Adapting to change: Mitigating AWS’s policy against selling discounted RIs on the Marketplace

In late 2023, AWS began informing customers that as of January 15, 2024, they would start enforcing their existing policy of not allowing discounted RIs to be sold on the RI Marketplace, according to AWS Service Terms 5.6.1.: “You may not resell an EC2 Reserved Instance that you purchased through a discount program.” This policy has been in place since at least 2014; however, AWS rarely enforced it.

What RIs are considered discounted?

Reserved Instances provide significant cost savings on on-demand usage, and discounted RIs offer additional savings through Volume Discounts and the Enterprise Discount Program (EDP). Volume Discounts start at 5% and increase with spend; they are applied automatically after an AWS customer spends $500,000 on standard RIs in a specific region. The Enterprise Discount Program allows AWS customers to negotiate a special rate when total AWS spend approaches $1 million across all regions.

How is Eco affected by this change?

First, this change affects all reserved commitment management solutions, not just Eco, so no one is immune to these changes. However, Eco’s commitment optimization approach has always prioritized flexibility and diversified strategies over a one-size-fits-all method, which makes adapting to changing policies and offerings on AWS one of Eco’s strong suits.

This change doesn’t lessen Eco’s ability to manage the broadest range of AWS services and provide adaptive commitment coverage that matches your usage needs. By developing a commitment strategy tailored to each customer using the right mix of Standard RIs, Convertible RIs, and Savings Plans, across EC2 and non-EC2 services (RDS, ECS, etc.), Eco maximizes commitment utilization and reduces commitment waste and on-demand usage.

What does this change for Eco customers?

The answer to this question is unique to each customer as it depends on the mix of reserved commitments in their portfolio. Since Eco has always provided customers with strategies tailored to their unique usage and business needs, changes will vary. Some may see a greater reliance on Convertible RIs, since they allow advanced exchange techniques, while others will not see any changes at all. It is worth repeating that no vendor is immune, and AWS customers who utilize vendors that rely solely on a single optimization method are the ones at the most risk to these and future changes.

Looking forward

Eco has been maximizing value and optimizing reserved commitments for AWS customers since 2018. As new offerings, features, and policies arise, Eco has always moved quickly to support them and ensure all customers are in compliance. Many organizations worldwide continue to rely on Eco to evaluate and adapt to new developments on AWS so their solutions can run as efficiently as possible. While the reality of leveraging the AWS RI Marketplace has changed for some customers, Eco will continue to use it when it is the best option available for controlling costs and preventing waste.

Why Eco is the leading choice in reserved commitment management

Spot Eco provides reserved commitment management and optimization you can trust by combining automation, machine learning, and human oversight to ensure your commitment portfolio is balanced and utilization is maximized. Trained on the historical data of over $1 billion USD in reserved commitments, Eco provides continuous commitment portfolio design across the broadest range of services on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Ready to learn how Eco can reduce on-demand use and commitment waste while maximizing utilization? Schedule a demo with a Solutions Architect today!