Forum Discussion
How can I accommodate payment plans where the amounts differ per term?
When selling our SaaS solution we typically have a 3 year contract with annual payments. We always use private offers. Generally the contracts have 3 equal payments. But in some cases the payment amount differ per term.
At this moment I need to create multiple private offers to accommodate this. In some cases I have to wait two years to have the customer activate their last subscription.
For example, a payment schedule
Year 1 = 100.000 Year / Year 2 = 150.000 / Year 3 = 250.000
This would result into 3 Private Offers with different starting dates which shows to be confusing for our customers.
How can I make a Private Offer with 1 plan where the amounts differ per term(year)?
7 Replies
Hi Arjan,
One tactic I have used for payment plans with differing amounts is to create one Private Offer with various plans, including Pre-pay plans and Pay-Annual plans. However, this will only work if the Payment for each year is higher than the following years. For example, with the below payment schedule:
- Year 1: $70,000
- Year 2: $60,000
- Year 3: $30,000
I have been able to set it up using a 1-year pre-pay plan for $10,000 and then a 2-year Pay Annual Plan for $30,000 as well as a 3-year Pay Annual Plan for $30,000 in order to achieve the payment plan with differing amounts. The Customer would still need to subscribe to all three Plans, but it would result in one Private Offer and the Customer can subscribe to all at the same time instead of three different Private Offers and subscribing every year.
Many thanks. I have indeed done this with some customers. And like you mentioned it only works if the Payment for each year is higher than the following years. In other cases, I have had to put a reminder in the calendars to transact a new offer in the following year. I have my hopes on flexible payment schedules which were announced at Ignite.
- Hey Arjan- This is an area similar for our org. I have found it helpful to create 3 separate private offers and include the term in the name. Once they are all setup , the customer would "accept and subscribe " to year 1 and onlt "accept" both years 2 and 3. This will allow them to view it in their azure portal and then when the month is correct for them they can go in and subscribe for the 2nd and 3rd year. The setup I have found helpful for this also leverages " Specific month" setup to ensure they do not turn on invoicing early.
- ameliacarry
Microsoft
Hey ArjanTaal - I also want to point out that this capability is on our roadmap. 🙂 Let me know if you'd like me to reach out once the preview for it opens, so you can be an early adopter/tester!
Hi Amelia - I was just googling this question and came across this thread. We're running into the same issue as Arjan (hi Arjan, we were introduced at Aprimo). If you could also let me know once this functionality is in a testing mode, we'd love to try it at Contentstack. Thanks!
- Yes please. We can certainly use this to improve our execution. Let me know once the preview opens.
- justinroyal
ArjanTaal You can bill either monthly or annually but cannot do other flex billing terms at this time - there is documentation on this available here:
- Microsoft commercial marketplace transact capabilities - Marketplace publisher | Microsoft Learn
- Frequently asked questions about billing and cost management in Azure Marketplace and AppSource in Partner Center - Microsoft marketplace | Microsoft Learn
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Thanks,
Justin
