Configuring multi-level resellers

This section demonstrates how to configure two levels of resellers who will be reselling residential VoIP services. Each reseller will act as a “white label” reseller and offer a package of services under their own brand name.

Consider the following example: the company InterCalls is an authorized reseller of a specific service provider and sells residential VoIP services to customers. InterCalls is free to establish their own prices on services provided and has the ability to rebrand these services as their own.

InterCalls has a partner – ABC Shuttle, a local Chinese community that wishes to participate in this business and sell residential VoIP services rebranded under the ABC Shuttle name. In this partnership, ABC Shuttle acts as a subreseller of InterCalls.

To configure the chain service provider > InterCalls > ABC Shuttle > end users, it is necessary:

• for the administrator: to configure InterCalls as a direct reseller, create corresponding tariffs, and a product for InterCalls.
• for the InterCalls reseller: to create ABC Shuttle as a subreseller, create tariff(s) according to which ABC Shuttle will be charged, and provide ABC Shuttle with the product.
• for the ABC Shuttle subreseller: change the name of the product so it corresponds to their brand, define rates that end users will be charged, and configure their retail customers.

1. Operations to be performed by an admin:
   • Configuring a reseller
   • Provide login credentials to the reseller
2. Operations to be performed by a reseller:
   • Log in to the reseller portal
   • Create a subreseller
   • Provide login credentials to the subreseller
3. Operations to be performed by a subreseller:
   • Log in to the subreseller portal
   • Generate rates for charging customers
   • Rebrand the product under your own brand name
   • Create a customer
   • Create accounts

In this handbook, we assume that the InterCalls reseller has already been configured by the admin. For detailed instructions on how to configure a reseller in PortaSwitch, please refer to the Configuring a reseller for postpaid services or Configuring a reseller for prepaid services handbooks.

Provide the reseller with the credentials to access their portal (defined on the Reseller > General info > Web -self care panel):

1. The reseller portal URL (by default https://<porta-billing-server-name>:8442).
2. Their login and password.

Log in to the reseller portal using the provided URL and credentials.

A subreseller is just another reseller (a company or individual) who purchases the VoIP services from a higher-level reseller and provides these services to customers or resells them through other resellers.

To add a subreseller, follow these steps:

1. Go to Sales > Subresellers, and click +Add.
2. Fill in the New subreseller details:

   General

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   • Name – type a short name for the subreseller (e.g., ABC Shuttle); this will be used on the web interface.
   • Customer class – select a customer class for this subreseller. A customer class is a set of various parameters that can be applied to a group of subresellers. By choosing a specific class here, the subreseller will automatically inherit all of the class properties (e.g., invoice template).
   • Currency – select the currency (e.g., USD) in which this subreseller will be charged.
   • Credit limit – specify the credit limit for the subreseller.
   • Billing period – specify a billing period that defines how often invoices will be generated and when exactly they are to be produced.
   • Billing period time zone – specify a time zone used to calculate the start and end of a billing period.

     

3. Click Next.

The product is the main instrument that defines which services a reseller can offer to their customers. To provide the product to a subreseller, the InterCalls reseller clones one of its products. The cloned product becomes "at the disposal" of the subreseller.

1. To provide the product to a subreseller:
   • To clone a product for a subreseller – turn the corresponding toggle.
   • Product name – type a name for the subreseller’s product. It will be visible for the subreseller on their portal, e.g., Residential Calls (ABC Shuttle).
2. Select what entities should also be cloned to be provided to the subreseller: 
   • Subscriptions – select this checkbox if you want to include the original product’s subscription with the subreseller’s product.
   • Bundles – select this checkbox if you want to include the original product’s bundles with the subreseller’s product.
   • Rates – this option is only available if the new product and the original product share the same currency. Select this checkbox if you want to clone the original product’s sales rates. Alternatively, you can create a new product without defined sales rates.

     

1. Select the resale tariffs that the InterCalls reseller will use to charge their subreseller for incoming and outgoing calls.

   

2. Click Save.

1. To provide login credentials to the subreseller, open the subreseller page, navigate to General info > Web self-care, and specify the login credentials:
   • Login – type the username (e.g., ABC Shuttle) that the subreseller will use to log in to their portal.
   • Password – generate the password that the subreseller will use to log in to their portal. For this, click Generate password .
   • Web interface language – choose the language to be used on the subreseller portal.
2. Click Save.
3. Provide the subreseller with the credentials to access their portal:
   • The subreseller portal URL (by default https://<porta-billing-server-name>:8442).
   • Their login and password.

     

Log in to the subreseller portal using the provided URL and credentials.

In order to start selling a product, the subreseller needs to define rates for their sales tariffs (e.g., rates that the customers will be charged). Rates for the sales tariff can be defined in one of the following ways:

• Uploaded from a .csv or .xls file. The rate upload procedure is described in detail in the Rate import handbook.
• Generated during the Clone product procedure.
• Generated by applying a markup (in percentage) to rates defined in the wholesale tariff when adding a subreseller.

The rate generation procedure by applying a percentage markup is described below.

To generate rates for the sales tariff, perform the following steps on the web self-care interface:

1. Go to Sales > Subresellers.
2. On the Subreseller list page, click +Add.
3. Fill in the New subreseller form:

• Name – type a short name for the subreseller (e.g., ABC Shuttle); this will be used on the web interface.
• Customer class – select a customer class for this subreseller. A customer class is a set of various parameters that can be applied to a group of subresellers. By choosing a specific class here, the subreseller will automatically inherit all of the class properties (grace period, invoice template, etc.).
• Currency – select the currency (e.g., USD) in which this subreseller will be charged.
• Credit limit – assign a credit limit for the subreseller.
• Billing period – specify a billing period that defines how often invoices will be generated and when exactly they are to be produced.
• Billing period time zone – specify a time zone used to calculate the start and end of a billing period.

4. Click Next.

   

Fill in the fields as described below:

• Product name – type a name for the subreseller’s product (e.g., Residential calls).
• Also clone:
  • Subscriptions – select this checkbox if you want to include the original product’s subscription with the new product.
  • Bundles – select this checkbox if you want to include the original product’s bundles with the new product.
  • Rates – this option is only available if the new product and the original product share the same currency. Select this checkbox if you want to clone the original product’s sales rates. Alternatively, you can create a new product without defined sales rates.

5. Click Next.

   

Select Clone the wholesale tariff to charge your subreseller for outgoing and incoming calls. Fill in the following fields and click Save:

• Resale tariff name – type the resale tariff name (e.g., Residential calls).
• Description – type a short description of the tariff.
• Add – type a profit markup (in percentage) you wish to apply to rates in the wholesale tariff (e.g., 25%).
• but not less than – to reduce the risk of profit loss, type a fixed markup (e.g., 0.05). It will be added to the wholesale tariff’s rates if the calculated percentage markup is less than the specified fixed markup.

  

You, as a subreseller, can rebrand the product to sell it to customers under your own brand name.

1. On the Products page of the subreseller self-care interface, select the product you want to rebrand (e.g., Residential Calls (ABC Shuttle)). Products.
2. On the selected product page, modify the following information fields:
   • Name visible to end users – type the name of the product (e.g., Residential Calls (ABC Shuttle)) that your customers will see on their self-care interface.

On the Charges panel, go to General info and specify the following:

• Overdraft protection – specify how the overdraft protection will be applied to accounts using this product.
• Service availability threshold – specify the minimum amount of funds an account must have to use the services.

  

On the Additional information page, specify the following and click Save:

• Description visible to end users – provide a product description to be shown to end users on their self-care interface.
• Information URL – if you have an external server with a description of product features, enter the URL here (e.g., http://www.myproduct.com). Your customers will be able to go there directly from their self-care page.

  

Create a customer who will be using a residential VoIP service. For detailed instructions, please refer to the Create a customer section of the Configuring a reseller for postpaid services handbook.

Create accounts (phone lines) for your customer. For detailed instructions, please refer to the Create accounts section of the Configuring a reseller for postpaid services handbook.