Use the following questions and answers to better understand the price change feature in the commercial marketplace.
Dates
Can I specify an effective date for the price change?
No. Price changes are scheduled based on the type of price change:
- Price decreases are scheduled for the first of the next month.
- Price increases are scheduled for the first of a future month, at least 90 days after the price change is published.
Can a price increase be scheduled for less than 90 days in the future?
No. The 90-day policy, standard for all price increases, protects customers from last-minute price increases, as well as gives them time to react to a price increase. We can't accommodate requests to backdate, expedite, or otherwise change price increase effective dates.
Private, hidden, and Azure Government plans
Can I change the price of a private plan?
Yes, private plans are supported and are scheduled the same way public plans are.
Can I change the price of a hidden plan?
Yes. Hidden plans are supported. Upcoming price changes for hidden plans aren't shown on the storefront.
Can I change the price of an Azure Government plan?
No. Plans deployed in the Azure Government region aren't eligible for price changes.
General
What can be changed?
Only the price point, increased or decreased. The following changes are still not allowed:
- Disabling custom meter dimensions
- Disabling free trial
- Adding more than 30 custom meter dimensions
- Changing the visibility of a plan from public to private
- Changing unit of measure for a custom meter dimension
How do current exchange rates apply when a price change is made?
If the plan is available in multiple markets, the new price for each market is calculated according to current exchange rates.
To specify the price in a specific currency, export the prices from the pricing and availability page, update the respective market and currency, save, and import the file.
Note
Offers are billed to customers in the customers' agreement currency, using the local market price that was published at the time the offer was created. The amount that customers pay, and that ISVs are paid, depends on the Foreign Exchange rates at the time the customer transacts the offer. Learn more on "How we convert currency?".
Can I change a free or $0 offer to a paid offer?
No. To make an offer billable, publish a new paid plan and move customers to the new plan.
Is changing a price of an offer supported via APIs?
Not currently. The price change must be made in Partner Center.
Can I customize the email notification sent to customers?
No. Consider adding a learn-more link for a document or site that provides the extra context you want to provide to customers. Place this link in the Offer listing page in Partner Center.
Who at my customer's company receives the email?
The email notification is sent to the invoice section (project) owner, billing group owners, and billing account owners of the subscription.
Do customers have to take any action once the price change is scheduled?
No. Customers are automatically charged the new price when their contract renews.
Do customers have any options to avoid being billed the new price?
For consumption-based offers such as virtual machines, the customer can delete the resource before the new price goes into effect. For contract-based offers such as SaaS, the customer can choose to not renew their contract.
If I change the price of a flat rate contract-based offer, how does the change affect customers who already purchased it?
Existing customers maintain their contract flat rate price for the length of the term. On renewal, their contract uses the flat rate price in effect at that time. If the offer includes meter dimensions, existing customers are billed the new price for any usage consumed after the new price is in effect, regardless of contract duration.
If I change the price of a per-user contract-based offer, which price is billed if a customer adds a user during the middle of the contract?
Existing customers maintain their contract price for the length of the term. If a customer adds or removes a user while in the contract, the new user number uses the price from the contract. On renewal, the contract uses the price in effect at that time.
How can I see when my customer's contracts expire?
The Orders dashboard displays the current orders for all your Software as a Service (SaaS) and Azure app offers. See Orders dashboard in commercial marketplace analytics.
How can I see which customers are using my offer?
View the Customers dashboard.
How do retail price changes affect private offers where I'm offering a discount?
The retail price of the public plan used in the private offer isn't locked. If the price changes after the private offer is created, the discount is applied to the latest retail price.
How do I cancel or modify a scheduled price change?
We can't accommodate requests to modify scheduled price changes. For a price change that hasn't yet taken effect, submit a support request to cancel the change and schedule a new price change with needed modifications.
If there's already a price change scheduled, can I make more price changes?
No. You need to wait for the price change to take effect, then schedule another one.
Do price changes go through full certification?
Yes. To avoid delays in scheduling it, don't make other changes to the offer along with the price change.
Does a price change to an offer opted in to the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) channel also apply to CSPs reselling my offer?
Yes. Expect the same experience for CSPs as customers, including email notification and automatic billing of the new price.
Can I change the price of an offer that is still in preview and not live yet?
Yes. This isn't considered a price change.
Next steps
- Read about how to change prices in existing marketplace offers