Multiparty private offers FAQ
Appropriate roles: ISVs and channel partners
This article answers frequently asked questions about multiparty private offers for ISVs and channel partners.
General
What are private offers and what are multiparty private offers?
Cloud marketplaces are outpacing cloud growth and becoming the centralized go-to-market channel of the future. Private offers empower custom deal making and are the key to unlocking enterprise customers and offer benefits like negotiated pricing, private terms and conditions, and specialized configurations. There are three types of private offers:
- Private offers for customers: Offer the ability for ISV partners to create a private offer to sell directly to a customer. If the customer has a cloud consumption commitment with Microsoft, the sale can count towards the customers' commitment if the offer is Azure IP co-sell incentivized. To learn more, see ISV to customer private offers.
- Multiparty private offers: Multiparty private offers empower eligible partners to come together, create personalized offers with custom payouts, and sell directly to Microsoft customers with simplified selling through the marketplace. And for customers that have a cloud consumption commitment, every dollar of the sale counts toward their commitment when they purchase solutions that are Azure IP co-sell eligible. It also enables the customer's preferred partner to work with ISVs on marketplace deals and specify a custom price to that partner for the deal.
- Private offers with margin-sharing: Offer the ability for ISV partners to extend a margin to motivate partners in the Cloud Solution Provider program (CSPs) to sell their solution. This gives ISVs an advocate for their product while helping ISVs scale to sell in the SMB market. For CSPs, it gives them the opportunity to package ISV solutions with their software and services sales to offer unique customer value. To learn more, see ISV to CSP partner private offers and Marketplace margins.
| Comparison | Private offers for customers | Multiparty private offers | Private offers with CSP margin-sharing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target audience | ISV partners | ISV partners, Partners in the Cloud Solution Provider program (CSPs) | ISV partners, Partners in the Cloud Solution Provider program (CSPs) |
| Availability | Available today | Available today for customers purchasing in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. | Available today. |
| Customer MACC decrement for eligible apps | Yes | Yes | No |
| Channel partner participation | No participation. ISV sells private offer directly to customer. | Partners enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program and enrolled in the commercial marketplace with United States or United Kingdom tax profiles for marketplace in Partner Center. ISV partner sends a private offer to the partner. | CSP program enrolled partners only. ISV sends a private offer to CSP. |
| Target customers | Enterprise* | Enterprise* | SMB/C* |
| Billing | Microsoft bills to customers (Note: For Indirect EA deals, partners (seller) handle customer billing.) | Microsoft bills to customers (Note: For Indirect EA deals, the indirect EA partner handles customer billing.) |
CSP partners bill to customers |
Note
There are always exceptions, and the different private offers are viable for all segments, but to prioritize, private offers and multiparty private offers are best suited for the enterprise, and margin sharing private offers are best suited for the SMB/C market.
What are the key benefits of multiparty private offers to customers and partners?
Benefits vary depending on audience but ultimately the value of multiparty private offers is that the customer can maintain their trusted partner relationships and partners can work together to create customized solutions for customers using their unique cloud services.
Customer benefit: Many customers have preferred partners that they buy their software from. With multiparty private offers, customers can maintain their trusted partner relationships while streamlining the procurement and deployment of the solution(s) through the commercial marketplace. Partners can procure ISV solutions on the customer's behalf and package that into the offer for the customer-simplifying the process and consolidating transactions. And now with multiparty private offers, customers with a cloud consumption commitment can count their purchase towards their cloud consumption commitment. Microsoft is unique in that 100% of sales count towards a customer's Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment automatically when customers buy eligible solutions. Using precommitted cloud spend is one of the main motivators for customers to buy through cloud marketplaces. With multiparty private offers, customers are able to purchase through their preferred partner and still have the sale count towards their cloud consumption commitment. To learn more, see Azure Services and Marketplace offers that are eligible for MACC.
ISV partner benefit: Many customers utilize partners as trusted advisors for purchasing, implementation, and support decisions. Multiparty private offers unlock deals for ISVs when the partner owns the customer relationship and needs to be included in the transaction.
Channel partner benefit: Multiparty private offers give partners selling software and services the ability to work with ISVs, create personalized offers with customized payouts together, and sell directly to Microsoft customers through the marketplace having the software sale count toward the customers' cloud consumption commitment. This unlocks new opportunities where partners can proactively collaborate on enterprise deal-making and help manage the customer's broad technology estate as trusted advisors.
Which customers can purchase multiparty private offers?
Multiparty private offers are available to customers purchasing in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
Customers can purchase multiparty private offers with an Enterprise Agreement (EA), Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA), Indirect Enterprise Agreement (Indirect EA), and through web direct motions. Customers need to provide their partner or the ISV with their billing account ID - customers can run the eligibility check tool and download the report to identify their billing account ID and verify if they're approved to purchase via the marketplace. Alternative ways to find the billing account ID can be found in the Azure portal. For customers with an Enterprise Agreement (EA) with Microsoft, billing account ID is the same as their EA enrollment number.
Customers must also have their market currency matching their billing account currency to be eligible for multiparty private offers configured with absolute pricing for partner price. For example, Canadian customers with $CAD market currency and opt to set up with $USD billing account currency are not eligible if the offer needs to be configured with absolute pricing for partner price, only discount price (% discount) for partner price can be supported.
What are the partner qualification criteria to sell through multiparty private offers?
Any partner selling through multiparty private offers must be a member of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program and be actively using the Microsoft commercial marketplace as a go-to-market and sales channel.
ISVs or partners that build software or SaaS solutions must have a transactable offer with public plan(s) available to participate in multiparty private offers. If the ISV is new to Microsoft or doesn't yet have a transactable offer and needs assistance, the ISV Success program can help.
Channel partners must be enrolled in the commercial marketplace, and have a US or UK tax profile set up in Partner Center for marketplace. US partners must also file their resale certificates with Microsoft, and UK partners must claim tax treaty benefit on their W-8BEN in the tax profile setup to be eligible to sell through multiparty private offers.
Sales through multiparty private offers are limited to customers purchasing in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
ISVs across the globe are invited to participate - the only caveat is the channel partner you work with needs to have a United States or United Kingdom tax profile set up in Partner Center and the customer needs to purchase in the United States, United Kingdom, or Canada.
What are the key differences between the margin sharing private offers and multiparty private offers? Can partners in the Cloud Solution Provider program participate?
The CSP partner private offer (also known as margin sharing) is a private offer type that is designed to motivate eligible partners to sell an ISV's solution. ISVs can make private offers and extend a margin to partners in the Cloud Solution Provider program (CSPs). This is intended to help ISVs reach small and medium sized customers by scaling through the Microsoft ecosystem of over 90,000 partners in the Cloud Solution Provider program. With margin sharing, the CSP partner owns the end-to-end customer relationship including the pricing strategy and billing. They bill the customer outside of the marketplace (the deal is done on the CSP's contracts).
All partners including partners enrolled in the CSP Program can participate in multiparty private offers and work with ISV partners to create custom private offers for customers with an enterprise agreement (EA) or Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA). The partner still owns the customer relationship but with multiparty private offers, the customer purchases directly through the marketplace and Microsoft bills the customer.
What should ISVs do to prepare for multiparty private offers?
To prepare for the multiparty private offer opportunity, ISVs should have transactable solutions published to the commercial marketplace. Once they have their offer listed, they should use the current private offer capabilities and build relationships with other partners.
| Journey stage | Next action | Resources |
|---|---|---|
| ISV who isn't yet a partner | Become a partner | Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, ISV Success Program |
| ISV partner who isn't listed on the marketplace | Get published on the commercial marketplace | ISV Success Program |
| ISV partner who is listed on marketplace, but not transactable | Publish a transactable solution on the commercial marketplace | ISV Success Program, ISV Transact & Grow incentive |
| ISV partner who has transactable offer but isn't Azure IP co-sell incentive | Become Azure IP co-sell incentivized | Enroll to be MACC-eligible |
| ISV partner who is Azure IP co-sell incentivized and has transactable offer on marketplace | Build relationships with other partners | Partner Finder |
What should channel partners do to prepare for multiparty private offers?
For partners in the CSP program, start selling ISV solutions via ISV to CSP margin Sharing private offers and expand to multiparty private offers.
For partners who aren't in the Cloud Solution Provider program, start building your network of partnerships with ISVs and identify Azure benefit eligible solutions.
Additionally, channel partners must enroll in the Microsoft commercial marketplace on Partner Center, and have a completed United States or United Kingdom tax profile associated to their marketplace seller ID. Channel partners with US tax profiles must provide their resale certificates to Microsoft in advance of any sales through this offering. Channel partners with UK tax profiles must claim tax treaty benefit on their W-8BEN form to be eligible to participate in multiparty private offerings.
As a channel partner with a tax profile in the US, if my company has already provided our resale certificates to Microsoft for another program, such as the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program or Volume Licensing (VL) program, do we need to resubmit our resale certificates to Microsoft for sales of multiparty private offers?
Yes. Channel partners with US tax profiles must provide your resale certificate(s) to Microsoft at least 5 business days before the sale of any multiparty private offer. Resale certificate(s) must be provided for each seller ID used to sell multiparty private offers and must be provided even if your company has already provided them for other programs such as the Cloud Solution Provider program. Your certificate(s) must be accurately completed and signed and must include the state where your company is headquartered at a minimum. Your resale certificates must be on file at Microsoft before you sell multiparty private offers, or sales tax might be charged on your purchase as required by various tax laws. To file your tax exemption(s), request support through Partner Center. Provide your marketplace seller ID and supply the appropriate information.
As a channel partner with tax profile in UK, how do I verify my company has claimed tax treaty benefit in the tax profile setup?
Channel partners with UK tax profile must claim tax treaty benefit on their W-8BEN in their tax profile setup to be eligible to sell through multiparty private offers. To verify tax treaty benefit status in Partner Center, navigate to Account settings > Payout and tax profiles > Tax profile tab, the Tax Treaty Status should be True. If the Tax treaty status is False, you must update the tax profile and claim tax treaty benefit before you can sell a multiparty private offer. To claim tax treaty benefit, select "Yes" to the claim tax treaty question in the Tax Treaty Benefits section of the W-8BEN form.
Will a channel partner with eligible tax profile (US or UK) be able to sell to customers in supported markets that the partner doesn't have a presence in?
Yes. Eligible channel partners (with US tax profiles and required resale certificate or UK tax profiles with tax treaty benefit) can sell to customers in all supported markets (US, UK, CA). For example, a partner located in UK who meets UK tax profile requirements can sell to customers in United Kingdom, Unites States, and Canada.
What are the multiparty private offer terms and conditions?
Multiparty private offers will adhere to the policies and terms included in the Microsoft Publishers Agreement, the Commercial Marketplace Terms of Use, the commercial marketplace certification policies, and the commercial marketplace review policies. View the specific terms for multiparty private offers within the Microsoft publishers agreement Addendum B.
Creating multiparty private offers
What offer types can be sold through multiparty private offers?
Multiparty private offers can be created for the following transactable marketplace offer types: SaaS, Azure Virtual Machines, and Azure Applications. Multiparty private offers do not support the sale of professional services to customers. Sales of software offers cannot include professional services or hardware in the software price by policy. To sell your professional services to customers in the United States, Canada, or United Kingdom, create a customer private offer using the transactable professional service offer type. Private offers are not supported for products offered in Microsoft AppSource.
What is a customer billing account ID and where can I find it for my customer?
To create a multiparty private offer, you need the billing account ID of your customer. Customers can find the billing account information in the Azure portal either in:
- Cost Management + Billing > Settings > Properties or,
- If customer knows the subscription they plan to use for the purchase, select: Subscriptions > select the relevant subscription > Properties (or Billing Properties). The customer must be an owner or contributor on the billing account to access this information.
If a customer doesn't have a billing account, they can create one by signing up on Azure.com. See Billing account scopes in the Azure portal.
Applying the multiparty private offer at the Billing Account ID level means that if new subscriptions are added to the customer's Azure plan, the multiparty private offer will automatically apply to those subscriptions also and no edits need to be made to the multiparty private offer.
Billing account information is only available to the customer and can't be accessed by ISV partners or channel partners.
When should I use Accepted date vs. Specific month for the start date? Or can I use a specific date in the month as the start or end date for the multiparty private offer?
While creating a new multiparty private offer, select Accepted date as the start date to make the price available for the customer to transact as soon as the multiparty private offer is accepted. If you want a private price to be available to the customer immediately on acceptance, choose Accepted date.
Choose specific month to make the multiparty private price available in a future calendar month. Example: If you create a multiparty private offer on May 15 and want the private price to be available to the customer on June 1, select June. The multiparty private offer starts on the first day of the month and end on the last day. You can't select specific start and end dates within the month. If a customer purchases the public offer/plan prior to June 1, they won't see the multiparty private offer price nor receive the private price for any transactions before June 1. The time zone for the customer accept by date is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Note
If a multiparty private offer is extended to an existing customer of pay-as-you-go (PAYG; consumption-based) products (like Virtual Machines), selecting Accepted date will make the private price applicable for the entire month. For example: if you create a multiparty private offer on May 15 for a Virtual Machine product for an existing customer and select Accepted date, the private price will be applied for the entire month on the month of acceptance.
How is Accept by date different from End date?
Accept by date is the private offer's expiration date. Your customer must accept the multiparty private offer before the end of this date in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or the private offer will expire. The End date specifies the date on which the multiparty private price and terms end. The time zone for the customer accept by date and end date is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
What is the difference between Absolute price and Discounted price type in a multiparty private offer?
ISV partners can use discounted price to provide a percentage-based discount on top of a publicly listed plan. This can only be used when the private price is lower than the publicly listed plan price. The absolute price can be used to specify a price point higher, lower, or equal to the publicly listed plan price, and can only be applied at a plan level. Absolute price can be applied to virtual machine software reservation offers but can't be applied for virtual machine offers or any plans that have a trial enabled.
Can I create a private offer that gives customers the option to purchase either a 1-year or 3-year subscription?
No. Having multiple options on a private offer creates confusion for pre-negotiated enterprise sales and often results in purchase mistakes. You should create the private offer for the desired subscription term. Your public plan might include multiple purchase options for customers to self-serve at a public non-negotiated rate should you choose to offer this sales model.
Can ISV/Partner issue quotes to partners in a localized currency and not use Microsoft conversion rate?
Yes. ISV has the option to set custom market price for non-US markets using the existing import/export price functionality, and it won't be subject to Microsoft conversion for customer price. Channel partners set a % markup from the price set by ISV and this % applies to all currencies.
How does the channel partner's customer adjustment % get applied to custom meter charges?
Within a multiparty private offer, the customer adjustment % configured by channel partners apply uniformly to both the product pricing and the custom meter pricing.
What is Clone?
ISV partners can use Clone to make an editable copy of an existing multiparty private offer and publish as a new one. Clone can be used on any multiparty private offer regardless of its status.
What is Upgrade?
Upgrade allows ISV partners to upgrade an existing accepted multiparty private offer. Marketplace only supports upgrades at renewal; for example, the upgraded offer Start and End date can't overlap with the existing multiparty private offer. ISV partners can only edit pricing, dates, terms, and notification contacts for the upgraded multiparty private offer before sending it to the channel partner to finalize and send to the customer for acceptance and purchase. If other changes are needed, such as an additional plan, create a new multiparty private offer.
My customer accepted a multiparty private offer and is already using it. Can I submit another upgrade to extend the multiparty private offer?
Multiparty private offers can't be upgraded mid-term. An ISV partner can create an upgrade at any time before sending it to the channel partner to finalize and send to the customer for acceptance, but the upgrade will only take effect at the end of the existing multiparty private offer.
Can ISVs and channel partners include their own custom terms and conditions on the multiparty private offer deals?
Yes. ISVs and partners can attach up to five customer terms and conditions that the customer needs to accept as part of the multiparty private offer. Multiparty private offers currently don't support the ability for ISVs and partners to exchange partner-only terms for acceptance that don't get passed to the customer.
Can a multiparty private offer be withdrawn before the customer purchases?
Yes. Withdrawing a multiparty private offer means your customer will no longer be able to access it.
For ISVs: A multiparty private offer can only be withdrawn by an ISV if the status is Pending partner action. A multiparty private offer can't be withdrawn by an ISV if your partner on the deal has already sent it to the customer and the status is Pending acceptance or Accepted by the customer.
For channel partners: A multiparty private offer can only be withdrawn by channel partners if the status is Pending acceptance. A multiparty private offer can't be withdrawn if the customer has accepted the multiparty private offer and the status is Accepted by the customer.
Is there an API for multiparty private offers?
Yes. ISV partners and channel partners should use the same set of API calls to create a multiparty private offer for a customer.
Customer acceptance and purchase
How do customers purchase multiparty private offers?
Customers purchase multiparty private offers the same why they accept and purchase private offers today through the commercial marketplace. To learn more, see Purchase a private offer.
Why can't my customer access the multiparty private offer link I shared?
Any user within the customer's organization can see the details of the multiparty private offer. To accept a multiparty private offer, the user in the customer organization must be an owner or contributor of the subscription, and admin on the Azure account; see Roles and permissions. Without appropriate permissions, the user can't accept the multiparty private offer. To get access to the billing account, the user should contact the billing account admin or owner. A red notice at the top of the page indicates three people within the customer's organization who have the appropriate permissions to reach out to.
Why can't I make changes to a multiparty private offer after it's accepted?
Once a multiparty private offer is accepted, it's a legal agreement between you and the customer and hence it can't be changed.
If you need to change the multiparty private offer, you can submit a support ticket to cancel the current multiparty private offer and create a new one. To cancel the private offer, there must either be no purchases made by the customer for the products within the private offer, or the customer must unsubscribe to the products purchased within the private offer before it can be cancelled.
Will transactions occur in local currencies?
Example: Will a Canada marketplace sale be in $CAD?
Yes. Customers are always invoiced in their billing account currency.
How does Microsoft determine a customer's location and which currency to apply for a Marketplace transaction?
There are 2 different locations and associated currencies Microsoft tracks for customer, market, and billing account. Microsoft determines a customer's market location and market currency based on the customer's tenant; customers are shown offer prices in their market currency in marketplace. Billing location and billing currency are determined by the customer's Azure billing account settings. Customers are invoiced in their billing account currency. Market currency and the billing account currency don't always match. For example, a customer located in Canada can have an Azure billing account set up with billing currency in $USD, this customer will see offer prices in $CAD based on their market currency, but will be billed in $USD for transactions they make based on their Azure billing account currency.
Offers with products configured with absolute price for partner price cannot be extended to customers with mismatched market and billing account currencies, only discount price (% discount) partner price configuration is allowed for these customers.
My customer accepted the multiparty private offer. What's next?
If the multiparty private offer is due to begin on the Accepted date, the customer can go to the Azure portal to subscribe to the offer using any Azure Subscription associated with the billing account. They must use an Azure subscription associated with the configured billing account to get the private price. If the multiparty private offer includes PAYG offers (Virtual Machines) and was extended to an existing customer, the customer will be charged using the private price as soon as the multiparty private offer is accepted.
For a multiparty private offer that includes SaaS, the customer must subscribe to the software as a service (SaaS) product first and then configure the product within 30 days of subscribing to the product.
If the ISV has configured the multiparty private offer to begin at a future date, the customer can accept the multiparty private offer before the Accept by date but shouldn't subscribe to or deploy the product until after the Start date set for the multiparty private offer.
My customer accepted the multiparty private offer, but the private price is still not reflected in the marketplace products page
Once the customer has accepted the multiparty private offer, it can take up to 15 minutes for the private price to be reflected in the marketplace on the Private products details page. If the customer transacts within these 15 minutes, the marketplace will still charge the customer correctly using the private price. Additionally, if the multiparty private offer was configured to start in a specific month, the customer won't see the multiparty private offer price nor receive the private price until that month.
My customer accepted the multiparty private offer. When will they be billed?
Accepting a private offer doesn't initiate billing. Before billing begins, the customer must accept the multiparty private offer and then subscribe to the software as a service (SaaS) product or deploy the virtual machine or Azure application product that's contained in the multiparty private offer in the Azure portal.
For a multiparty private offer that includes a SaaS product, the customer must also configure the product within 30 days of subscribing to the product.
How can I distinguish a SaaS purchase is for multiparty private offer?
The SaaS fulfillment API has been updated to return private offer ID when a subscription is for a multiparty private offer. Follow these steps to verify:
- Retrieve the subscription ID and Plan ID as prerequisites. You can get both either through the Resolve (when purchase request comes to the landing page) or via the Get Subscription calls, both will return the correct Plan ID in the response.
- Then call the SaaS fulfillment subscription APIs, and make sure to pass in the correct Plan ID from the previous step. The response will return the multiparty private offer ID as the external ID if the subscription is for a multiparty private offer. For example:
"sourceOffers": [ //sourceOffers is returned when planId is passed as filter parameter (note that this is the plan that customer has purchased).
{
"externalId": "<guid>" //private offer id, returned when purchase is made through private offer.
}
]
What happens when my multiparty private offer ends?
If the customer has auto renew enabled, and you don't create a new multiparty private offer that the customer accepts, the customer will be charged at the list price of the public plan.
What happens if I publish more than one multiparty private offer and/or customer private offer to the same customer with overlapping products and timeframes?
A multiparty private must be unique and not overlap with another multiparty private offer or another customer private offer for the same customer billing account ID using the same public plan for the same timeframe regardless of the channel partner. Overlapping multiparty private offers are blocked at submission. To remedy this problem, you have the option to create another similar public plan and configure your multiparty private offer to the same customer with this different plan.
Payments and reporting
Where can I get help establishing my Microsoft commercial marketplace account tax and payment profiles as required to participate and transact a multiparty private offer?
Get support verifying you've completed prerequisite tax and payment profile account setup steps by emailing channelready@microsoft.com.
For self-serve help on setting up tax and payment profiles, review the following video tutorials:
- Set up a commercial marketplace tax profile in Partner Center
- Set up a commercial marketplace payment profile in Partner Center
When will partners receive their payments for sales of multiparty private offers?
Payouts to ISVs and partners follow the commercial marketplace payout schedules and processes. To learn more, see Payout policy details.
How does Microsoft apply currency exchange rates for Marketplace transactions and how does this impact the earnings payout I receive as a seller?
Microsoft will pay partners in the currency selected for their Marketplace seller account payment profile in Partner Center. When the customer billing currency is different than partner payment currency, an FX conversion will occur, and you can see this conversion in your Earnings workspace reports.
Will there be a marketplace agency fee to ISVs and channel partners for sales of multiparty private offers?
The standard commercial marketplace agency fee applies to ISVs on their partner price they configure to their channel partner. The standard marketplace fee won't be applied to the channel partner's markup. To learn more, see Multiparty private offers.
What reporting is available in Partner Center for multiparty private offers?
Sales of multiparty private offers are available in Partner Center Earnings, under earnings and reports. Look for the column isPrivateOffer to determine if the sale is a private offer sale.
Multiparty private offer sales details are also available in marketplace insights reporting within the Revenue, Orders, Usage, and Customers dashboards, exports, and via programmatic access. Within the Revenue dashboard, partners can use the "multiparty" filter to view data specific to multiparty private offer sales. Within the marketplace insights reporting, ISVs have visibility to the customer, their products, and their partner on the deal along with the partner price they configured for their partner. Channel partners have visibility to the customer, the products, their ISV on the deal, the partner price they received from their ISV, the customer adjustment they configured, and the customer's price. To learn more, see access insights for the commercial marketplace in Partner Center.
To reconcile the Earnings report with the Revenue or Orders report, use OrderID in the Earnings report and purchaseRecordID from the Revenue or Orders report as the common unique identifier. To learn more, reference the information on the data dictionary.