these conversations keep going around and around.
the phrase "somebodies trash is another's treasure" is applicable to hosting/domains as well. For instance, some people rave about godaddy being great, I'd rather eat my eyes.
my personal approach is to find a company that you work well with, set up a reseller package through them, and push all your clients onto your reseller package.
1. only you then have to deal with the domain/hosting company
2. the clients deal with you.
3. domains are heaps cheaper for you to purchase that way.
4. you make a passive income on domains/hosting
5. its heaps easier to manage hundreds of domains and packages at once via the reseller admin.
Since the start of the year I've pushed through 126 domain names (and scored a nice profit) and set up about 20 or so hosting packages. although the profit margin on them is a little skinnier.
IMHO thats the smart way to do it.