Understanding the 3CX Q2 2026 Promotions

Clearing Up the Renewal Discount & Sequential Discounting Confusion

3CX recently announced their Q2 2026 promotional offers, and while the discounts are attractive, many partners are misunderstanding how the renewal discounts actually work — especially when it comes to:

• Upgrade discounts
• Multi-year renewal discounts
• Sequential discounting
• How standard partner tier discounts also factor into the calculation

This article breaks everything down clearly so partners can quote correctly and avoid confusion with end-user pricing.

The Most Important Clarification

The 30% Discount Is NOT a Standard Renewal Discount

One of the biggest misunderstandings is that customers automatically receive a 30% discount simply because they renew for 3 years.

There is also confusion where some partners believe:

• 1-year renewals qualify
• Any renewal qualifies
• Multi-year renewals automatically qualify

This is incorrect.

The 30% promotional discount only applies when BOTH conditions are met:

• The customer upgrades their license
  AND
• The renewal term is 3 years or more

Without an upgrade, the promotional renewal discount does not apply — regardless of whether the renewal is:

• 1 year
• 2 years
• 3 years
• or longer

Understanding the Upgrade Discounts

The promotions for upgrades work as follows:

Promotion Type	Discount
Upgrade only	25%
Upgrade + 3-year (or longer) renewal	30%

This means:

• A customer upgrading their license but renewing for less than 3 years receives 25%
• A customer upgrading and renewing for 3+ years receives 30%

What Counts as an Upgrade?

An upgrade means moving to a higher System Capacity (SC) license.

Examples include:

• 16SC → 32SC
• 32SC → 64SC
• 64SC → 128SC

A customer renewing the same license size is not upgrading.

Example Scenarios

Scenario 1 — Upgrade Only

Customer:

• Currently on 16SC
• Upgrades to 32SC
• Renews for 1 year

✅ Eligible Discount:

• 25% Upgrade Discount

❌ Not eligible for:

• 30% Upgrade + 3-Year Renewal Discount

Scenario 2 — Upgrade + 3-Year Renewal

Customer:

• Currently on 16SC
• Upgrades to 32SC
• Renews for 3 years

✅ Eligible Discount:

• 30% Upgrade + Renewal Discount

Scenario 3 — Renewal Only (1 Year)

Customer:

• Keeps the same 16SC license
• Renews for 1 year

❌ No promotional upgrade discount applies because there is no upgrade involved.

Scenario 4 — Renewal Only (3 Years)

Customer:

• Keeps the same 16SC license
• Renews for 3 years

❌ No promotional upgrade discount applies because there is no upgrade involved.

This is the area causing the most confusion:

A 3-year renewal alone does not automatically qualify for the 30% discount.

The upgrade requirement must also be met.

Understanding Sequential Discounts

Another major source of confusion is the phrase:

“All discounts are applied sequentially”

Many partners incorrectly assume this means all discounts are simply added together.

This is not how 3CX calculates discounts.

What Sequentially Actually Means

Sequential discounting means:

Each discount is applied one after another to the already discounted amount.

This includes:

• Promotional discounts
• Education discounts
• Standard partner tier discounts (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Titanium)

This is extremely important because partner discounts are also part of the sequential calculation.

Partner Discounts ALSO Apply Sequentially

A common misunderstanding is assuming:

“25% promo + 20% partner discount = 45% total discount”

❌ This is incorrect.

The partner discount is applied sequentially after the promotional discount.

Sequential Discount Example

Starting Price

R10,000

Customer qualifies for:

• 25% Upgrade Promotion
• 20% Partner Discount

Step 1 — Apply Upgrade Discount

R10,000 − 25% = R7,500

Step 2 — Apply Partner Discount Sequentially

R7,500 − 20% = R6,000

Final Effective Discount

Method	Final Price
Incorrect “combined” method	R5,500
Correct sequential method	R6,000

The discounts are not added together directly.

Example with Education + Partner + Promotion

Starting Price

R10,000

Applicable discounts:

• 20% Education Discount
• 30% Upgrade + 3-Year Renewal Discount
• 15% Partner Discount

Step 1 — Education Discount

R10,000 → R8,000

Step 2 — Upgrade + Renewal Discount

R8,000 → R5,600

Step 3 — Partner Discount

R5,600 → R4,760

Why 3CX Uses Sequential Discounts

Sequential discounting is standard practice in software licensing because it:

• Prevents excessive discount stacking
• Maintains fair global pricing
• Protects channel structure
• Ensures pricing consistency
• Allows multiple promotions to coexist correctly

The 3CX Portal automatically calculates all discounts sequentially during checkout.

Important Eligibility & Conditions

Partners must also ensure all promotional conditions are met.

Systems Must Align with the Fair Usage Policy

Promotions only apply to systems compliant with the 3CX Fair Usage Policy.

Minimum License Sizes Apply

Promotion Type	Minimum Size
Upgrade Promotions	16SC+
New License Promotions	8SC+

Promotion Expiry Date

All offers are valid until:

30 June 2026

New License Promotions

The following promotions apply to:

• New licenses
• Upgrades from 4SC Free
• Trials
• POCs

License Term	Discount
1 Year	10%
2 Years	15%
3 Years	20%

Minimum size:

• 8SC+

Education Sector Promotions

Education customers receive additional benefits:

• Threshold reduced from 32SC to 16SC+
• Standard 20% education discount continues to apply
• Additional:
  • 25% upgrade discount
  • 30% upgrade + 3-year renewal discount

These discounts are also applied sequentially together with partner discounts.

Important Reminder When Quoting Customers

3CX has specifically requested that partners clearly display:

• Standard end-user price
• Each discount applied
• Final customer price

This transparency helps avoid pricing disputes and customer confusion.

Final Takeaway

The two most important points partners must understand are:

1. The 30% discount is NOT a normal renewal discount

It only applies when:

• a qualifying upgrade is performed
  AND
• the renewal is for 3 years or longer

A renewal by itself — even a 3-year renewal — does not qualify for the 30% promotion.

2. All discounts are applied sequentially

This includes:

• Promotional discounts
• Education discounts
• Partner tier discounts

Discount percentages are not simply added together.

Understanding these rules correctly will help partners:

• quote accurately
• avoid margin misunderstandings
• prevent disputes with distributors
• provide transparent pricing to customers

If partners are uncertain about eligibility, discount calculations or final pricing, they should verify directly with TSD Africa at:

3cx@tsdafrica.com

Our team will gladly assist in confirming promotional applicability and pricing calculations before quotes are sent to customers.