Parent panel

Parent panel is the panel a child panel or reseller buys from, supplying the services it lists and, where the arrangement includes a ready-made site, the software and hosting too.

Parent is a position rather than a kind of business. Any panel another panel connects to through an API is that panel's parent, and it may be a supplier running its own accounts or simply another reseller passing orders further up. The word is used most often for the setup where the same panel also provides the child's software and domain, but the supply relationship is the part that decides everything below it.

A parent sees every order that reaches it: the service, the link, the quantity, the time and the running total. From that it can work out which accounts the child's customers promote, how much the child sells and which services carry the volume. It holds the child's balance as well, so it also sees when the money is running low.

A parent can change a rate, rename a service, point it at different supply, switch it off, or close the account altogether. A child's own prices do not follow automatically when the parent's rates move, so a rate rise can leave a reseller selling below cost until someone notices. Refill and cancel on the child's orders depend on the parent accepting them, and any question the child cannot answer has to be asked upstream and waited on. Connecting a second parent for the services that carry volume is the usual protection, where the software and the agreement allow it.