Paid add-in submissions to AppSource for SaaS apps

[AriFruchter]

Is Microsoft Appsource moving away from allowing SaaS ISV's to sell their products on Appsource? I noticed the following announcement related to Web Apps and wondered if it applies to SaaS Apps as well.

There is an upcoming change in how O365 apps are being published. web apps are no longer accepted via the Seller Dashboard.   Office 365 web apps will be published via the Cloud Partner Portal instead.

Starting July 29th 2019, we will no longer accept new paid add-in submissions to AppSource. Customers will be able to purchase Existing paid add-ins in AppSource until January 2020. They will then be hidden from the store, but still be available for existing users. If these add-ins have not been migrated by July 2020, they will be removed from AppSource and for existing users. For details, see Moving from paid to free add-ins.

[brian_levenson · Accepted solution]

Hey Ari,

The change to paid solutions is specific to M365 apps. Microsoft AppSource still supports customer purchases, and we're investing in expanding this functionality.

In general, we're consolidating offer publishing and management into Partner Center (from Seller Dashboard, Cloud Partner Portal, and OCP GTM). This has been occuring since mid-2019 in a phased approach based on offer types.

In parallel, M365 apps specifically have shifted from being purchased directly to being free installs and monetized via SaaS service. You can learn more about that model here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/store/monetize-addins-through-microsoft-commercial-marketplace

You may be interested in the quick start guide here: https://aka.ms/SellThroughMarketplace

Hope this helps!

[renepally]

Hi Brian,

I did not see any documentation regarding customer purchases. I just finished my Word Application and I am interested to publish in the market as a shareware model. Limited functionality for free and then purchase unlock full capabilities.

I reviewed monetize through the commercial marketplace documents, but why just school and business accounts can purchase? What If I want any user having Microsoft account wants to use my application, or want to purchase?

Could you give me please a solution to that? Might be a payment platform. I am new in Office Apps.

Thank you.

[brian_levenson]

Hi Rene - the commercial marketplace is designed for B2B scenarios and "school and business accounts" are Azure Active Directory which is the identity platform under Microsoft 365.

We have customer documentation coming soon, and in the meantime you can find a buyer guide here: https://aka.ms/MarketplaceBuyerGuide