Buying Microsoft 365 Direct vs a UK Reseller: A Lower-Cost Alternative

This is the part most buyers want explained, because a lower price always raises the question: what is the catch?

There is no catch in the licence itself. Dead Simple 365 is a Microsoft indirect reseller transacting through Giacom, an authorised Microsoft distributor. The licences are identical to the ones Microsoft sells direct. The CSP channel (Microsoft's official partner programme) is where we buy, not an unofficial or second-hand licence source.

The difference is margin. Microsoft sells through partners who earn a margin on each licence. Most partners add to Microsoft's price or hide the real cost behind an intro offer that climbs at renewal. We run lean and pass most of that margin back to you as a lower published price, with no teaser price that jumps at renewal. The catch with buying elsewhere is usually the renewal price. With us, if Microsoft changes its list price we tell you before renewal and pass through the real change, and we stay below list.

From 1 July 2026, here is what the same Microsoft 365 Business licences cost direct versus through Dead Simple 365, per user per month, ex VAT, on the annual paid-upfront term:

• Business Basic: Microsoft £5.40, Dead Simple 365 £4.97
• Business Standard: Microsoft £10.80, Dead Simple 365 £9.94
• Business Premium: Microsoft £16.90, Dead Simple 365 £15.55

On Business Standard that is about 18% less than buying direct from July. Across a 25-seat business on Standard, the difference is around £258 per year ex VAT for the identical licence.

If you add Microsoft Copilot, the Copilot Business add-on is £13.80 per user per month on Microsoft promo pricing until 31 December 2026 (list price £16.10). Add it at checkout on only the seats that need it.

A common worry when leaving Microsoft direct is that a reseller will take control of your account. It does not work that way with us.

Whether you buy direct or through Dead Simple 365, the licences live in your own Microsoft tenant: your organisation account, where your users, mail and data sit. We attach licences to that tenant through the CSP channel. We do not move you into a provider-managed tenant, and we do not hold your domain or your data hostage.

That means switching to a reseller changes the bill, not the architecture. Your mail, files, Teams and settings stay exactly where they are. If you ever want to leave, you keep everything, because the tenant was always yours.

The practical reason to use a UK reseller instead of buying direct is having a human to deal with.

With Dead Simple 365 you provision licences yourself online, without a sales call or an MSP contract, and you reach UK support when you need a person rather than a chatbot queue. Buying direct gives you Microsoft's faceless support, which is built for scale, not for a 20-seat firm trying to fix a mailbox before Monday.

On top of the licence sits a ladder of optional paid services: support plans, guided or done-for-you migrations, licence audits, backup and Copilot adoption. You take only what you need. None of it is mandatory the way an MSP bundle would be.

Be clear-eyed about what a reseller cannot change. Microsoft's New Commerce Experience (NCE) rules apply to every reseller, including us, and including Microsoft direct.

That means: a 7 calendar day cancellation window from purchase with a prorated refund, and nothing after it; no seat decreases mid-term (only inside that window or at renewal); upgrades and seat additions allowed any time; and the price fixed for the term. We state these upfront rather than burying them, because the rules are identical wherever you buy. The thing a reseller can change is the price and the support, not Microsoft's commercial terms.