Indirect Reseller partner onboarding

Before you begin

As of October 2020, all Microsoft partners new to CSP enroll in the CSP program as an Indirect Reseller. You then need to create an account in Partner Center. To do so, provide the following information during the enrollment process. You might want to take a few minutes to gather these items before you get started:

• Global administrator credentials for your work account

  You must provide the user name and password you use to sign in to Office 365, Microsoft Azure, or Microsoft Dynamics CRM. If you don't have a work account, you can create one during the enrollment process. If you don't know whether you already have a work account, see Work accounts and the Partner Center.

• The user name and password you use to sign in to the Partner Membership Center site

  We use this information to link your company's PartnerID with your new Partner Center account. You can then manage your membership benefits and data in the Partner Center.

  Important: Partner Membership Center (PMC) was retired in May 2022.

• Your company's legal business name, address, primary contact, and support details

  We need this information to confirm that your company has an established profile with Microsoft and that you're authorized to act on its behalf.

  It can take us several days to review and verify the information you provided. We email your primary contact when we complete the review.

Start your Indirect Reseller partner application

After you verify that you meet the minimum requirements, you can proceed to go to the Welcome page to register as an Indirect Reseller.

Step 1: Enroll on CSP Welcome Page

On the CSP Welcome page, the partner registers for the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Indirect Reseller program by creating a new account or using an existing work account. Use the work email address you use to sign in to Office 365, Microsoft Azure, or Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

For business and support information, the partner provides:

• Legal business details
• Primary contact information
• Customer support contact details (required for Indirect Reseller authorization)

Step 2: Provide business and support information

Microsoft uses the information collected in this step to verify the partner’s legal identity and confirm the partner can provide customer support.

Partners must submit:

• Legal business name (must match official registration)
• Physical business address
• Primary business contact

This information is used for business verification and must match the partner’s existing records with Microsoft.

Indirect Resellers must provide customer support details as part of onboarding, including:

• Support email address
• Support phone number (where applicable)

Providing support contact information confirms the partner’s ability to support customers directly, which is a core requirement of CSP participation—even for Indirect Resellers.

Step 3: Business Verification

After the partner submits the organization’s enrollment information, Microsoft verifies the organization’s legal details (company name, address, and primary contact). During this process, you may receive an email from macount@microsoft.com requesting additional documentation. Verification typically takes 3–5 business days. You can view the status and results in Partner Center under Account settings > Legal Info.

If your account is not verified after 5 business days, contact support or visit Recommended solutions page for assistance.

When verification is complete, your status appears as Authorized.

To learn more about the business verification process, watch this video.

Step 4: Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA acceptance)

Once business verification is complete, the partner can review and sign the Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA) in Partner Center by navigating to the Agreements page and selecting Accept using Global Admin credentials. To review or download the agreement prior to signing, select View.

The partner must accept the MPA in Partner Center before transacting.

The MPA must be accepted by a user with Global Admin permissions or appropriate legal authority for the partner tenant. Acceptance cannot be delegated to a distributor or to Microsoft.

Accepting the MPA is a prerequisite to:

• Completing CSP Indirect Reseller authorization
• Establishing a Distributor relationship
• Being enabled to transact in the CSP program

Until the MPA is accepted, the partner cannot sell or transact, even if all other onboarding steps have been completed.

Confirm that you signed the Microsoft Partner Agreement on the Program Info section of the Legal Info page. The Indirect Reseller status should be Active.

When your Partner Center account is ready to use, verify that you were added to the admin agent group. To finish setting up your account, including adding other users, you must have admin agent permissions. Follow these steps to view or update your permissions:

• Sign in to Partner Center and select the Settings (gear) icon.
• Select Account settings, then select User management.
• Select your name from the list of users. Then, select Admin agent, if not already selected. Select Update.

Step 5: Select and connect with a Distributor

After your organization has signed the Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA) you are ready to select and connect with a Distributor. An Indirect Reseller cannot transact in CSP without an active Distributor relationship. Authorization alone is not sufficient—the Distributor relationship is what enables ordering, billing, and provisioning in Partner Center.

Once authorized as an Indirect Reseller, the partner:

• Finds a Distributor (Indirect Provider)
• Accepts a Distributor–Indirect Reseller relationship in Partner Center

Role of a Distributor

Distributors (formerly Indirect Providers) purchase from Microsoft and enable Indirect Resellers to:

• Sell Microsoft cloud offers
• Provision subscriptions
• Support customers operationally

The Distributor handles billing with Microsoft; the reseller owns the customer relationship.

How to find a Distributor

Partners can:

• Use Microsoft’s official Distributor directory
• Engage Distributors directly based on geography, portfolio, or services

Learn how to partner with Distributor

The rapidly growing demand for cloud-based solutions and services provides many opportunities for Microsoft partners of all sizes to build profitable cloud solution businesses. Partners can enroll in Microsoft's Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program as indirect resellers when they:

• Are ready to enter the market, but don't want to manage multiple vendors.
• Don't have an end-to-end customer relationship management infrastructure in place.

As an indirect reseller in CSP, you work with indirect providers (also known as distributors) who have a direct relationship with Microsoft. They can provide you with customer support, pricing, and billing to help ensure your success. In the provider-reseller (two-tier) model, the provider buys cloud solutions and services from Microsoft. You then resell them to customers.

Different indirect providers offer various support and services. Evaluate the providers in your area to determine which ones best meet your needs. Generally, most providers:

• Provide you with technical training and assistance.
• Help you market your products and services.
• Help you establish financing and credit terms.

If you're not already working with a provider (also known as a distributor), you can search the list of official Microsoft providers to find one.

For more information on how to sell in the CSP program as an indirect reseller, see Get started as an indirect reseller on the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program.

How the connection is established (Partner Center)

• The Distributor sends a partnership request to the Indirect Reseller in Partner Center
• The Indirect Reseller must accept the request
• Once accepted:
  • The reseller’s PLA ID is linked
  • The reseller becomes eligible to transact through that Distributor

Your CSP country/region and the CSP regions where you do business

Your legal business location as a CSP indirect reseller determines the indirect providers with whom you can work and the regions where you can do CSP business. For more information, see Cloud Solution Provider program regional markets and currencies where you can sell CSP offers.

Indirect Reseller – Location Creation & Expansion Scenarios

This guide summarizes the supported and unsupported scenarios for creating and expanding Indirect Reseller (IR) locations.

Indirect Reseller Scenario Table

Supported Scenarios

Steps to move from Indirect Reseller to Direct bill partner

1. Confirm you meet the direct bill eligibility requirements
   • Review the current requirements (they can change by fiscal year) and confirm you can satisfy the support, billing/credit, operational, and compliance obligations before you apply.
2. Make sure your Partner Center account profile is complete and verification-ready
   • Ensure your organization profile/legal information is accurate and up to date in Partner Center so any required validation (for example, business verification) can be completed without delays.
   • Have a user with the appropriate Partner Center permissions to submit the application and complete any required profile, agreement, or verification steps.
3. Confirm you can meet direct bill support and operational readiness expectations
   • Direct bill authorization requires stronger operational readiness than Indirect Reseller (for example, customer support responsibilities, billing operations, and compliance). Use the direct bill eligibility requirements page as the source of truth for what’s required.
4. Apply for CSP direct bill authorization in Partner Center
   • In Partner Center, initiate the direct bill application/onboarding workflow. After you submit your application, Microsoft validates your eligibility against the minimum criteria and communicates next steps if you qualify.
5. If approved: complete the remaining onboarding steps and set up your direct bill operating model
   • Complete any remaining onboarding activities required for direct bill (for example, billing and invoicing setup and any required financial/credit or tax-related steps, as applicable), and confirm you can provision and manage customer subscriptions directly.
6. Plan how (and whether) to transition customers/subscriptions
   • Decide whether you will run a hybrid model (some customers remain indirect via a Distributor) or transition some/all customers to your direct bill relationship.
     • Keep some customers indirect (via a Distributor) while transacting direct bill for others (hybrid model), or
     • Transition customers to direct bill, recognizing that subscriptions typically aren’t “moved” automatically—you may need new customer agreements/relationships and, depending on the offer and term, re-provisioning or other transition steps.

Related content

• Verify your account
• Manage your Partner Center account
• Connect with your customers