Microsoft's New Commerce Experience | Your Questions Answered (FAQ)
Updated: Jun 8, 2022
Microsoft announced the new commerce experience (NCE), a streamlined way of selling their products and services through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program. The goal of the NCE is to offer more options to tailor purchases to your business.
We understand that with the introduction of a new transactional platform you're going to have many questions. So, we've put together this article to help keep you informed.
What is the new commerce experience?
The new commerce experience is the way Microsoft will be selling cloud products and services to customers going forward. Products and services can be sold both directly from Microsoft and through Microsoft partners.
Licensing
Microsoft is introducing new offers, policies, and buying functionalities. The new commerce experience supports 1-month, 1-year and 3-year terms for licenses. Not all terms are available for all products. For example, Microsoft 365 products offer a 1-month and 1-year subscription while Dynamics 365 products offer a 1-month, 1-year, and 3-year subscription.
Billing Frequency
Subscription term | Billing frequency options |
1 month | Monthly |
1 year | Monthly or annual |
3 years | Monthly, annual, or triennial |
Month-to-Month License Commitment
Licenses are priced at a premium (20% increase) due to no long term commitment.
License count can be increased at any time.
License count can only be reduced within the first 168 hours (7 days) with a prorated refund available. After 7 days you can not decrease your license count until the next subscription renewal.
Licenses can be upgraded to an annual or triennial subscription anytime during the month.
There is no protection from Microsoft price increases.
Annual or Triennial License Commitment
Your price point is protected for either 12 or 36 months.
Flexible payment terms available if full upfront payment is not possible.
License count can be increased at any time.
License count can only be reduced within the first 168 hours (7 days) with a prorated refund available. After 7 days you can not decrease your license count until the next subscription renewal date.
You are able to mix and match the above month, annual, or triennial license commitments.
Some businesses are more busy during certain seasons and need extra licenses during those months. For example, a Christmas Tree manufacturer may need 10 Business Central licenses each day out of the year and 10 extra licenses only during the holiday season. The recommended subscriptions to purchase would be 10 Business Central licenses on an annual or triennial contract and then add 10 monthly licenses during the holiday season.
Subscription Management Scenarios
Action | Legacy CSP | NCE Monthly | NCE Annual |
Suspend subscription | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Resume subscription | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Cancel subscription | No, only suspend with deletion 90 days after expiration period ends. | Yes, within the first 168 hours (seven days) after term begins | Yes, within the first 168 hours (seven days) after term begins |
Cancel in first 7 days | No | Yes | Yes |
Cancel after 7 days | No (cancellation not available in legacy) | No | No |
Prorated refund | Yes, if suspended more than 30 days after or or renewal | Yes, in first 168 hours (seven days) of term (proration calculated aily) | Yes, in first 168 hours (seven days) of term (proration calculated daily) |
Billing pause upon suspension | Yes | No | No |
Increase seats midterm | Yes | Yes, at any time of term | Yes, at any time of term |
Decrease seats midterm | Yes | Self-serve decrease of seats is allowed during the cancellation window (that is, within the first 168 hours of term, either initial purchase or renewal). Decrease of seats added midterm is available via self-serve within the 168 hours of addition. | Self-serve decrease of seats is allowed during the cancellation window (that is, within the first 168 hours of term, either initial purchase or renewal). Decrease of seats added midterm is available via self-serve within the 168 hours of addition. |
Decrease seats at renewal | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Midterm change in billing | Yes | No | No |
Do I have to move to the new commerce experience?
Yes. The new commerce experience will soon be the only platform that all CSP products and services will be sold through.
When will I be required to move to the new commerce experience?
New customers are currently required to be on the new commerce experience. Existing customers will have to transition to the new commerce experience at their next annual subscription renewal date after July 11, 2022.
Can I cancel my annual or triennial subscription if I have financial difficulties?
No, the expectation is that if a customer chooses the better pricing they are committing to the full term of payments.
Additional new commerce experience resources
Listen to our new commerce experience podcast to learn more