Reselling Manifold

Adding Value is the Key to Success

Reseller

Profit with Manifold

Many resellers, consultants and other businesses and individual entrepreneurs around the world resell or utilize Manifold® products as a key part of their business offerings. Manifold enables custom applications as well as value added services such as consultancy, training and configuration that expand markets, enhance profitability and deliver better value to end user customers.

This page provides information for resellers, consultants and others interested in reselling Manifold or in using Manifold as part of their business offerings. If you are an end use customer seeking a reseller or distributor, please visit the Resellers page.

Open Access

Manifold provides open access to resellers: Manifold licenses may be transferred, so anyone can become a reseller by procuring licenses and then transferring them to a end use recipient. No contracts or approvals are required. Anyone can take advantage of volume discounts to acquire licenses for redistribution at wholesale prices. Resellers can utilize Manifold whenever they want at the volume level and discounted price level that is right for them.

Adding Value

While margins up to 50% are available through discounts, the main profit a reseller makes with Manifold usually will be based on the reseller's value added. Value added activities are support, training, installation, configuration and customization servuces as well as creation of custom applications based on Manifold. Another opportunity for value-added profit is configuring and hosting web-based applications using the Manifold Internet Map Server that is built into every Release 8 Manifold license from Professional on up. Release 9 resellers often take advantage of Manifold Viewer, to help customers deploy a value-added mix of paid licenses and free Viewer users. Manifold Server installations are also popular with value added resellers, in combination with Professional or Universal licenses.

Many resellers also add value by serving end user customer procurement requirements, such as preparation of special forms, responses to bid requests or payment by purchase orders, which require services beyond Manifold's Online Store sales channel.

Resellers who add value can make extraordinary profits using Manifold. However, because Manifold sells direct via Internet to customers worldwide, the open access model tends to filter out resellers who do not add value. Manifold does not review, evaluate, authorize or otherwise control or keep track of resellers. Instead, the natural outcome of free competition with open access means that resellers who have talent and add value will be successful while those who do not will quickly disappear.

Advantages

Manifold's model provides many advantages for resellers:

  • Open Access - Anyone can become a reseller instantly. No need to negotiate authorization contracts or to convince a GIS company that you are an acceptable partner.
  • Level Playing Field - Every reseller gets the same prices and volume discounts on the same schedule. When you compete with other resellers you will be competing on the basis of your skills and business strengths and not against special deals a competitor may have that you do not.
  • Same Pricing Worldwide - Manifold applies the same pricelist for all transactions worldwide. Resellers in different countries are not charged higher prices.
  • No Monopolies - Anyone can resell Manifold into any territory worldwide. There are no exclusives or attempts by Manifold to prevent free and fair competition anywhere or to pick winners and losers in a particular country.
  • No Financial Commitments - No need to make long term financial commitments or to tie up capital. Buy the licenses you need for resale when you need them at whatever volume / discount level your business requires.
  • Unbeatable Pricing - Companies that attempt to filter resellers spend a fortune on qualifying resellers. They must charge significantly higher product prices to pay for such expenses. Manifold eliminates such costs to keep prices low, so you can enjoy more profit and a stronger competitive edge.
  • Create New Applications - Create applications based upon Manifold, less than $50 per license in significant volume. No Manifold branding is required of your applications, so you can invest your marketing funds into promoting your brand, not Manifold's.
  • Extensive Web Application Opportunities - All Release editions except Personal Edition include the Manifold Internet Map Server (IMS). Creating and hosting web-based GIS applications can provide extraordinary financial returns for skilled VARs.
  • Value Added Profits - Manifold does not compete with resellers for consulting services. Resellers capture additional profits by providing training and consulting services. That builds greater account control and closer customer relationships for resellers.
  • Procurement Profits - Many resellers provide value added by handling specialized customer procurement requirements that do not fit Manifold's Internet sales model. Resellers can handle orders from customers who must pay by PO and cannot use credit cards. Resellers can respond to government RFQs or process orders requiring specialized procurement paperwork, such as submitting quotations in a special form required by the customer.
  • Advantages for the Strong - Resellers and VARs with strong Manifold and GIS technical skills and business skills will have a decisive advantage over competitors who have not invested into GIS or Manifold expertise or who are inadequately resourced. Resellers who procure Manifold on a regular basis or in large quantity usually develop a close friendship with Manifold. They are often consulted for feedback on new products or invited into beta test programs and their suggestions for new product features or improvements carry extra weight.

Disadvantages

There are some disadvantages of Manifold's reseller model:

  • Self-Service via Internet - This is actually a big advantage for strong, industrious resellers but it screens out weak, incompetent or lazy resellers. Everything a reseller needs to know to order Manifold, to try Manifold out and to learn Manifold well is published on this website in clear, simple links that are easy to find (see the column at left). Average consumers around the world encounter no difficulty in using those links. Resellers unable to use this website to self-educate themselves regarding Manifold products and procedures will not be successful.
  • Value Added Required - Because anyone can get the same price ordering directly from Manifold, customers will not buy through a reseller unless that reseller adds value. The value added could be as simple as buying from Manifold via credit card while selling at a markup to a customer who has a cumbersome PO process, but some value must be added.
  • Some Clients Excluded - Manifold's model provides a major profit opportunity for resellers to sell to bureaucratized clients who have difficult procurement requirements. Quite often resellers serving such clients discover that once they have made the initial effort to learn the client's system they can simply "fill in the blanks" to sell at good profit to that client over and over, secure in the knowledge that the client's ponderous procurement requirements will be a barrier to entry to many competitors. However, some clients may impose requirements that prevent use of Manifold's open access model. The classic case is a client who requires Manifold to participate in schemes that benefit the client's cronies or that otherwise limit competition. Since Manifold does not participate in such corrupt or anti-competitive practises those clients are not a good fit to the Manifold reseller model.
  • No Pass-Through Technical Support - Manifold supports only the email address specified for an order. No technical support is included in the price of a license, so whoever manages the license must be able to understand and to utilize Manifold technical support service products if they wish to obtain support from Manifold. Resellers who utilize their own email addresses or who integrate Manifold within their own applications must support their customers.
  • No Reseller Pre-Sales Support - Manifold's level playing field model means that all resellers have equal access and all resellers compete based on their own skills and resources. Manifold will not favor one reseller or another by endorsing or authorizing resellers, by providing special documents or licenses, by assisting with bidding, by providing extra information not found on this website, or by providing configuration advice on a proposed deal. Resellers who can utilize this website and who have invested in basic Manifold familiarity will have no difficulty bidding deals without assistance from Manifold.
  • Discounts are Prepaid - Discounts are available on the Online Store for quantity bundles such as the 5x Manifold 9.00 Universal or 5x Manifold 9.00 Professional bundles of five licenses. Discounts beyond quantity five are available only on transactions that are prepaid by PayPal transfer. See the Discounts page for details. Discounts are not available for single unit orders.
  • No Refunds - Reseller orders are not refundable. Resellers who are not sure if Manifold is right for a particular customer or for their development needs should use the free Viewer, or buy a license for $145 to assess Manifold.

As can be seen from the above advantages and disadvantages, Manifold provides opportunities for strong, informed resellers who have faith in their own abilities and who have value to add. Stong resellers can use Manifold as a formidable competitive weapon to open new markets and to win business against technologically obsolete and overpriced legacy GIS options.

Procuring Manifold for Resale

Five or fewer licenses - To procure Manifold for resale in small quantities please visit the Online Store and pay by credit card:

  1. Visit the Online Store page. Read the information carefully including the Terms and Conditions of sale.
  2. Construct the desired order. To get a discount on five unit orders, make sure to order the 5x Manifold 9.00 Universal or 5x Manifold 9.00 Professional bundles.
  3. When checking out, specify the reseller's email address. This will be the email address of record for the order. Make sure this email address can receive email from sales@manifold.net.
  4. Pay for the order using a Visa card or MasterCard that has been enrolled in the Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode programs.
  5. When you receive the serial number email, do not lose it. Forward it to the end use customer for use in installing and activating the license.

More than five licenses - To obtain a discount when ordering more than five licenses, please pay by PayPal transfer:

  1. Visit the Discounts and Terms and Conditions of sale pages. Read the information carefully.
  2. Send an email to sales@manifold.net setting forth the licenses you would like to procure and asking for payment information. Sales will respond with a quotation for your order and payment information.
  3. Send funds by PayPal transfer and notify Manifold by email that you have done so. When Manifold receives your payment, your order will be processed and your serial number email will be sent to you.
  4. When you receive the serial number email, do not lose it. Save it for a record of the serial numbers you have acquired, forwarding serial numbers as necessary to your end use customers for use in installing and activating the licenses.

Choosing an Email Address

The Manifold Online Store is fully automated: Within moments of processing a credit card payment the Online Store will send two emails to the email address specified for the order: an invoice email and a serial number email. Transactions prepaid by PayPal transfer will also have two emails sent to the email address specified for the order. Resellers should carefully read all information on this page to ensure they choose the right email address for an order.

Most resellers will use their own email address and will then support their own customers by providing the serial number email to the customer and by following up with support for installation, activation and general use of the product. Strong resellers know such customer support is an opportunity for adding value and maintaining account control.

Important: If the serial number email has not been received within a few minutes of placing an order, please visit the Email Problems page for tips on why your email system is not receiving Manifold emails.

Only one email address can be specified for an order. Therefore, resellers who do not want their end user customer to know what they paid for Manifold should not specify the customer's email address since both the invoice and the serial number email will be sent to the same email address. Instead, they should specify the reseller's email address. They can then keep the invoice email for their own records and forward the serial number email to the customer.

Using the reseller's email address for an order also has the important benefit that the reseller will know for sure the order has been fulfilled when the serial number email is received. End user customers often have problems with email reception because they have configured their own email systems in an inexpert manner. Resellers normally have greater technical expertise than end users and usually will have a better email system configuration that will not reject email messages sent from Manifold.

Note that if a reseller specifies a customer's email address for the order and the customer for any reason does not receive the email, the reseller will not be able to contact Manifold on the customer's behalf. Only someone writing from the specified email address will be able to contact Manifold to resolve problems with the order. Therefore, if there is any doubt about a customer's ability to resolve problems with email reception it is important that the reseller uses his or her own email address and does not "drop ship" the serial number email directly to an end user customer's email address.

If a customer's email address is specified for the order it is best to ensure that customer email is in the care of a reliable and competent person who can represent the customer for all questions involving the product. Do not use a customer email address for someone in a non-technical procurement bureaucracy who will later be unable to represent the customer should the customer require an assistance with installation, activation or technical support.

Serial Numbers and Activation

Manifold licenses are authorized by serial numbers. Serial numbers are not locked to a specific person or a specific machine. Anyone who has a serial number can use it, so resellers should ensure that only trustworthy personnel have access to emails that convey serial numbers.

A Manifold license must be activated using the serial number for that license. Activation is quick and easy for people who are able to read and to apply simple instructions. For an overview, please visit the Activation Guide page. Even though activation is quick and easy many resellers will assist their customers with activation as part of their value added.

Important: Manifold provides free installation and activation support as set forth in the Activation Support page but only to the email address specified for the order. That policy assures that the person who is asking for support has received complete instructions direct from Manifold on installing and activating the license, and it avoids situations where someone passes on a Manifold serial number without accompanying installation and activation instructions.

Resellers should not expect that they can acquire a license from Manifold using their own email address and then pass on a serial number to a customer with Manifold thereafter supporting the customer. In such cases the reseller must support the end-use customer for all questions, including initial installation and activation, without pass-through support from Manifold. The reseller is Manifold's customer and the reseller's end use customer is a third party that Manifold will not support, nor will Manifold provide "pass-through" support with end user customer inquiries being forwarded back and forth by the reseller to Manifold.

Representation and Use of Marks

Resellers may utilize Manifold resources, such as the User Manual and contents of this web site, to promote Manifold products. They may use Manifold trademarks to describe the Manifold products they offer. However, resellers may not say or imply that they are authorized agents of Manifold or that they have any special relationship with Manifold such as a geographic exclusive.

Terms of Sale / Licensing

Manifold software products are licensed, not sold. See the Terms and Conditions of Sale for additional information. By ordering Manifold products you agree to the Terms and Conditions of Sale. Please also review the Licensing page for an important overview of licensing.


Buy Now via the Online Store

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About Manifold

Manifold is a deep technology company creating advanced, parallel algorithms, next-level technology, and computation know-how that powers faster performance and smarter operations.

License Manifold® technology to power your company's products, or take advantage of Manifold's off-the-shelf commercial products. Jump decades ahead of your competition.

Manifold® brand products deliver quality, performance and value in the world's most sophisticated, most modern, and most powerful spatial products for GIS, ETL, DBMS, and Data Science. Total integration ensures ease of use, amazing speed, and unbeatably low cost of ownership. Tell your friends!

Questions? Contact sales@manifold.net. We're happy to help!