first.
How credits work
The panel holds credits, not money. Every line you create or extend costs credits by duration: a one-month line is one credit, a three-month line three. The larger the credit package, the lower the unit cost, so your actual margin is decided at the moment you buy the package.
| Action | Credits | When it is used |
|---|---|---|
| New line (1 month) | 1 credit | A new customer |
| New line (3 months) | 3 credits | A customer paying up front |
| Extension | By duration | An existing customer renews |
| Trial line | No credit | Before the sale |
The daily routine
- 01Take the enquiry and open a trialOpen a trial line for anyone who asks before buying. Trials cost no credit and noticeably raise the rate at which enquiries turn into sales.
- 02Create the line after paymentCreate a new line in the panel, choose the duration and generate the credentials. Send everything in one message: address, username, password and a setup link.
- 03Record the customerName, contact, line name, start and end date. A simple spreadsheet is enough; what matters is that the end date is visible.
- 04Remind before renewalA message three days before expiry raises the renewal rate. Waiting for expiry and hoping the customer writes first usually means a customer who has already gone.
- 05Check the credit balance weeklyWhen credits run out you cannot create a line, and if a customer is waiting the sale is lost that day. Looking once a week prevents it.
At what point do you need a system?
Up to ten customers you can hold it in your head. Past thirty, remembering end dates is impossible and renewals start slipping. At that scale a simple spreadsheet works better than paid software.
Nothing in the panel stops you giving one line to two customers, but they cannot both watch at once and the complaint arrives from both sides. Opening a separate line for each customer protects far more than the credit it saves.
