How to Choose a Claude API Reseller: The 10-Point Due-Diligence Checklist (2026)

Updated August 2026 · 9 min read · by the youragent team

Why a checklist beats intuition

Every burned team we've talked to made the same mistake: they evaluated a reseller on price and a week of good outputs, then scaled. The failure modes that actually hurt — model substitution after the trial period, inflated meters, unrefundable balances, vanishing operators — are all invisible in week one. Each is cheap to test for before you commit. Here are the ten tests, in the order that eliminates providers fastest.

1. Will they let you verify the model — right now, on your key?

Ask: "I want to run a temperature-0 side-by-side against api.anthropic.com and third-party fidelity tests before committing. OK?"
Pass: immediate yes, no conditions, no notice period. Red flag: any hesitation, "internal policy," or a demo endpoint instead of your own key. A provider that resists verification has answered your question. (The five methods, reviewed.)

2. Is the token rate 1:1 and auditable?

Ask: "Do you bill at Anthropic's official token counts? Can I export per-request logs?"
Pass: written 1:1 commitment plus exportable logs (timestamp, model, input/output tokens, charge). Audit it yourself: 100 real requests counted with the official SDK's count_tokens vs the meter — deviation should stay under ~5%. Red flag: vague answers about "multipliers" or logs you can view but never export.

3. Are refund terms in writing?

Pass: unused-balance refunds stated on a public terms page, with a process. Red flag: verbal promises, or refund terms that appeared recently alongside aggressive top-up bonuses — that combination is the classic exit-scam shape.

4. Are failed requests billed?

At batch scale, a 1–2% failure rate silently billed becomes real money. Pass: "failed requests are not billed," in writing. Test it: force a few timeouts and check the meter.

5. Are rate limits stated or provisioned?

Ask: "What RPM and concurrency do I get, and what happens at 3× my current volume?"
Pass: a concrete number (e.g. dedicated pools from 3,000 RPM / 1,000 concurrent) or a provisioning process you can load-test before paying. Red flag: "no limits" — nobody has no limits; they just haven't told you where theirs are.

6. Is reliability quantified with a stated scope?

Pass: a measured number with a measurement scope ("<0.05% request failure rate, excluding upstream outages") beats a marketing SLA with no history. Ask how long they've operated and what happens during Anthropic-side incidents. Red flag: "99.99% guaranteed" with no scope, no history, no status transparency.

7. What happens to your data?

Ask: "Do you store prompt/response bodies? Will you sign an NDA?"
Pass: a public data-handling statement — no training on your content, metadata-only logging, NDA available. Non-negotiable if you process client data under NDA yourself. Red flag: no privacy page at all.

8. Is there a legal entity behind the website?

Pass: a named entity, invoices suitable for accounting, a terms page listing governing terms. You are wiring real money — know who receives it. Red flag: payment to personal wallets only, no entity name anywhere.

9. Does the price survive the question "where does it come from"?

Legitimate discounts have explainable sources: enterprise agreements, scale procurement, mixed architectures with labeled tiers. Pass: a straight answer plus channel labeling (production vs dev-grade). Red flag: prices below ~5% of list with no explanation — that's either a fake model or a meter trick, and both cost more than they save.

10. How fast do they answer a hard technical question?

Send one before you pay: "How do you handle Anthropic-side 529s during peak hours?" Pass: a specific answer from someone who clearly operates the channels, within stated support hours. Red flag: template replies, or silence that only breaks when you mention buying.

The scorecard

Scoring guide: any single "walk" criterion is terminal. Everything else is exposure management — the provider can be usable for dev traffic while failing the bar for production.