This page provides an analysis of the Adobe Reseller Change Tool. This tool enables Adobe resellers to acquire end customers from other resellers, regardless of whether they have active subscriptions.

This Reseller Change Tool is available only to logged-in Storefront users defined as Adobe Resellers meaning that they have previously registered to the Adobe MP channel, and their distributor is an Adobe Distributor.
Moreover, Tenant Resellers are unable to utilize the Reseller Change Tool.

Adobe has introduced a new self-service change process that allows end customers to change their resellers without needing Adobe's assistance. If an end customer wishes to purchase from a different reseller, they can initiate the change by generating an authorization code in the Adobe Admin Console. Afterwards, the reseller can utilize this authorization code inside our Adobe Reseller Change Tool, as analyzed below.

All Adobe Products are Supported During a Reseller Change

All Adobe products and asset types (stock credit packs) are supported during a reseller change.

Accessing the Tool


To access the Adobe Reseller Change Tool, the Adobe reseller has to Log In to the Storefront, and from the profile icon, they must select the My Account option.


On the My Account page that opens up, they can locate the section Adobe Services at the end. Next to each Adobe instance, they have registered as Adobe resellers, they can witness the enabled Adobe Reseller Change button.

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Therefore, if more than one Adobe instances are available, they can choose from which instance they wish to begin the reseller change to the BSS platform.

By clicking on the “Adobe Reseller Change“ button, Adobe resellers are redirected to the tool's page from the instance they have chosen.

Checking Customer’s Eligibility


After opening the Adobe Reseller Change tool from the corresponding instance, Adobe resellers land on the first step of the reseller change process called “Authorization Code“. Here, they are presented with a text field that requests the end customer’s (Adobe) Authorization Code, which is necessary to check whether that Adobe end customer is eligible to be transferred from the source reseller to the destination reseller, and at the same time, it is required by our tool to begin the transfer of that end customer (along with their subscriptions) to the destination reseller, if everything checks-out.

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Once Adobe resellers have provided the end customer’s Authorization Code in the text field mentioned above, they can click on the (enabled) Next button for the check to be initiated so that they can proceed to the second step of the transfer process.

note

Possible Issues with the Authorization Code

If the provided Authorization Code is not eligible, or not valid, or has expired, then the following message will appear on the first step of the transfer process.

  • The authorization code is either invalid or has expired. Please verify the code again or generate a new one via the Adobe Admin Console.

Possible Issues with the Authorization Code

If the provided Authorization Code is not eligible, or not valid, or has expired, then the following message will appear on the first step of the transfer process.

  • The authorization code is either invalid or has expired. Please verify the code again or generate a new one via the Adobe Admin Console.

However, several errors, returning mostly from Adobe and also from our platform, are displayed based on the tool’s step they are currently on. A complete list of errors along with their corrective actions is available at the end of this page.

Reseller Change Process for Adobe End Customers Without any Active Adobe Services

After the release 3.28.182, the Adobe Reseller Change Tool allows the reseller change process of Adobe end customers from one reseller to another without the end customer having an active Adobe service, regardless of whether they have an Anniversary Date or not. When such an end customer is chosen for a reseller change, the system moves to the second step (analyzed below), which involves previewing the end customer services. However, since there are no services available, the user can click the Next button to proceed directly to the third step (analyzed below). This third step requires determining whether the end customer is an existing user of our platform or a new one. In this instance, the end customer will always be classified as new. Therefore, the user must select the "New Customer" option and click the Next button again to continue. After that, the user can move on to the final fourth step, which is the actual reseller change process.

Previewing the Customer’s Services for Transfer


Then, the Adobe resellers can proceed to the second step of the reseller change process only when:

  1. The provided “Authorization Code“ is eligible.

  2. And the services of the end customer can be sold from the reseller.

Once the provided end customer’s Authorization Code is checked, after the Next button is clicked, the Adobe reseller can proceed to the second step of the migration process called “Services Preview”. Here, resellers are presented with a preview list containing the end customer’s Adobe service(s) (add-ons) that will be transferred to our platform, under their organization.

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The overview list is comprised of the following three columns:

  • Name: In this column, the names of the end customer’s services(add-ons) of the Adobe reseller are presented.

  • Code: In this column, the codes of each service(add-on) are presented. (The Code is shown with its first eight digits to represent the actual product matched and not its pricing level.)

  • Quantity: In this column, the amount of licenses for each service(add-on) is presented.

Support and Immediate Activation of Adobe Extended-Term Subscriptions & Early Renewal Subscriptions During a Reseller Change

This tool supports Adobe /wiki/spaces/Req/pages/1306263559 subscriptions and Early Renewal* subscriptions during a reseller change of an end customer. When the tool detects that an end customer has such a subscription, it transfers the subscription from one reseller to another and activates it immediately, setting the Start Date to the exact day of the change. The End Date is determined by subtracting one day from the Anniversary Date of the subscription. Therefore, the Extended Term date remains unchanged to ensure continuity for the end customer.

* When customers renew their subscription(s) within one month before the Anniversary/Renewal Date.

(blue star) Known Limitation(blue star)

  • The system does not check if the Anniversary/Renewal Date is less than 36 months for Commercial products or less than 48 months for Government/Education products.

  • The Extended Term field under the Adobe Account Synch Options of our platform continues to be populated for early renewals that are being transferred through the Reseller Change Tool. This occurs because, currently, our platform is unable to fully differentiate between genuine extended terms and early renewals due to a lack of sufficient data.

By acknowledging the list of Adobe service(s) (add-ons) while clicking on the Next button, Adobe resellers proceed to the third step of the migration process.

Selecting a Customer Type


The third step of the process requires Adobe resellers to select the Customer Type for the transfer. There are two options from which to choose. The first choice is the “Existing Customer” radio button which is pre-selected by default, and under the drop-down menu, Adobe resellers can find all their customers that are associated and billed from them. The second choice is the “New Customer” radio button for transferring a new customer to our platform as a new account that will be associated with the reseller’s account.

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Existing Customer

New Customer

Only end customers who are unsynced (or failed) for this Adobe Instance can be selected, by selecting this choice. Our system does not update anything on the customer’s account/contact from the information it gets from Adobe. The only information that is updated is the account’s external ID for the Adobe Instance selected. It is considered the reseller’s responsibility to select wisely the correct customer from the drop-down menu because if a wrong customer is selected the process cannot be reversed.

By selecting this choice, a new customer will be created in our systems, meaning that an account and a contact will be created in the BSS portal as per the following steps. All the required information regarding the account's and contact’s creation will be retrieved from the respective and available information found in the end customer’s Adobe account.

Initiating the Reseller Change Process


After the Adobe reseller defines the above steps and clicks the Next button, the actual reseller change process begins its execution.

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During the execution, the following flow occurs. The Adobe reseller’s end customer is transferred from the source reseller to the target reseller, and then the process either updates the existing end customer account or creates a new account along with a new contact in the BSS portal, depending on the choice in the previous step. Finally, the end customer’s Adobe subscription is added to the BSS portal, followed by the services (add-ons) contained within that subscription.

The flow of the transfer execution processes is the following (depending on the customer type choice from the previous 3rd step):

  • Existing Customer:

    1. The Adobe reseller’s end customer and his subscription are transferred from the source (previous) reseller to the destination (new) reseller.

    2. The subscription and its service(add-on) are created under the existing end customer's account in the BSS portal and become visible in the Storefront.

  • New Customer:

    1. The Adobe reseller’s end customer and his subscription are transferred from the source (previous) reseller to the destination (new) reseller.

    2. A new BSS account and contact are created automatically for the new end customer since he becomes registered to the BSS and Storefront portals.

    3. The subscription and its service(add-on) are created under the new customer's account in the BSS and become visible in the Storefront.

Reseller Change Flow of Adobe End Customers from one Reseller to Another Without any Active Services (With or Without an Anniversary Date)

Following the information on the “New Customer” migration execution flow mentioned above, please note the following information regarding the reseller change of Adobe end customers without any active Adobe Services.

  • Reseller Change of Adobe End Customers Without any Active Services Having an Existing Anniversary Date

    • If an Adobe end customer has an existing Anniversary Date from a previously active subscription that is now inactive, a Base subscription is created with a Start Date set to the Anniversary Date minus one year.

    • This ensures the end customer retains their Anniversary Date for future purchases.

    • After the reseller change process, any new subscription will inherit the same Start, End, and Anniversary Dates as the Base subscription.

  • Reseller Change of Adobe End Customers Without any Active Services and Without an Anniversary Date

    • If an Adobe end customer has no previous subscription, then, only the customer account and contact is created in the target reseller’s system.

    • No subscription is generated at the time of transfer.

    • When a subscription is purchased later, the system automatically and dynamically assigns the Start, End, and Anniversary Dates, with the End Date set to the Purchase Date minus one year and minus one day.


At the end of the final stage of the reseller change process, the system will notify the user when the transfer has been completed successfully or alert them in case of an error.

Pending Invoices

Please note that no pending invoices are transferred or created during the transfer process.

Increase, Decrease, Cancellations & Renewals

The cancellation of any transferred services (add-ons on our side) is not allowed. However, any services(add-ons) purchased after the transfer are available for cancellation.

When you increase the quantity of a transferred subscription, the system will create a new order with Adobe linked to this account. A new debit invoice will then be automatically generated within the platform.

When renewing a subscription, the shell subscription will automatically be created with the auto-renew feature enabled by default. This means that the renewal process on the platform will fail if the auto-renewal setting for a service is disabled in Adobe but enabled on the platform.

In a future release, the auto-renew feature will be transferred from Adobe exactly as it is (enabled or disabled) and function as intended by default. Until then, platform users are strongly advised to cancel End of Billing (EOB) for any add-on in Adobe that they do not plan to renew.

Platform users are strongly advised to cancel the End of Billing (EOB) for any Adobe add-on that they do not plan to renew.

Error Message During the Transfer Process

If the following error message appears during the second step of the transfer process, it means that something went wrong during the creation of the subscription. “Subscription Migration was not completed successfully.“ By clicking on the arrow symbol “(blue star)“ next to the error message you can reveal further details about the error. Once the "Try Again" button is clicked, the tool will resume the process from the point where it was previously interrupted.

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Overall, the Tool’s method focuses on scenarios where the new (destination) reseller is linked to the same and a different distributor. Moreover, an upcoming release will support further reseller changes under the same distributor. Until then, partners are encouraged to contact our support department for any modifications needed regarding previous reseller entities, such as (provisionless) subscription cancellations on the platform.

Error Messages & Corrective Actions


Occasionally, something may go wrong during the actual transfer or the creation of entities in our systems. In the following table, Adobe resellers can find specific explanations and corrective actions for each possible error that might be displayed during the steps of the reseller change process.

List of Errors

Step of Appearance

Error Messages & Proposed Corrective Actions

Reasons for Error Messages

All

Forbidden! Code 403
This means that you have to refresh the page or re-login.

The website cookie has expired.

All

Your session has expired. Please redirect to Marketplace to access the Reseller Change Tool again.
To correct it, please follow the proposed instructions.

The website session token has expired.

1st

An error occurred during the eligibility check. Please try again.
To correct it, please try refreshing the page or re-login.

A generic error appears when none of the other “1st step” errors apply.

3rd

ServiceError, Internal Server Error

This error is generic.

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