Reseller Agreement – 12 Elements to Consider

Before discussing the reseller agreement, I have to give the disclaimer: I am not an attorney–nor do I play one on TV, so I can’t give legal advice. These guidelines are typically reviewed with the attorney so they know the criteria for a reseller agreement.

Reseller Partner Agreement – Use case requirements 2023

1. Many of the partners are small companies – they don’t have an in-house attorney.
2. They see hundreds of these agreements. They are a connoisseur of partner agreements.
3. Anything out of the norm raises a red flag. The agreement should always be in layman’s language.
4. If too hard to understand (too long, weird clauses, legalize)–they just don’t sign up–either intentionally, or not then (equals never). They can see it at our portal–they just won’t reply.. We are. too hard to do business with)
5. If it is in another agreement (EULA), it should not be in this reseller agreement
6. It should be electronic–exactly like the EULA. Paper or even DocuSign is so a decade ago. Industry-standard. The exception is 256-bit encryption products with ” do not sell” constraints – may require a signed agreement if required by the government.
7. Should be standard enough that they do NOT get negotiated–too hard to scale, defeats a standard program
8. Easy in, easy out clauses – saves a LOT of legalize
9. Refers to policies – in the portal (can always give temp access account). Then we don’t have to change agreement with simple policy changes
10. No heavy NDA – rule, we don’t give partners confidential information (no roadmaps, no code, etc.). They are PAID to talk!
11. Try to standardize your partner agreement worldwide if possible (taxes, terms not possible, but otherwise yes)
12. General compliance with laws and indemnity – you screw up, you pay, we screw up we pay

See more at the Chanimal Reseller Agreement page. You can see a sample partner agreement used in hundreds of partner programs HERE.