How to Price Resold Software for a Healthy Margin
Use cost, value and a simple package ladder to set prices that clients accept and that pay you properly.
Start from your full cost
Your cost is more than the partner price of the software. Add the time you spend on setup, training, first-line support and account reviews, valued at a fair hourly rate. Add a buffer for clients who use more than average. Only then do you know the lowest price that keeps you in business. Many resellers price from the software cost alone and discover later that support time ate the margin.
Then price from value
Clients do not compare your price with your cost. They compare it with the problem. If missed reminders lose a clinic several appointments a month, or slow collections tie up money a firm needs, the value is visible. Ask in discovery what the problem costs today, in time or money, and let the client say the number. Price well below that value and well above your cost.
Avoid quoting before you understand the problem. A price without context invites comparison with the cheapest tool on the internet.
Build a three-step package ladder
Offer three packages: a starter that solves the core job, a standard that adds a second agent or more usage, and a premium that adds hands-on help such as monthly reviews or custom workflows. Most buyers pick the middle. Keep setup as a separate one-time fee so the monthly price reflects ongoing value. Review prices every six months as your costs and proof change.
- Starter: the core job, light usage
- Standard: more usage or a second agent
- Premium: adds reviews, custom flows and priority help
- Setup: a separate one-time fee
Worked example: pricing a collections offer
A consultant resells a collections agent to small distributors. She counts her cost per client: partner credits for a typical month, two hours of setup, one hour a month of support and a review call. She adds a buffer for busy months. In discovery, a distributor explains that slow payments force them to borrow every quarter, and estimates what that interest and follow-up time cost them.
She offers three packages: reminders only, reminders plus a monthly aging review, and a premium tier with a custom escalation flow. The distributor chooses the middle one, and the setup fee covers the time spent connecting their accounting data.
Common pricing mistakes
Pricing errors are hard to fix later, because raising prices on existing clients is uncomfortable. Getting the structure right at the start saves that conversation.
- Pricing from software cost alone
- Quoting before discovery
- Giving setup away to win the deal
- Offering one package, which invites a yes or no decision instead of a choice
- Your cost includes your own setup and support time.
- Price from the value of the problem, which the client tells you.
- Offer three packages and expect most buyers to choose the middle one.
- Charge setup separately from the monthly fee.
Pick one niche offer. Estimate your monthly cost per client including support hours. Write three packages with what each includes, and check each price is well above cost and well below the value a client described to you.
Check your understanding
1. What is often missed when resellers set prices?
2. Where should the value number come from?
3. Why charge setup separately?
Turn what you learn into monthly income
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Templates from our playbooks
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