The Partner Program

The Partner Program is for organizations that manage deployments on behalf of their own clients. As a partner, you create and run client organizations from one place, and you are charged for the clients you manage rather than for a single plan. Billing is based on wholesale rates for each client, with a minimum monthly amount that applies whether or not you reach it in usage.

Joining is a two-step conversation. You apply from the Partner Program page, the Coldsea team works out the terms with you directly, and you then review and accept finalized terms before anything about your billing changes.

Before you start

You need the billing permission for your organization. Owners and administrators have it. Without it, the Partner Program item does not appear in your sidebar.

Your organization also needs to be self-managed. If a parent organization manages your billing, partnership is arranged through that organization instead.

Apply

1. 1

   Open the Partner Program page

   Select Partner Program in the sidebar.

2. 2

   Apply

   Select Apply to the Partner Program, fill out the application, and select Submit application. Applying does not change your plan or your billing, and no payment is involved.

3. 3

   Wait for terms

   Your application shows as under review while the Coldsea team looks at it. You can select Withdraw application at any time before terms arrive.

The application itself is described in detail under Partner Program. Partnership terms are worked out with the Coldsea team directly. The team reviews your application, agrees the terms with you, and then sends you finalized terms to review.

Review your invitation

When the Coldsea team finalizes your terms, a billing-permission holder in your organization is notified in the app and by email. You review the terms on the Partner Program page.

The invitation shows:

• The minimum monthly spend, the least you're charged for each month of the partnership, even if your managed clients cost less than that. Every full billing month carries exactly this amount, whether the month is short or long. A shorter period, such as a first partial month, carries a share of it by the day. If your terms bill yearly, the minimum covers the whole year at twelve times the monthly amount.
• The start date for the partnership.
• The per-tier wholesale rates for managing clients. Select View details to see the full rate for each tier.
• A plain explanation of how your billing will change if you accept.

Take the time you need. Nothing changes until you accept, and you can decline instead.

Accept the invitation

If your organization already has a subscription, accepting switches it to the Partner plan straight away.

• The change is immediate. Your subscription moves to the Partner plan as soon as you accept.
• Unused time is credited. The change is prorated, so any time you have already paid for on your current plan is credited back toward the Partner plan.
• Your existing card is used. Payment continues on the card already on file. You are not asked for new payment details, and there is no separate checkout to complete.

After you accept, a Welcome to the Partner Tier confirmation appears, and your organization is a partner from that point on.

If your organization does not have a subscription yet

If your organization has no subscription, accepting the invitation takes you to secure checkout to enter your payment details. Your Partner plan activates once payment is confirmed.

1. 1

   Accept the invitation

   Select Accept on the invitation. Because there is no plan to switch, we send you to secure checkout to enter payment.

2. 2

   Complete checkout

   Enter your payment details and confirm. When payment is confirmed, your Partner plan activates and the Welcome to the Partner Tier confirmation appears.

3. 3

   Finish later if you need to

   If you close checkout before finishing, your terms stay accepted and wait for payment. Return to the Partner Program page and select Complete payment to pick up where you left off.

Decline the invitation

If a partnership is not right for you, select Decline. This simply closes the terms and leaves your current plan and billing exactly as they are. You can apply again later if your plans change.

Being a partner

As a partner, you manage client organizations and are charged for the clients you manage. Each client is charged at the wholesale rate for its tier, and each bill is at least the minimum spend agreed in your terms for that billing period. You can review those terms on the Partner Program page whenever you need them.

The minimum does not apply straight away. Your first weeks as a partner are a grace period so you have time to bring clients on, and the minimum applies to billing periods that end after it. The Coldsea team can tell you the length of your grace period.

Your partner subscription's health

Your clients are charged through your partner subscription, so it has to stay in good standing. The Partner Program page shows its health below your agreement terms:

• Your partner subscription is active. Everything is in order, and there is nothing to do.
• Your last payment failed. Your card was declined, or a payment is still due. Select Update payment method to open the billing portal and fix it. Your subscription stays in place while you do.
• Your partner subscription is not active. The subscription ended, for example after payments kept failing, or it was never completed. Select Complete checkout to start a new one at secure checkout. Your agreement and its terms stay as they were, and your Partner plan is back as soon as payment is confirmed. If your partner account is suspended, the page asks you to contact support instead.

Both actions need the billing permission. If you don't have it, the page asks you to find someone in your organization who does.

Until your partner subscription is healthy again, you cannot add clients, enable them, or change their tiers, since there is nothing to charge them to. Managed Organizations and each client's page show a banner that says so and links to the Partner Program page, and those actions are unavailable. You can still open, disable, and release clients. With a failed payment, disabling works as usual. With no active partner subscription, a client you disable is cut off and disabled at once, and you're not charged for it.

A checkout you start from Complete checkout stays open for about 30 minutes. If your payment has already gone through, for example in another tab, the page asks you to reload it instead of opening a second checkout. After you pay, the page shows Confirming your payment for up to two minutes; if it can't confirm by then, reload the page a little later.

Your clients stay enabled only while your partner subscription is active or a failed payment is still being retried. When the subscription ends, or the retries run out with the payment still not made, every enabled client is disabled and you're not charged for it. Completing checkout starts your subscription again but does not enable them: enable each client you want back, choosing its tier. You're charged for it from that day.

How client changes affect your bill

You manage your clients from Managed Organizations in the sidebar. Each client is Enabled, Disabling, or Disabled, and the state decides what you're charged:

• Enabled: you're charged for the client at the wholesale rate for its tier. A client starts enabled when you add it, since every new client needs a tier.
• Disabling: after you disable the client. It is cut off straight away, and you're charged for it until the end of your current billing period, then not at all. It is not on your next renewal.
• Disabled: you're not charged for the client.

From the client's row or page you can change that:

• Change tier moves an enabled client to another tier. An upgrade, to a tier with a higher wholesale rate, takes effect now: the client gets the new tier's features straight away, and the difference for the rest of the billing period is added to your next invoice. A downgrade, to a tier with a lower wholesale rate, takes effect at the end of your billing period: you're charged the lower rate from your next renewal, and the client keeps its current tier until then. You can undo a downgrade until that date at no cost. A tier at the same rate takes effect now.
• Disable cuts the client off now. You're charged for it through the current billing period, with no refund for the rest of it, and not after that. Its administrators can start their own subscription.
• Enable on a disabling client gives it its tier back straight away. Nothing extra is charged: you keep being charged for it as before.
• Enable on a disabled client needs a tier. You're charged for it from that day.
• Release permanently ends your relationship with the client, and you're no longer charged for it.

None of these changes adjust your bill in the middle of a billing period. Your bill follows a few fixed rules instead:

• A client added during a billing period is charged from the day it was added to the end of the period, at your next renewal, at the wholesale rate of the tier it was added on. Part of a day counts as a whole day. This covers new clients and disabled clients you enable, and applies even if you disable the client again before the period ends. The charge appears on your renewal invoice as its own line for that client, with the date and the number of days.
• A client disabled during a billing period is charged through the end of it. There is no refund or credit for the rest of the period.
• Moving a client to a plan with a higher wholesale rate is charged the difference between the two rates from the day of the change to the end of the period, at your next renewal, as its own line for that client. After several upgrades in one period, each is charged from its own day. Moving to a lower rate adds no charge and gives no credit, and the lower rate applies from your next period. If you upgrade a client and move it back down in the same period, the upgrade is still charged to the end of the period. Undoing a downgrade costs nothing, and upgrading a client after a downgrade in the same period is charged only above the highest rate you paid for it in that period.
• Your wholesale rates are fixed within a billing period. If your rates change, the new rates apply from your next period.
• If your terms bill yearly, or the period was a free trial, clients added or upgraded during it are not charged for that period. They are charged from your next renewal like any other client.
• If your partner subscription ends, there is no next renewal. The charges for the last period go on a final invoice instead. See If your partnership ends.

Your minimum monthly spend applies regardless of how many clients you're charged for, and charges for clients added or upgraded during a period count toward it. See Managing client organizations for the steps.

If your partnership ends

If your partnership is terminated, every client you're charged for comes off your partner subscription straight away, so none of them is on another renewal, and your partner subscription is set to end with your current billing period. You lose access to your client organizations straight away: you can no longer open them, manage their members, or push to them. Each enabled client keeps its tier and access until that period ends. Then you're no longer charged for any client, their administrators can start their own subscription, and your partner subscription ends. A client that was already disabling keeps its date, and a scheduled downgrade is replaced. These changes cannot be undone. Your partner billing statement stays available so you can still read your past invoices.

When your partner subscription ends, because your partnership was terminated or the subscription was cancelled, you receive one final invoice for the clients added or upgraded during its last billing period, since there is no renewal invoice to carry those charges. Each charge is its own line for that client, with the date and the number of days, worked out the same way as at a renewal. If the subscription ends before the end of the period, the days are counted only up to the day it ended. The final invoice is charged to your payment method on file, and it appears under Past invoices in your partner billing statement. It does not include a minimum spend adjustment. If no client was added or upgraded during the last period, or the subscription ended because a payment failed, there is no final invoice.

Your partner billing statement

Your partner billing statement shows what each client costs, on your upcoming invoice and on every past one. Select Settings in the sidebar, then Billing, and find the Partner billing section at the bottom of the page.

You need the billing permission for your organization to see it. Owners and administrators have it. The section appears once your Partner plan is active, and stays available if your partnership ends so you can still read your past invoices.

Agreement terms

Agreement terms shows your Minimum monthly spend, when the Minimum takes effect, your Billing interval and Program start, the wholesale rate for each plan (with your discount where you have one), and any notes on your agreement.

Current period

Current period shows your upcoming invoice with one row per client, its plan, and its amount.

Charges for clients added or upgraded during the current period are listed too, marked Charged at renewal. They are not on the upcoming invoice yet: they are added to it at renewal. So Upcoming invoice total does not include them, and Charges added at renewal shows their total separately.

If your agreement has a minimum spend, the section also shows Wholesale this period, Minimum spend, and Projected minimum spend adjustment, the amount your renewal would add to reach the minimum. While your grace period runs, a note explains that no adjustment is charged this period.

Past invoices

Past invoices lists your invoices, newest first, with each one's number, date, status, and total. Select Load more to see older ones. Select an invoice to open its breakdown, one row per client with its plan and amount. Charges for clients added during the previous period show Added during the period, and charges for upgrades show Upgraded during the period.

From an open invoice:

• View invoice opens the invoice page.
• Download PDF downloads the invoice as a PDF.
• Download CSV downloads the breakdown as a spreadsheet, one row per charge, with the invoice number, date, and currency, the client's name and organization ID, the plan, the billing period, quantity, unit amount, and amount. The amounts add up to the invoice subtotal.

A client you have released, or that has ended its partnership, still appears under the name it had at the time.

Rows that are not a client

Some rows on a statement belong to your account rather than to one client:

• Not attributed to a client is part of a charge that cannot be matched to a specific client. This happens on invoices from before the statement was available, and when your subscription was changed outside Coldsea Deploy. The amount is still part of your bill.
• Minimum spend adjustment is the amount added to an invoice to bring it up to your minimum spend when your client charges fall short.
• Rows starting Switch to the Partner Program come from moving your organization onto the Partner Program: the credit for the unused time on your previous plan, and the partner base plan, which costs nothing.

Other ways to get your invoices

Every invoice is also sent by email, with its PDF, to your billing email address, which many accounting tools can read from an accounts-payable inbox. Manage Billing on the same page opens the billing portal with your full invoice history, receipts, and payment methods. See Managing your subscription.

Related

• Managing client organizations for adding clients, changing their tiers, and enabling or disabling them.

• Managing your subscription for reading your current plan and updating payment details.

• Plan limits and usage for what each limit covers and what happens when you reach one.