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Partner Ecosystem Management supports two product lifecycles for subscription service management: Platform-managed and Merchant-managed. Platform-managed is the main product lifecycle. It’s intended for Resellers (Service Providers). In this product lifecycle, Resellers resell Merchant services through their own digital store. They manage the lifecycle of customer subscriptions through Partner Ecosystem Management. Platform-managed is the most commonly used flow in the platform. Partner Ecosystem Management offers an alternative: Merchant-managed. It’s intended for Merchants. With this product lifecycle, Merchants use the Reseller’s billing as a payment option. Merchants sell services to customers from their own store. When a Merchant creates a product, they choose how the lifecycle of the product will be managed. The Merchant can pick Platform-managed or Merchant-managed for the product. Additionally, when a Reseller creates an agreement, they can select a product that is either Platform-managed or Merchant-managed. Note: Only products from certified Merchants can be resold and activated.

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Main Product Lifecycle: Platform-Managed

In the Platform-Managed product lifecycle, the Reseller (Service Provider) resells or bundles the Merchant’s product. The Reseller defines the following with the Merchant:
  • The agreement terms
  • The price and the billing plan
  • Any promotional discounts
  • The payment options (such as statement billing or credit card).
The platform manages subscriptions for customers according to the billing plan (provisioning and charging) and agreement parameters.

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Subscription Acquisition and Activation Process

Note: This process assumes the Reseller (Service Provider) and Merchant have completed onboarding tasks first.
  1. The customer logs in to the Reseller’s marketplace or digital store.
  2. The Reseller displays an offer to customers on their commerce store for a product provided by the Merchant.
  3. The platform provides product and billing plan information.
  4. The customer browses the Merchant’s products and selects a product.
  5. The customer is notified about the billing date.
  6. The customer confirms the purchase.
  7. Upon confirmation, the MarketONE API (that is, the API for Partner Ecosystem Management) receives the subscription request and processes the charges.
  8. Upon successful transaction processing, the MarketONE API provisions the subscription and a redemption code to the Merchant.
  9. The customer is sent a redemption code. The customer logs in to or signs up to the Merchant’s app with the redemption code.
  10. The MarketONE API sends the transaction to the Reseller to add it on the customer’s bill.
  11. The platform makes settlement and transaction reports available to the Reseller and the Merchant. The platform manages the recurring charges for the subscription based on the billing plan definition set up by the Reseller.
An example of a customer signing up for a subscription under the Platform-Managed flow Parent topic:Product Lifecycles

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Alternative Product Lifecycle: Merchant-Managed

Merchants initiate the Merchant-managed product lifecycle by first integrating with Partner Ecosystem Management. For information about Merchant onboarding to Partner Ecosystem Management, see Partner Ecosystem Management Merchant Onboarding. In the Merchant-managed product lifecycle, the Merchant sells their product directly to customers. The Merchant manages the subscription lifecycle, including the purchase and any cancellations. The Merchant can provide statement billing as an optional payment method to the customer by accepting a Reseller’s (Service Provider’s) partnership request and agreement for distribution under the Merchant-managed agreement model. Partner Ecosystem Management integrates with the Reseller’s billing system to manage account validation and statement billing transactions. The Merchant-managed product lifecycle supports both one-time payments as well as recurring subscription payments.

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Subscription Acquisition and Activation Process

Note: This process assumes the Reseller (Service Provider) and Merchant have completed onboarding tasks first.
  1. From within the Merchant’s app or website, the customer selects the plan and chooses to Pay on Bill for the service.
  2. The customer enters their mobile number. The MarketONE API (that is, the API for Partner Ecosystem Management) validates the customer in the Reseller’s billing system.
  3. The MarketONE API sends a validation PIN to the customer.
  4. The customer enters the PIN.
  5. The PIN is validated by the MarketONE API.
  6. The customer confirms the purchase.
  7. The customer can now start using the Merchant’s app.
  8. The Merchant sends the charges to the MarketONE API and then the MarketONE API sends the transaction to the Reseller to add it on the customer’s bill. This is for both one time and recurring charges.
Parent topic:Product Lifecycles

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Comparison of the Product Lifecycles

Comparison of the flows Parent topic:Product Lifecycles