Re: Out of the idlest curiosity - wtf were Monster Backup bringing to the party ?
The one legitimate use for resellers is when the merchant himself doesn't want to deal directly with the customers. Think warehousing versus corner shops.
So for example I have an insurance policy which is through AXA, but AXA don't sell it directly to the public. It's only available through a broker.
This makes sense - small brokers specialising in niche products can get to know the field well and approach AXA with a proposal for a new policy, for which they think they'll be able to get, say, 1000 customers. AXA know and trust the broker, so they set it up and do none of the learning or customer interaction. Customers get their niche policy, with a broker (reseller) who understands them. Everybody wins.
Reselling a main stream product which is available to the public from the original vendor, though? Pointless.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
