O365: differences between direct purchase and via a partner
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@scottalanmiller said:
That's confusing to discuss printer resellers in a thread about O365 partners.
Really software and hardware are way different in purchasing.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksajdotcom said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksajdotcom said:
It also depends on what it is. Certain types of items are cheaper some places direct and other items, or services, are cheaper through resellers.
What are you talking about? There is no reseller here. O365 Partners are partners, not resellers. The final purchase is always through MS and the price is always the same. Always, no exceptions. Microsoft does not alter the price based on who is your registered partner or if you don't have one. I'm not sure where you are getting these ideas but none of this fits the reality of the MS O365 model.
True, reseller and partner are not the same. I wasn't using the term correctly (although most partners also resell). Partners often can give better pricing, or at least more for the money you spend, whereas resellers often charge the same or a little more. That being said, things like printers especially can often be found cheaper at a retailer or VAR than direct, but it varies from week to week.
That's confusing to discuss printer resellers in a thread about O365 partners.
Well we were talking for awhile in generalities about direct vs partner vs reseller. If you speak on O365, then I can't comment on that as @Minion-Queen handled all the billing. But in general, direct is usually the most expensive way to go.
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@scottalanmiller said:
What are you talking about? There is no reseller here. O365 Partners are partners, not resellers. The final purchase is always through MS and the price is always the same. Always, no exceptions. Microsoft does not alter the price based on who is your registered partner or if you don't have one. I'm not sure where you are getting these ideas but none of this fits the reality of the MS O365 model.
I'm not sure what you're talking about? I'm talking about purchasing O365 through a reseller under an Open License agreement. I will be billed by the reseller, not by Microsoft. O365 has been available to purchase like this for quite a while. There is no scam here.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
What are you talking about? There is no reseller here. O365 Partners are partners, not resellers. The final purchase is always through MS and the price is always the same. Always, no exceptions. Microsoft does not alter the price based on who is your registered partner or if you don't have one. I'm not sure where you are getting these ideas but none of this fits the reality of the MS O365 model.
I'm not sure what you're talking about? I'm talking about purchasing O365 through a reseller under an Open License agreement. I will be billed by the reseller, not by Microsoft. O365 has been available to purchase like this for quite a while. There is no scam here.
Why would you purchase through the Open License Agreement? Does that have a benefit that purchasing via the standard method doesn't?
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@coliver said:
Why would you purchase through the Open License Agreement? Does that have a benefit that purchasing via the standard method doesn't?
That's what I want to know and why I started the thread. That was my question!
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
What are you talking about? There is no reseller here. O365 Partners are partners, not resellers. The final purchase is always through MS and the price is always the same. Always, no exceptions. Microsoft does not alter the price based on who is your registered partner or if you don't have one. I'm not sure where you are getting these ideas but none of this fits the reality of the MS O365 model.
I'm not sure what you're talking about? I'm talking about purchasing O365 through a reseller under an Open License agreement. I will be billed by the reseller, not by Microsoft. O365 has been available to purchase like this for quite a while. There is no scam here.
Yep I've seen it that way before too. Though in that case you are basically buying direct. They won't be your partner generally in the case of an open license and you will go to Microsoft for support.
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@coliver said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
What are you talking about? There is no reseller here. O365 Partners are partners, not resellers. The final purchase is always through MS and the price is always the same. Always, no exceptions. Microsoft does not alter the price based on who is your registered partner or if you don't have one. I'm not sure where you are getting these ideas but none of this fits the reality of the MS O365 model.
I'm not sure what you're talking about? I'm talking about purchasing O365 through a reseller under an Open License agreement. I will be billed by the reseller, not by Microsoft. O365 has been available to purchase like this for quite a while. There is no scam here.
Why would you purchase through the Open License Agreement? Does that have a benefit that purchasing via the standard method doesn't?
Volume Pricing mainly.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
What are you talking about? There is no reseller here. O365 Partners are partners, not resellers. The final purchase is always through MS and the price is always the same. Always, no exceptions. Microsoft does not alter the price based on who is your registered partner or if you don't have one. I'm not sure where you are getting these ideas but none of this fits the reality of the MS O365 model.
I'm not sure what you're talking about? I'm talking about purchasing O365 through a reseller under an Open License agreement. I will be billed by the reseller, not by Microsoft. O365 has been available to purchase like this for quite a while. There is no scam here.
Yep I've seen it that way before too. Though in that case you are basically buying direct. They won't be your partner generally in the case of an open license and you will go to Microsoft for support.
This is what I discovered in my research. The nice thing about going with a partner is that you generally get support through them, even though all billing is done by Microsoft. Full disclosure, we don't have an O365 partner.
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Pricing is pretty much the same.
So I guess I will need to add them as a partner via the O365 portal. The fact that they are my reseller doesn't automatically make them my partner?
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
What are you talking about? There is no reseller here. O365 Partners are partners, not resellers. The final purchase is always through MS and the price is always the same. Always, no exceptions. Microsoft does not alter the price based on who is your registered partner or if you don't have one. I'm not sure where you are getting these ideas but none of this fits the reality of the MS O365 model.
I'm not sure what you're talking about? I'm talking about purchasing O365 through a reseller under an Open License agreement. I will be billed by the reseller, not by Microsoft. O365 has been available to purchase like this for quite a while. There is no scam here.
So this is a reseller, not a partner like the title? I'm not aware of that model. The partner model does not work this way. The partner model is the money is still direct to MS, the partner only serves to add value, Premier partners get you free upgrades MS support and there are no downsides compared to direct.
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@coliver said:
@thecreativeone91 said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
What are you talking about? There is no reseller here. O365 Partners are partners, not resellers. The final purchase is always through MS and the price is always the same. Always, no exceptions. Microsoft does not alter the price based on who is your registered partner or if you don't have one. I'm not sure where you are getting these ideas but none of this fits the reality of the MS O365 model.
I'm not sure what you're talking about? I'm talking about purchasing O365 through a reseller under an Open License agreement. I will be billed by the reseller, not by Microsoft. O365 has been available to purchase like this for quite a while. There is no scam here.
Yep I've seen it that way before too. Though in that case you are basically buying direct. They won't be your partner generally in the case of an open license and you will go to Microsoft for support.
This is what I discovered in my research. The nice thing about going with a partner is that you generally get support through them, even though all billing is done by Microsoft. Full disclosure, we don't have an O365 partner.
For partner, yes. But it sounds like he's not looking at partners, only volume licenses via resellers, which are different than partners.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Pricing is pretty much the same.
So I guess I will need to add them as a partner via the O365 portal. The fact that they are my reseller doesn't automatically make them my partner?
They may not be part of the MS partner program, just the Open Licensing reseller.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Pricing is pretty much the same.
So I guess I will need to add them as a partner via the O365 portal. The fact that they are my reseller doesn't automatically make them my partner?
Not with an open license. You need to add them as the partner but they don't get anything from it with a open license and may not provide support. Advisor fees aren't paid unless you renew the office 365 later with them on your record. With an Open license they take a cut off the top. You'd need to check with them to see if they do support.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Pricing is pretty much the same.
So I guess I will need to add them as a partner via the O365 portal. The fact that they are my reseller doesn't automatically make them my partner?
We are a partner, the official partner reps for SW community and the North East US, but we are not resellers. Having worked in a partner model as a premier partner pretty much since the beginning - I've not see the reseller model and it is not an option to us (nor would we want that) so I'm not sure. If you use a reseller I'm not sure you can have a partner. Or maybe it is automatic.
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@scottalanmiller said:
If you use a reseller I'm not sure you can have a partner. Or maybe it is automatic.
These are things I need to establish. Until this thread, I hadn't appreciated the difference between reseller and partner. I just call everyone a supplier.
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And just because you find a Partner doesn't mean they will provide good support. Heck this local MSP is supposedly a partner: http://mounttaborservices.com/
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
If you use a reseller I'm not sure you can have a partner. Or maybe it is automatic.
These are things I need to establish. Until this thread, I hadn't appreciated the difference between reseller and partner. I just call everyone a supplier.
Well it's case by case how each vendor uses the term. BUT, nothing in the term partner implies reselling and nothing in the term reseller implies any association with the vendor. NTG is an HP Partner and a Netgear Partner, as examples, but you can't buy either from us. Best Buy is a Netgear reseller, but they are not a partner and have no Netgear expertise.
Anyone that sells stuff can be a reseller. A partner requires an agreement and association with the vendor. Some vendors require partners to be resellers too, like Meraki. Some forbid it, like Microsoft. Some have both ways, like Dell.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
And just because you find a Partner doesn't mean they will provide good support. Heck this local MSP is supposedly a partner: http://mounttaborservices.com/
There are tons of horrible ones.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thecreativeone91 said:
I personally would buy everything direct.
I would never do that. There are no upsides. Going through an MSP can add value, going direct cannot. If you go direct you voluntarily take the lowest level of service.
I remember this almost as if it was a quote from Scott's past.
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My supplier has confirmed they are in the partner network, so no issues having them as both our O365 reseller and our O365 partner. So I think I'm good to go. There are hidden benefits to pushing billing through our MSP rather than through Microsoft - I would basically be doing them a favour and can expect a favour in return. I'm not sure there are any explicit benefits though.
Next question:
I'm not moving e-mail over until next year, so will still be using on-premise Exchange. Is there any issue with specifying our domain (ourdomain.com) within our O365 account now. It won't effect external e-mail, as we won't be changing our MX records, but will it cause any issues. For example, will internal e-mail within O365 not reach our external Exchange server, thus causing us a problem?
