Private offers overview

Private offers allow Microsoft partners to sell products in Microsoft Marketplace with time-bound pricing and customized terms. This article explains the requirements and steps to create a private offer in Microsoft Marketplace. Eligible private offers use single-click purchase by default, taking customers directly to the Azure portal to buy all included products in one flow; subscriptions activate automatically, and billing starts immediately or on a configured future date. Ineligible offers, or offers with single-click purchase disabled, use the multi-step flow where customers accept the offer and purchase each product separately.

Partner workflow

  1. Create private offer in Partner Center

    • Partner creates a private offer for a specific customer using the customer's Azure billing account ID.
    • Partner includes in the private offer one or more product plans.
    • For a single-click private offer, configure whether activation and billing start at purchase or on a future date during plan configuration.

  2. Share private offer with customer

    • Partner submits the private offer in Partner Center.
    • Partner shares the private offer link with the customer for purchase when single-click purchase is enabled or for acceptance when disabled.

      Tip

      The customer can also access the private offer by signing in to the Azure portal and navigating to private offer management.

  3. Receive payment after customer purchase

    • Partner receives payment from Microsoft after the customer completes the purchase. Learn more about payout and tax policies.

Next step: Get guidance for creating private offers

Customer workflow

The customer workflow depends on whether single-click purchase is enabled.

Single-click purchase

  1. The customer opens the link shared by the partner.
  2. The customer reviews the products, pricing, terms, and activation dates in the Azure portal.
  3. The customer completes one purchase for all products in the private offer before its expiration date.
  4. The subscriptions are automatically activated. Billing starts immediately or on the future activation date configured by the partner. Single-click purchase prevents any duplicate purchase of the private offer.

Legacy acceptance and purchase

  1. The customer opens the link shared by the partner or goes to Private offer management in the Azure portal.
  2. The customer reviews and accepts the private offer by the accept-by date.
  3. The customer purchases each included product through the Azure portal.
  4. The customer completes any required product configuration or activation steps. In both experiences, the customer can view private pricing in Azure Cost Management and receives an invoice from Microsoft.

Next step: Learn how to purchase a private offer

Benefits of private offers

  • Streamlined purchase: Eligible offers let customers purchase up to 10 products in one flow without a separate acceptance step.
  • Automatic activation: For eligible offers, activate subscriptions automatically and start billing immediately or on a future date.
  • Custom pricing and duration: Configure private prices, contract durations, and billing schedules supported by the selected product.
  • Custom terms and contract upload: Attach a PDF with customer-specific terms that comply with Microsoft Marketplace policies and the Microsoft Publisher Agreement.
  • Direct offer link: Share a link that opens either the single-click purchase experience or the legacy private-offer acceptance experience.
  • Purchase deadline: Specify when the customer must complete a single-click purchase. For a legacy offer, specify when the customer must accept it.
  • Faster availability: Private offers are generally available within 15 minutes. Private plans can take up to 48 hours.
  • Multiple products: Include up to 10 supported products or plans in one private offer.
  • Targeted companies: Send a private offer to an organization by using its billing account.

Single-click purchase eligibility

A private offer must meet all the following requirements to use single-click purchase:

  • Customer billing account: Modern Customer Agreement (MCA) or Enterprise Agreement (EA), Legacy Web Direct (LWD)
  • Sales model: Customer private offer, eligible multiparty private offer, or resale-enabled private offer
  • Private offer pricing option: Create a private offer with absolute pricing as a new SaaS or professional services plan
  • Product type: Eligible SaaS or professional services product fulfilled through the Azure portal
  • Products quantity: Up to 10 eligible products in one private offer
  • Purchase frequency: One purchase for the products included in the private offer
  • Private marketplace: Supported

Supported offer types

You can create private offers for the following transactable Microsoft Marketplace offer types: software as a service (SaaS), professional service, Azure virtual machine, Azure container, Azure application, and Dragon Copilot offers. By policy, Microsoft Marketplace does not support the sale of hardware.

Note

Discounts apply on all custom meter dimensions that your offer might use. They're applied only on the software charges that you set, not on the associated Azure infrastructure hardware charges.

Private offers dashboard

Create and manage private offers from the Private offers dashboard in Partner Center. Open the dashboard by selecting Private offers on the left menu of the Marketplace offers workspace. For more information about the capabilities, see Manage private offers.

This dashboard has three tabs:

  • Customers: Create, clone, upgrade, withdraw, and delete customer private offers. You can also track private-offer and purchase status.
  • CSP Partners: Create a private offer for a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner. See CSP partner private offers.
  • Multiparty: Create a private offer that includes a channel partner and is transacted through Microsoft Marketplace. See Multiparty private offers.

For a single-click private offer, purchase progress can include these statuses:

  • Pending purchase: The offer is waiting for the customer to complete the purchase.
  • Purchase incomplete: The customer didn't complete the purchase successfully.
  • Purchased: The customer completed the purchase successfully.

Video tutorials

For more information, see the following video tutorials:

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