Now that you’ve purchased product keys for Microsoft 365, you can redeem them and set up a Microsoft 365 subscription for your customer. After you’ve done that, you can add users and migrate the customer’s email and data to Microsoft 365. If your client adds your partner of record (POR) number to the subscription, you are eligible for additional partner benefits and can offer delegated administration to your customer.
Note: This article is for Microsoft 365 partners. If you're looking for help with your Microsoft 365 product key, but you're not a partner, see Find and enter your product key for Microsoft 365 for business.
What do you want to do?
Redeem a Microsoft 365 product key and set up your customer's Microsoft 365 subscription
Redeem a Microsoft 365 product key and set up your customer’s Microsoft 365 subscription
After you have obtained a Microsoft 365 product key for your customer, you can redeem the product key and create the Microsoft 365 subscription.
Notes:
-
When you set up the Microsoft 365 subscription, enter user information for the person in the customer’s organization who will be the admin for the organization. When you create the subscription, the person whose information you entered is automatically given admin rights and is assigned a Microsoft 365 license.
-
If you are the delegated admin for the customer, you are assigned admin rights when you set yourself up as the delegated admin. However, you don’t need a Microsoft 365 license to administer the customer’s subscription on their behalf.
What is an Microsoft 365 product key and how do I use it?
A Microsoft 365 product key is a unique 25-character alpha-numeric code that you can use to activate a Microsoft 365 subscription, add users , and renew a Microsoft 365 subscription. If you’re a partner who is authorized to sell Microsoft 365, you can purchase Microsoft 365 product key cards through the Microsoft Open programs.
Note: All partners can sell Microsoft 365 as long as they establish a reseller relationship with an authorized distributor. For more information about Microsoft Volume Licensing, the Microsoft Open License programs, and selling Microsoft 365, see Microsoft Volume Licensing.
|
Procedure |
Steps |
|---|---|
|
Redeem Microsoft 365 product keys |
Complete the following procedure to redeem the product keys for your customer.
Important: Don’t close your browser window until you have completed the next few steps. If you close your browser window, you will have to redeem your product keys again. After you’ve finished entering your product keys, create your customer’s Microsoft 365 subscription by completing the following steps.
Note: If your country or region isn’t listed, there’s no Microsoft 365 service there.
You can now start adding users and migrating email and data to Microsoft 365 for your customer’s organization. You can complete these tasks now or at a later time. For more information about how to add users, set up email, add a domain, and other tasks for your customer, see: |
|
Send an offer for delegated administration to your customer |
To have full administrative access to all your customer’s Services & subscriptions, you must be a delegated admin for the customer. To become a delegated admin, do the following.
For more information about sending an offer for delegated administration to your customer, see Offer delegated administration. Note: You must be enrolled in the Microsoft Cloud Essentials program to be eligible to offer delegated administration. For more information, see Microsoft Cloud Essentials program. |
Manage your customer’s subscription at subscription renewal time
The customer and you, if you are listed as the customer’s POR, start receiving subscription renewal notices 60 days, 30 days, 7 days, and 1 day prior to when subscriptions expire.
When your customer’s subscription is about to expire, you can help your customer renew their Microsoft 365 subscription with a product key to continue directly billing the customer. You can also choose to switch your customer to direct billing from Microsoft. If the subscription is renewed by using direct billing, the new subscription starts immediately. In this case, customers shouldn’t renew their subscription until right before it expires.
If a customer doesn’t renew their subscription in time, they can still use Microsoft 365 for 30 days after the subscription expiration date. The customer can reactivate the subscription and their data will be retained until 120 days after the expiration date. To learn more about what to expect when a subscription expires, see What happens to my data and access when my Microsoft 365 for business subscription ends?.
For more information, see Sell to and service Microsoft Cloud customers.
