We get a lot of emails about becoming a reseller for LGP. So, after dozens of individual answers to people, I’ve decided to write it all up into a blog article, so that the customer service guys can just point people here instead. Also, I thought it may prove interesting to those who are thinking ‘what can I do to help the awareness and spread of Linux games’.

We have tried to make it as easy as possible to become a reseller, and we encourage any company or individual who is interested to apply. You do not need to be rich to start a store, we have resellers that started with no advance money needed.

The different types of reseller

When you decide to become an LGP reseller, you have a number of different options open to you.

1. Traditional reseller
   This kind of reseller operates in the time honoured tradition of buying stock from us at a discount, and reselling it to their customers. The same kind of reselling that has been going on for centuries in all industries. We offer these resellers a discount of around 40%, and we ask that they buy at least 10 games at a time. Not a huge amount, we like to set the barriers  to entry low.
   Of course, for the bigger buyer, there is incentive to buy more and get bigger discounts. The more games that you buy at once, the bigger your discount.
2. Dropship reseller
   This kind of reseller is the type with the lowest barriers to entry. If you have a website and would like to sell LGP games, you can simply list all our games, right now if you like, and if you get any orders, simply have us ship them to your customers. You simply login to your reseller account, and buy the game with your credit card, and leave the rest to us.
   This system was set up specifically for those who want to ‘give it a try’, and who don’t want to spend money buying games they aren’t sure they will sell. Of course, with less risk is less profit. The discount for this kind of reselling method is around 30% instead of the 40% we offer for standard resellers.
3. Download resellers
   This is, as many of you will know, our newest method of game distribution. We offer the ability, with some of our games, to buy a downloadable version of the game. The system for this works a little differently.
   When you sell a downloadable copy of a game, it is the responsibility of the reseller to supply the download to the customer. Whether that be as a disc image (which is how we supply the data to the resellers), an RPM, or any other method, that is up to the reseller. The reseller also needs to supply a key to unlock the game.
   The keys are the bit that you as the reseller would pay for. The discounts on keys are similar to the discounts for standard resellers, but they work a little differently. Instead of asking resellers to buy keys in advance (which they may of course do if they wish), we offer them the ability to buy ‘key credit’ and then buy they keys in real time when a customer orders a game.
   The simple web-based system involves sending a request to our webserver, and if you have purchased enough key credit, then a new key is returned, and you can then provide that key to the customer.
4. Private groups
   While not quite a reseller, private groups are also welcome to apply for discounts. Examples of such groups would be Linux User Groups, or companies that run Linux desktops who want to buy lots of copies of games for internal use.
   Private groups receive the same benefits as traditional resellers. The same discounts, but just aren’t listed on the website as places to buy our games (for obvious reasons). If you are part of a group that would like to buy games for your group at a discount, you should set up the standard reseller account with us.

So, now you know what the options are, lets get into the mechanics of how.

The task of creating an account is actually very simple. You simply go to our website and follow the ‘Account’ link that you will see on every page of the site. From here, you can follow the correct path, and apply for an account.

Once accounts are created, we check them out, and authorise genuine resellers or groups. We are happy for anyone to apply, but if you are an online reseller, we ask that you have some kind of web infrastructure available for us to examine before you create your account. We generally do not open accounts for people who ‘will make a website soon’. Accounts that are authorised are generally authorised within 24 hours, or we will send you an email to let you know why they have been rejected (which happens rarely).

Each account is capable of any of the resale options described above, you do not have to open a type of account for downloads or for dropship. Just a reseller account.

So, now you know what is available, and how to do it. The last thing to know is why would you.

For three reasons:

1. For You
   If you own an online or physical store already, our products make a good addition to the lineup, and with the dropship system, you can add them at no risk.
   Even if you don’t, then starting reselling LGP games as a part time website owner, or even to your local Linux using friends, is a nice second income, and probably better than all these ‘get rich quick through Google’ ads that you see all over the place.
2. For Us
   Simply, because LGP needs as many resellers as we can get. We need as many people talking about our products as possible. The more games we sell, the more games we can make, and the more games we can make, the better it is for you, us, and everyone.
3. For the Community
   Because games are, without doubt, the big block to Linux adoption on the desktop. Do you want everyone running Linux? So do we, and games help to make that happen.