Frequently asked questions about CSP private offers

Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) private offers allow software companies to provide margins that motivate the CSP partners to sell the software company's transactable solutions available on Microsoft Marketplace. This enables software companies to expand their reach to small and medium-sized customers by collaborating with CSP advocates globally on a scale. For CSP partners, it gives them the opportunity to package software company solutions with their own offerings to provide unique customer value. To learn more, see CSP partner private offers and Microsoft Marketplace margin.

CSP private offers help software companies efficiently market and sell their products to small and medium-sized customers through Microsoft's extensive ecosystem of CSP partners in Microsoft Marketplace. These customers have their CSP subscriptions managed by the CSP partners, who handle customer relationships, pricing, and billing outside of Microsoft Marketplace.

Multiparty private offers are an effective deal-making tool for Enterprise customers with an Enterprise Agreement (EA) or a Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA). The channel partner oversees the customer relationship, while Microsoft directly bills the customer through Microsoft Marketplace. For more detailed comparison, refer to the following table.

Refer to the following table:

CSP partners can purchase the software company's product offers under the customer's CSP Azure subscription that they manage.

• For SaaS or Business Central offers, CSP partners can purchase the products in Partner Center. For VMs/Azure apps, CSP can purchase in Azure portal.
• CSP can also sell through their own storefront, integrating with Microsoft APIs. CSP partners set end customer pricing and sell to customers outside of Microsoft Marketplace.

After purchase, the product offer needs to be provisioned and activated:

• SaaS offers: End customer or CSP partner needs to visit software company's site after purchase and enter required information, and then software company will provision and activate the product to complete the purchase.
• Non-SaaS offers: Can be provisioned via Azure portal after purchase.

For more information, visit Purchase Microsoft Marketplace offers.

No. CSP partners need to set the final end-customer pricing by adding their markups to the software company provided price, and handle customer billing all outside of Microsoft Marketplace.

Software companies can find CSP partners on Partner Center.

1. Sign in to Partner Center and select Marketplace offers.
2. Select Private offers from the left-nav menu to open the dashboard.
3. Select the CSP partner tab and then + New private offer.
   • Software companies can select + Add CSP partner, then search for CSP partners (Direct bill or Indirect Provider) by name or tenant ID.
   • Software companies can also search by applying filters such as regions, skills, or competencies.

SETTING UP A PRIVATE OFFER

The offer must be transactable and opted in for selling through the CSP channel. This applies to both license-based and consumption-based offer types.

Dynamics 365 Business Central offer type is newly available for selling through the CSP channel. An add-on app is the only Business Central package type that supports the creation of transactable offers. For details, see Add-on apps. To learn more, check out Create a Dynamics 365 Business Central offer on Microsoft Marketplace.

Software companies and CSP partners should negotiate the margin. Software companies can also provide a margin without consulting with a CSP partner. There's a limit of 50 CSP tenants per offer.

Each private offer has a start and end date. For offer types with monthly billing and term, the margin applies until the end date of the private offer. At the next billing event after the end date of the private offer, the CSP partner is charged at the price without margin, unless the software company has created a new private offer for that CSP partner.

For offer types with an annual term billing, the CSP is charged at the price with margin applied if the billing event occurs during the term of the private offer.

There are currently no monthly billing, annual term offers.

Software companies can find CSP partners on Partner Center.

1. Sign in to Partner Center and select Private offers from the left-nav menu to open the dashboard.
2. Select the CSP Partner tab and then + New Private offer.
   • Software companies can select + Add CSP Partner, then search for CSP partners (Direct bill or Indirect Provider) by name or tenant ID.
   • Software companies can also search by applying filters such as regions, skills, or competencies.

Software companies can share their margin to Direct Bill partners and Indirect Providers in the CSP program through CSP private offers. Indirect Resellers in the CSP program can work with their Indirect Provider to resell software company's private offers. To learn more about the CSP partner model, see the CSP Overview page on Partner Center.

With the general availability of the partner private offer capability, software companies can optionally extend a private offer to a specific customer of the CSP partner. Software company can choose whether the margin applies to all customers or selected customers of the CSP partner.

No. When a software company publishes an offer, they choose which countries/regions the offer can be sold in. When a software company creates a private offer for a CSP partner, they can choose CSP tenants from any region in the same private offer.

Yes, the software company can configure a margin at the offer/plan level per CSP partner. Different percentage margins require separate private offers.

It depends:

• If the software company opted into the offer, and the software company selected the CSP partner to sell their offer, then the change is almost immediate (within 15 minutes).
• If the software company didn't opt in to be sold, or if software company didn't authorize the CSP partner to sell the software company's offer, then the offer can take longer (up to six hours).

Creating a private offer for a CSP who you didn't select to sell your offer enables that CSP to be able to sell your offer. Similarly, if an offer isn't opted in to be sold via CSP and the software company creates a margin for a CSP partner, that offer is opted into CSP to be sold via that CSP only (not All CSP partners).

No. Partners must be part of Microsoft's CSP program and need to be a Direct CSP or Indirect provider to be provided a margin. If a partner doesn't return in the search, it's likely they're either not part of Microsoft's CSP program or they're an indirect reseller. CSP partners can review information on how to enroll in the program at Enroll in the Cloud Solution Provider program.

The software company needs to select the Indirect Provider who the Indirect reseller purchases from and the Indirect Provider needs to choose whether to sell the software company's offer via their indirect resellers.

A software company can't provide a margin/private offer to an indirect reseller directly but the indirect provider can decide to pass a margin through to their indirect reseller.

Yes, software company can select multiple specific CSP tenants that they want to extend their margins when they create a CSP private offer.

Yes, all existing and future plans under the offer selected are included.

Software companies can create CSP private offers by selecting CSP tenant IDs in the Partner Center during the CSP private offers creation process. Software companies can only search for and select the CSP tenant IDs of Direct Bill and Indirect Provider partners in the CSP program. If a software company wants to work with a reseller managed by an Indirect Provider, they need to extend a CSP private offer to the Indirect Provider, and the indirect provider can work with the reseller outside of Microsoft Marketplace by handling pricing, billing, and so on.

If you're unsure about your CSP partner's enrollment type in the CSP program, you can ask your partner to check their CSP enrollment status in Partner Center.

EDITING A PRIVATE OFFER

Once a software company extends a private offer, they can't alter the term of the private offer prior to the end date, nor change the end date. Once the CSP partner receives a private offer, it's locked in until its end date.

If the software company adds a new private offer that provides the CSP partner a greater margin percentage and the timeline overlaps the current offer, the higher margin percentage applies.

Once the private offer is submitted, it can't be edited until the end of the term. The software company can only request to cancel (via withdraw request) the original private offer if the CSP partner didn't yet transact the offer.

No, a software company can't remove a CSP partner if the partner has transacted an offer.

If no partner has transacted an offer from the original private offer, the software company can create a new private offer excluding the CSP they wish to remove. They then need to cancel the original private offer.

If another CSP partner from the private offer has transacted the offer but the CSP to be removed hasn't, the software company can create a new private offer without the CSP they wish to remove. They can then cancel the original private offer via the Withdraw functionality.

No. To add a new CSP partner, the software company must create a new private offer.

Refer to New commerce experience cancellation policy for new commerce cancellation policies and Cancel Marketplace SaaS subscriptions for cancellation steps.

software company partners can apply a percentage-based discount on publicly available plans using the discounted price option. However, specifying an absolute price isn't supported for CSP private offers.

By design, a CSP private offer doesn't require a discrete private offer acceptance step either from a CSP partner or a customer. Software companies can check the private offer status in the Partner Center, and then check the orders status in the Marketplace Insights reporting.

REPORTING

There will be no changes to the representation of payout reporting. The payout amount and agency fee that Microsoft charges will be based on the price after margin is applied for line items that have associated margin. Software companies can track and monitor sales using Marketplace Insights as follows:

• Analytics: Order and revenue information for sales through Microsoft Marketplace and private offers are available in the Marketplace insights dashboards, reports, and through programmatic access. You can filter Sales Channel = CSP.
• Payouts: Sales through Microsoft Marketplace and private offers are in Earnings, under earnings and reports. For more information about payout schedule, visit Marketplace payout schedule documentation.

• First, you need to define your marketplace strategy, target software companies, and offers.
• Second, you need to understand how software companies selling with CSP partners in Microsoft Marketplace works and get ready for your operational process. To learn more, visit CSP Marketplace overview.
• You can connect with target software companies to sell their solutions with and receive margins from the software companies through CSP private offers.

CSP partners can discover the margins available to them, set their customer price, and invoice their customer outside of Microsoft Marketplace. This allows them to grow their revenue and manage customer interactions more effectively. More customers are purchasing solutions via Microsoft Marketplace. It provides growth opportunities for CSP partners based on customer demands and how customers want to transact. With Microsoft Marketplace, you can integrate once and access over 2.5 K CSP transactable apps today. It allows you to expand your solution portfolio easily at scale and significantly simplify the process of onboarding solutions through a standardized experience.

More customers are purchasing solutions via the marketplace, providing growth opportunities for CSP partners based on customer demands and transaction preferences. With the marketplace, you can integrate once and access thousands of transactable apps available for CSP partners to sell today. This allows you to easily expand your solution portfolio at scale and significantly simplify the process of onboarding solutions through a standardized experience.

CHECKING PRIVATE OFFERS

CSP partners can check the CSP private offers margins in Partner Center by following these steps:

1. Sign in to Partner Center.
2. Navigate to the "Private offers" section from the left navigation menu.
3. Select the "CSP partners" tab.

Here, CSP partners can view all the margins available to them for the private offers created by software companies. This allows CSP partners to discover the margins and make informed decisions about the offers they want to sell with software companies.

PURCHASING EXPERIENCE

CSP partners can find price list for Microsoft Marketplace offers in Partner Center extended from software companies using CSP private offers. To learn more, visit Understand pricing for Microsoft Marketplace offers. The Marketplace price list can also be retrieved using an API. See Get a price sheet for guidance. The Partner Center price list only contains products available for purchase through Partner Center. If you can't find Microsoft Marketplace products on the CSP Marketplace price list in Partner Center, check with the Azure portal price list and price sheet download API.

CSP partners can cancel a subscription for a third-party app within the first seven days of any term and receive a prorated refund, except where otherwise required by law. After the initial seven days, cancellation isn't available. For more information, see Sell software subscriptions through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program.

1. CSP partners can check view a private offer and check the margin.
2. The CSP partner discovers the software company's offer in the Partner Center and purchase a subscription to the offer on behalf of the customer.
3. The customer admin or their delegated admin partner can manage their licenses by assigning licenses for these add-ons on the license pages under the billing node in the Microsoft 365 admin center. They can assign licenses to users or groups. They can assign licenses to users or groups. Doing so enables these users to launch the software company app, and they can find a direct link and install the app in Business Central. Alternatively, customers can also install the app within Microsoft Marketplace once the app is purchased.

If your offer isn't displaying for CSP partners to purchase, there might be a delay. You can contact support if you believe your offer isn't available for your CSP partner to transact. If an offer doesn't appear as you expect in Partner Center, it might be because:

• The software company chose not to sell the product through the CSP program. You might find these transactable products in Microsoft Marketplace, but they don't appear in Partner Center marketplace for CSP partners to browse.
• The offer type might not be transactable through Partner Center, as Partner Center supports purchasing experience for SaaS offers. Check if the offer type is non-SaaS, such as VM or Azure Applications. You can try to purchase on Azure portal.
• The offer might not be available for purchase in your region.
• The software company decided to make the offer exclusive to select CSP partners. Learn more about exclusive offers.

BILLING, INVOICING, AND RECONCILIATION

1. Sign in to Partner Center and select the Billing workspace.
2. Go to the Billing overview (NCE) task menu.
3. Select the year on the Billing | Billing Overview (NCE) page.
4. Select the invoice number.
5. Find the reconciliation file on the side panel, then select Download report.

The PublisherName column shows whether the purchase is from Microsoft or a non-Microsoft (third-party software company) publisher. To learn more, visit Access billing information for Microsoft Marketplace products.

1. Sign in to Partner Center and select the Billing workspace.
2. Go to the Billing overview (NCE) task menu.
3. Select the year on the Billing | Billing Overview (NCE) page.
4. Select the invoice number.
5. Find the reconciliation file on the side panel, then select Download report.

Use the following information in the reconciliation file to understand whether a private offer margin was applied to a billing line item:

• UnitPrice shows the original price set by the software company.
• EffectiveUnitPrice shows the price after a margin is applied.
• PriceAdjustmentDescription displays Private offer margin applied if a margin was applied on that purchase or renewal.

To learn more, visit Understand billing for products with private offer margins in Microsoft Marketplace.

APIs

Yes, CSP partners can automate their operational process using APIs. For more information, please visit CSP Microsoft Marketplace overview and Partner Center API scenarios.

OTHERS

No, the margin only applies to the price of the software set by the software company for their product, not to the associated Azure consumption charges.

Annual subscriptions only apply to entitlement-based offers. The newly added licenses still get the discounted price as they purchased the subscription during the original private offer term. It continues until the end of the annual subscription term. If the CSP partner increases licenses for offers with metered billing, the pricing for the entitlement-based portion of the charges will maintain the discount until the end of the annual subscription term but the margin applied to the price for the metered billing won't be maintained after the end period of the private offer. A workaround for this is for software companies to create a new private offer for that CSP partner until the end of the subscription term. The same concept applies for monthly subscriptions (and billing). If a private offer ends in a month, the CSP partner is charged at the full price the following month. The end date for a private offer is always the end of the month.

Customers can connect with their CSP partners and purchase from them.

• CSP private offers and the margins from a software company are for CSP partners directly, not for their customers. Customers won't see discounted pricing through the CSP private offer purchase experience in Microsoft Marketplace. For CSP private offers, there's no customer Private Offer Management experience in Azure portal and no private offer acceptance step, unlike customer private offers or multiparty private offers. CSP partners have full control of customer experience and should manage reseller and customer custom pricing and billing outside of Microsoft Marketplace.
• If the CSP partner extends admin or contributor rights to an end customer on the CSP subscription in Azure portal, the end customer can go into Azure portal and view, purchase, and manage solutions on that CSP subscription. The CSP partner's customer doesn't see resources unless the CSP partner has given the customer access. The customer purchase experience on the Azure portal will be the same as their experience with public offers purchasing. Customers might see public retail pricing on the Azure portal. Any custom pricing by CSP partners must be managed through their backend process, outside of Microsoft Marketplace.
• If the end customer purchases for themselves on Azure portal, it's still the CSP who is billed by Microsoft because the purchase is happening on the CSP subscription. The CSP partner then bills the end customer outside of Microsoft Marketplace.

No. For CSP private offers, there's no customer Private Offer Management experience in Azure portal and no private offer acceptance step, unlike customer private offers or multiparty private offers. CSP partners have full control of customer experience and should manage reseller and customer custom pricing and billing outside of Microsoft Marketplace.

CSP partners have full control of customer experience and should manage reseller and customer custom pricing and billing outside of Microsoft Marketplace.

Related content

• For an overview of analytics reports available in Partner Center, see Access analytics reports for Microsoft Marketplace in Partner Center.
• For information about your orders in a graphical and downloadable format, see Orders dashboard in Microsoft Marketplace analytics.
• For Virtual Machine (VM) offers usage and metered billing metrics, see Usage dashboard in Microsoft Marketplace analytics.
• For detailed information about your customers, including growth trends, see Customers dashboard in Microsoft Marketplace analytics.
• For a list of your download requests over the last 30 days, see Downloads hub in Microsoft Marketplace insights.
• To see a consolidated view of customer feedback for offers on Microsoft Marketplace, see Ratings and reviews analytics dashboard in Partner Center.