Understand Marketplace Offers
Learn what a marketplace offer is, the different offer types, and how Suger helps you manage them across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Overview
A marketplace offer is what turns a product listing into a real commercial deal.
- The listing is the product in the cloud marketplace.
- The offer is how that product is sold — its price, terms, and contract rules.
Without an offer, a listing can’t be purchased in a real transaction.
Types of Marketplace Offers
Different offer types support different sales motions.
- Public Offers — A standard, self-serve offer that anyone can purchase directly from the marketplace.
- Private Offers — A custom offer created for a specific buyer.
- Channel Partner Private Offers — A private offer fulfilled through a reseller or channel partner rather than directly to the end buyer.
- On AWS, these are called Channel Partner Private Offers (CPPOs).
- On Azure, these are called Multiparty Private Offers (MPOs).
- On GCP, these are called Marketplace Channel Partner Offers (MCPOs).
- Amendment Offers — An offer used to modify the terms of an existing active subscription, such as updating pricing, expanding commitments, or applying an upsell, without requiring the buyer to start a new agreement from scratch.
- On AWS, these are called Agreement-Based Offers (ABOs).
- On Azure, amendment terms are handled by issuing a new private offer, since Azure allows multiple active subscriptions with the same buyer.
- On GCP, amendment offers are used when an active agreement needs to be modified, with the restriction that you can only amend offers with the same pricing and payment option.
When to Use Each Offer Type
Choosing between public and private offers depends on your go-to-market strategy and the type of deal you’re executing.
| Feature | Public Offers | Private Offers | CPPOs | ABOs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visibility | Open marketplace listing | Specific buyer account | Specific reseller and end buyer | Existing active customers |
| Pricing | Fixed, publicly listed price | Negotiated, custom pricing | Wholesale discount applied by ISV | Custom pricing for the upsell/renewal |
| Sales Motion | Self-serve / product-led growth | Direct sales-led enterprise deals | Channel/partner-led deals | Customer Success / Account Management |
| Best Used For | Discovery and volume | Custom flexibility and enterprise terms | Reseller margins and indirect sales | Mid-term expansions and renewals |
Differences Across Cloud Providers
While the concept of an offer is universal, the execution mechanics vary across the three major hyperscalers.
- AWS Marketplace — Highly flexible, but tracks the offer and the resulting agreement separately. Private offers can’t auto-renew, so a new offer must be created for standard renewals unless you use ABOs.
- Azure Marketplace — Uses a highly structured, plan-driven model. Pricing requires explicit plans and billing terms (for example, 1-year or 2-year) rather than loose dimensions. Buyers go through a two-step process: they first accept the offer terms, then explicitly subscribe to finalize the purchase.
- GCP Marketplace — Supports flexible billing and allows multiple active flat-fee offers for a single buyer at the same time. Unlike AWS, GCP also supports auto-renewals for private offers, depending on the selected postpay or prepay payment schedule.
How This Works With Suger
Managing offers across AWS, Azure, GCP, and partner sales can quickly become complex. Suger simplifies this by bringing offer creation, tracking, and billing visibility into one place, connected to your CRM.
- CRM-native execution — Create and manage all types of marketplace offers, including CPPOs and ABOs, directly from your Salesforce or HubSpot opportunities. This removes the need to switch between AWS, Azure, and GCP portals during the sales process.
- Centralized entitlements — Once a buyer accepts an offer, Suger automatically creates an entitlement, which is the customer’s active subscription in the cloud marketplace.
FAQ
Why don’t offer statuses match between Suger and the actual marketplace console?
This is often expected behavior, based on how the different cloud providers process deals.
- AWS — For customers not yet using AWS EventBridge, AWS may not report the acceptance of a future-dated private offer until the actual start date. Customers already using EventBridge usually see status updates immediately.
- Azure — Azure uses a two-step process where a buyer must first “Accept” the terms and then explicitly “Subscribe” or configure the account. An offer might show as “Accepted” in Suger while the subscription itself is “Pending Purchase.”
How do I handle complex pricing structures like multi-year deals, installments, and professional services?
Suger abstracts the cloud portals entirely. You can set up Flexible Payment Schedules (installments) for multi-year deals, or spin up Professional Service offers directly from the Suger Console. Your sales team can also configure all of these pricing terms natively from within your Salesforce or HubSpot opportunities.