ASK CHANNELNOMICS: How Do We Handle ‘Autopilot’ Renewals?

At Channelnomics, we field questions about best practices, partner strategies, and channel programs every day. In this series, called “Ask Channelnomics,” we answer some of the questions we receive most from vendors.

Question: Am I the bad guy for wondering why I’m paying a partner a commission for an automatic subscription renewal — and with an account that I’m pretty certain isn’t being sold additional services from my company? I recognize the partner believes that the account is their customer, but since the original transaction with the account, I keep paying a commission despite the fact that I don’t see the partner putting in any effort for me. What’s fair in this instance?