Becoming a CSP Indirect reseller in Partner Center

The Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program enables partners to resell Microsoft cloud services to customers. As an indirect reseller, you work with an indirect provider (distributor) who has a direct relationship with Microsoft and can provide customer support and billing.

To enroll as a CSP indirect reseller, start by enrolling in CSP Indirect reseller in Partner Center.

Prerequisites

Before beginning CSP indirect reseller enrollment, have the following ready:

• MAICPP enrollment is Active—Your organization must have an active enrollment in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (MAICPP) in Partner Center with vetting authorized. For guidance, see Create a Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program account in Partner Center.
• Location Partner ID (legal entity) matching CSP country/region—A location Partner ID of type legal entity in the MAICPP work account must be created and vetting must be authorized. The country/region of the location Partner ID must match the country/region where you plan to transact as a CSP indirect reseller. This location Partner ID must be provided during CSP enrollment. To create or manage locations, see add location Partner ID.
• Indirect reseller eligibility requirements—Review the eligibility requirements before enrolling. See CSP indirect reseller eligibility requirements.
• Tenant isolation (recommended)—Microsoft recommends applying tenant isolation and setting up your CSP enrollment in a separate tenant from your MAICPP tenant. This helps maintain a clear security boundary between your partner administration (MAICPP) and your customer-facing CSP operations, reducing risk from cross-tenant access.
• Business email address—A valid, monitored business work email (for example, you@yourcompany.com). Personal emails (hotmail.com, live.com, outlook.com), disposable emails, freehost domains, government domains, and generic role-based addresses (info@, admin@, email@, marketing@) aren't supported. If your organization doesn't have a business email domain, you might need to purchase one before enrolling.
• Authority to sign legal agreements—You must be authorized to review and accept legal agreements on behalf of your business.
• Global Admin role—Enrollment must be initiated by a user with the Global Admin role. For guidance, see Create a work account.

CSP indirect reseller application

Step 1: Enroll in CSP indirect reseller program by providing business and support information

• To register as an Indirect Reseller, go to the CSP Indirect reseller enrollment page .
• Start enrollment by creating a new work account. For guidance, see Create a work account. As part of work account creation, a billing account is created which serves as the legal entity during enrollment. If no BA ID exists for the tenant, you're redirected to create one.

Step 2: Provide business and support information

• Choose CSP indirect reseller program in the options

• Select or create a Billing Account ID (legal entity).

  • If no BA ID exists for the tenant, you're redirected to create one. After creation, you return to CSP enrollment.
  • If one or more BA IDs exist, select the appropriate BA ID from the list.

• Associate your Location Partner ID.

  Provide the location Partner ID (of type legal entity) that matches your CSP country/region as detailed in the prerequisite.

  Important

  Ensure the location Partner ID country/region matches the country/region where you intend to transact as a CSP indirect reseller. A mismatch can cause enrollment issues.

• Review legal business details (read-only).

  Selected organization name, address, and primary contact details are shown in a read-only mode.

• Provide the Customer support contact details Indirect Resellers must provide customer support details as part of onboarding, including: Support email address and Support phone number (where applicable). Providing support contact information confirms the partner’s ability to support customers directly is a key requirement to be a CSP indirect reseller.

Submit the form. As primary user, you get Admin agent role assignment.

Step 3: Business Verification

After the partner submits the organization’s enrollment information, Microsoft verifies the organization’s legal details (company name, address, and primary contact). Review verification details for details on what happens and what to expect during verification.

When verification is complete, your status appears as Authorized.

To learn more about the business verification process, watch this video.

Step 4: Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA acceptance)

Once business verification is Authorized, the partner can review and sign the Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA) in Partner Center by navigating to the Agreements page and selecting Accept using Global Admin credentials. To review or download the agreement prior to signing, select View.

The Microsoft Partner Agreement must be accepted by a Global Admin and can't be accepted on-behalf by Microsoft support or distributor.

Enrollment is activated only after MPA is accepted. The Indirect Reseller status should be Active on the Program Info section of the Legal Info page in order to

• Complete CSP Indirect Reseller authorization
• Establish a Distributor relationship
• Start transacting in the CSP program

Step 5: Select and connect with a Distributor

After your organization has signed the Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA), you're ready to select and connect with a Distributor. An Indirect Reseller can't transact in CSP without an active Distributor relationship. Authorization alone isn't sufficient—the Distributor relationship is what enables ordering, billing, and provisioning in Partner Center.

Once authorized as an Indirect Reseller, the partner:

• Finds a Distributor (Indirect Provider)
• Accepts a Distributor–Indirect Reseller relationship in Partner Center

Role of a Distributor

Distributors (formerly Indirect Providers) purchase from Microsoft and enable Indirect Resellers to:

• Sell Microsoft cloud offers
• Provision subscriptions
• Support customers operationally

The Distributor handles billing with Microsoft; the reseller owns the customer relationship.

How to find a Distributor

Partners can:

• Use Microsoft’s official Distributor directory
• Engage Distributors directly based on geography, portfolio, or services

Learn how to partner with Distributor

The rapidly growing demand for cloud-based solutions and services provides many opportunities for Microsoft partners of all sizes to build profitable cloud solution businesses. Partners can enroll in Microsoft's Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program as indirect resellers when they:

• Are ready to enter the market, but don't want to manage multiple vendors.
• Don't have an end-to-end customer relationship management infrastructure in place.

As an indirect reseller in CSP, you work with indirect providers (also known as distributors) who have a direct relationship with Microsoft. They can provide you with customer support, pricing, and billing to help ensure your success. In the provider-reseller (two-tier) model, the provider buys cloud solutions and services from Microsoft. You then resell them to customers.

Different indirect providers offer various support and services. Evaluate the providers in your area to determine which ones best meet your needs. Generally, most providers:

• Provide you with technical training and assistance.
• Help you market your products and services.
• Help you establish financing and credit terms.

If you're not already working with a provider (also known as a distributor), you can search the list of official Microsoft providers to find one.

For more information on how to sell in the CSP program as an indirect reseller, see Get started as an indirect reseller on the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program.

How the connection is established (Partner Center)

• The Distributor sends a partnership request to the Indirect Reseller in Partner Center
• The Indirect Reseller must accept the request
• Once accepted:
  • The reseller’s PLA ID is linked
  • The reseller becomes eligible to transact through that Distributor

Your CSP country/region and the CSP regions where you do business

Your legal business location as a CSP indirect reseller determines the indirect providers with whom you can work and the regions where you can do CSP business. For more information, see Cloud Solution Provider program regional markets and currencies where you can sell CSP offers.

Indirect Reseller – Location Creation & Expansion Scenarios

This guide summarizes the supported and unsupported scenarios for creating and expanding Indirect Reseller (IR) locations.

Indirect Reseller Scenario Table

Supported Scenarios

Steps to move from Indirect Reseller to Direct bill partner

1. Confirm you meet the direct bill eligibility requirements applicable for the active fiscal year
2. Ensure your Partner Center account profile is complete and verification-ready
   • Ensure your organization profile/legal information is accurate and up to date in Partner Center so any required validation (for example, business verification) can be completed without delays.
   • Have a user with the appropriate Partner Center permissions to submit the application and complete any required profile, agreement, or verification steps.
3. Confirm you can meet direct bill support and operational readiness expectations.
4. Apply for [CSP direct bill authorization in Partner Center] (direct-bill-partner-on-board.md). After you submit your application, Microsoft validates your eligibility against the minimum criteria and communicates next steps if you qualify. If approved: complete the remaining onboarding steps and set up your direct bill operating model (for example, billing and invoicing setup and any required financial/credit or tax-related steps, as applicable), and confirm you can provision and manage customer subscriptions directly.
5. Plan how (and whether) to transition customers/subscriptions
   • Decide whether you run a hybrid model (some customers remain indirect via a Distributor) or transition some/all customers to your direct bill relationship.
     • Keep some customers indirect (via a Distributor) while transacting direct bill for others (hybrid model), or
     • Transition customers to direct bill, recognizing that subscriptions typically aren’t moved automatically—you may need new customer agreements/relationships and, depending on the offer and term, re-provisioning or other transition steps.

Related content

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• Connect with your customers