Private offers in Azure Marketplace
Together with private plans, private offers allow ISVs to offer custom prices, terms, conditions, and pricing for a specific customer. Unlike private plans, private offers give more comprehensive answers to the following scenarios:
| Ability | Private plan | Private offer |
|---|---|---|
| An ISV can offer a custom price for a specific subscription or tenant or billing account. | Tenant or subscription. | Billing account. |
| An ISV can offer custom terms and conditions for a customer for specific products. | Only if the ISV is creating a new product for the customer. | Yes. Custom terms and conditions are available at the offer (bundle) level. |
| An ISV can offer a bundled price on multiple offers and plans. | No. | Yes. |
| An ISV can offer a special price for a limited time. An example is a 15% discount for the year 2021. | No. | Yes. |
| Getting the discount requires a recorded customer sign-off and offer acceptance. | No. | Yes. |
| An ISV can create an expiration date, after which the offer is invalid. | No. | Yes. |
| Customers can deploy the plan on any subscription. | No. The plan can be deployed only on eligible subscriptions. | Yes, but only eligible subscriptions qualify for the special price. All other subscriptions pay the regular retail price. |
| Resources purchased before the offer went into effect (such as VMs) qualify for the discounted price. | No. Private plan is a new SKU. You must redeploy the new SKU. | Yes. Existing resources are billed at the discounted price after the offer is effective. |
How can I receive a private offer from my ISV?
Contact the ISV directly. The ISV requires your billing account so that private offers can be assigned to a billing account. Subscriptions that belong to that billing account qualify for the discounted price. To check your account type, see View all accounts.
Customers can find their billing account ID in 2 ways. 1) In the Azure portal, under Cost Management + Billing > Properties > ID. A user in the customer organization should have access to the billing account to see the ID in Azure portal. 2) If you know the subscription you plan to use for the purchase: In the Azure portal, click on Subscriptions, click on the relevant subscription > Properties (or Billing Properties) > Billing Account ID.
How is the private offer published?
A private offer has a different structure and behavior than a private plan:
- A private offer is a discount or a price override for a public plan.
- Unlike a private plan, a private offer isn't directly published in the catalog. The customer discount is recorded in the billing system on a billing-account level.
How do I buy the products which are included in the offer?
Buying products that were provided to your organization under a private offer requires a few more steps compared to purchasing a public offer which is available to everyone. The purchase takes place only after you've completed all the steps.
Step 1 – Accept the offer
You must accept the private offer before it takes effect. Accepting the offer creates a contractual agreement between you and the ISV. The agreement includes the following:
- Legal entity name to which the offer applies.
- Public plans that are included in the offer.
- Private offer price
- Custom legal terms for the offer, if applicable.
- Start and end dates when the discount applies to this offer.
- Expiration date for the offer. You must accept the offer before this date.
Note
After the ISV creates the offer, you're sent a link to accept it. The components from the preceding list are highlighted in this image.
Only users with the permissions shown in this table can access and sign the offer contract:
| Account type | Role |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Customer Agreement accounts | Billing account owner Billing account contributor |
| EA account | EA admin |
Tip
To see what type of account you have, see Billing accounts and scopes in the Azure portal.
Once the offer is accepted, you're not done yet! Accepting a private offer simply means you've agreed to the terms and prices the ISV listed in the offer. No purchase has been made and no money has exchanged hands yet.
Step 2 – Find the products that are included in the bundle in Azure Marketplace
Private offers appear with the private plans on the Private products tab.
If you can't find the products of the private offers in the private products section. Please check the following:
Make sure you have owner/contributor permissions to one or more subscriptions under the billing account the private offer was sold for.
If the products are also not visible in the public marketplace (from the marketplace "get started" menu):
Check with the ISV that the product is published to the market your billing account belongs to (e.g. US, Canada, etc.).
Verify with the publisher that no products are hidden. Hidden products in the marketplace cannot be purchased directly. They can only be purchased through a different public product. Example: an Azure App which is responsible for deploying a marketplace VM image. For more information, see Azure plan pricing.
Step 3 – Select the product you want and complete the purchase
You complete the purchase like any other regular product. See the next section for details on how to complete the purchase of a private offer.
Note
Some products, such as software as a service (SaaS) require additional steps.
How is the price reflected in Azure Marketplace?
A discount is only applied to the specific subscriptions that belong to the billing account the private offer applies to. You can see which combinations of plans and subscriptions are entitled to discounts on the product page. To find a private offer:
Select a plan. Only plans that are eligible for a discount are enabled.
Select a subscription. Only subscriptions that are eligible for a discount under the selected plan are enabled.
I can't see the discount applied. When do private offers go into effect?
New prices appear in Azure Marketplace within an hour after acceptance. They might even appear within 15 minutes. The private price takes effect in the billing system after the offer is signed.
The product page shows a message that the combination of plan and subscription is eligible for a discount. The private price appears in the Monthly price or Annual price column of the Plans + pricing tab. After you select Create, your selection is transferred to the next step of creating the resource.
Once you choose the plan and subscription, select Review + create (or "subscribe" for SaaS products) and complete the deployment.
Note
Deploying SaaS products requires additional steps, including additional steps on the ISV side. Your purchase is not complete until all these steps are done. See Purchase a SaaS offer in the Azure portal.
Can I create a resource in a subscription that isn't eligible for a private offer?
You can if you select switch to non-private viewing mode on the product page. You can also reach the product page from the public gallery.
Just like private mode, only specific combinations of an eligible plan and subscription apply a discount. You can still deploy a noneligible plan or subscription, but no discount applies.
What happens if I change the plan or subscription during the creation step?
If you do and then select the plan or subscription that isn't eligible for a private offer, a message appears on the Review + create page.
Note: while all products require eligibility of a billing account + plan, some SaaS products can get a private offer from the publisher for a specific term (e.g., 1M, 1Y, 3Y, etc.). To be eligible for a discount in this case requires selecting the right subscription + plan + term.
How can I manage different private offers?
To manage different private offers, which might be at various stages of the offer lifecycle, use Private offers management.
This dashboard shows information on the different private offers that apply to your billing accounts:
- Publisher: The ISV that published the offer.
- Expiry date: The last day the offer can be accepted.
- Status:
- Pending: The offer is pending sign-off by your organization procurement. If you have sufficient billing permissions, select the Private offer name column to view and accept the offer.
- Accepted: The offer was accepted, and the discounted prices now apply for the products in the offer.
- Ended: An offer that was accepted has reached the end of its term. To get a new offer at the same discounted price, the ISV must create a new private offer.
- Expired: The offer's expiration date passed before the offer was accepted. If you still want this private offer, the ISV must create a new one.
- Offers + plans included: Notes which products and plans are offered in the bundle.
- Start date: The start date of the private offer's term.
- End date: The end date of the private offer's term. Contact the ISV to get a new offer when the term is nearing an end to keep the same discounted price.
- Billing account: The account to which the offer applies.