For IT partners, distributors and vendor channel leaders
The circular channel in IT
What vendors now pay partners for certified refurbished, takeback and asset recovery, and how a mixed bid wins on price and carbon.
The circular channel is the part of the IT channel that earns from the second life of equipment, through certified refurbished sales, takeback and asset recovery, sold by the same partners who sell new technology and increasingly rewarded for it by vendors.
Definition: The Channel Institute. Also listed in the channel management glossary.Refurbished devices, takeback and asset recovery used to be a favour to the customer. Several of the largest vendors now pay partners for them. Price a mixed new-and-refurbished bid with the Circular Channel Bid Calculator, then download the Circular Channel Incentive Guide to see what each vendor pays and how to claim it.
Nobody has shown partners what circular business is worth
Ask a vendor why partners don't sell more refurbished kit and you'll hear that partners don't understand the financial case. Alastair Borissow, who ran Cisco Refresh and then Westcon-Comstor's circular technology unit, has said he struggled to get the wider channel to see it. Ask a partner and you'll hear the opposite complaint: vendors don't pay for it. Daisy's former COO said in 2024 that "the stumbling block is the vendors".
Both sides are describing the same gap. Almost no partner economics for circular business have been published.
The best data point we know of comes from Agilico, a Ricoh dealer. Refurbished devices made up a third of its unit sales over 12 months, and it credited its circular focus for much of a significant rise in FY24 gross profit. One dealer is not a market, but it shows the business can be worth having.
Channel incentives in the circular channel have changed
Many partners formed their view of refurbished margins years ago. The partner incentive programs have moved since then, and here is where they stand.
Lenovo
Announced in July 2026 that partners of all metal tiers in selected EMEA markets will earn rebates on Lenovo Certified Refurbished, rolling out during FY26/27. New rebates also cover Asset Recovery Services, CO2 Offset, TruScale and Premier Support, and individual sellers are rewarded through LEAP.
HP
Compensates partners at the same rate for HP Certified Refurbished PCs and printers as for new, so a seller is no worse off recommending refurbished.
Dell
Pays partners a 7% rebate on Asset Recovery Services.
Cisco
The Refresh Partner Incentive Program pays registered partners an additional rebate on eligible Cisco Refresh sales, and trading in old Cisco kit adds up to 9% to new hardware discounts. Westcon-Comstor stacks two 3% rebates on Cisco Refresh.
Eaton
In power protection, pays the salesperson $25 per UPS collected, plus a rebate.
The catch that matters more than any rebate. A refurbished deal carries a smaller ticket, so a salesperson paid commission on revenue earns less on it even when the margin percentage is healthy. Unless your commission plan pays on gross profit, or tops up circular deals, your own sales team has a reason to steer customers away from them. The guide covers how partners are fixing this, and our sales training for channel teams covers how to sell it.
Vendor channel teams designing these programmes will find more on enabling partners to sell refurbished alongside new.
Buyers are asking, and few partners can supply
Public buyers have started to write circular IT into their frameworks, and the market hasn't kept up.
The first two rounds of the Irish framework drew no compliant bidder. The third drew two bids, one of them compliant. In the UK, the main government technology framework now has a dedicated lot for sustainability and circular IT.
Private buyers are moving for a blunter reason: memory prices. Omdia found that around 14% to 16% of customers are trading down to cheaper or refurbished devices.
When a tender asks for a circular lot and only one bidder in three can answer it, the partner who can answer has the lot to itself.
The mixed bid wins on price and on carbon
Take a refresh of 1,000 laptops at €1,000 each. Supply 40% of them as certified refurbished at a 35% discount and the hardware bill falls from €1,000,000 to €860,000, a 14% saving. Embodied carbon falls from about 337 tonnes to about 210 tonnes CO2e, a 38% cut.
| All new | 60% new, 40% refurbished | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware cost | €1,000,000 | €860,000 |
| Embodied carbon | 337 t CO2e | 210 t CO2e |
The cost saving goes to procurement. The carbon cut goes to the customer's sustainability team, who now have a reason to back your bid. A competitor quoting new-only can match your price with a discount; it can't match the second champion.
There is a condition. The customer can only count that carbon saving if you supply device-level data. Under a spend-based estimate, the refurbished share looks only as much better as it is cheaper. Our page on EcoVadis and Scope 3 for IT partners explains why, and why customers rated by EcoVadis increasingly ask for it.
The carbon figures assume about 337 kg CO2e per new laptop and a remanufactured laptop at about 6% of that, from a Cranfield University study of one remanufacturer. Treat them as a best case. The calculator below lets you change every assumption.
Heavy industry solved this in 1973
Caterpillar has run dealer-led remanufacturing since 1973. The model turns on a core deposit. The dealer takes back the worn part, credits the customer, and earns on the remanufactured exchange unit. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation's case study puts Cat's reman pricing at 50% to 60% of new. Cummins, ZF, Deere and Volvo CE work the same way.
The point isn't the engineering. It's that the dealer's economics were designed in from the start. Nobody asked a Cat dealer to sell reman out of goodwill. IT is still asking, and it's one reason how partner programmes are being redesigned is now a subject in its own right.
Circular Channel Bid Calculator
Change any number and the results update. The calculator is free to use; downloading your bid summary as a PDF asks for your details.
Default from the worked example above.
Laptop default derived from the Cranfield study. Use the manufacturer's product carbon footprint where you have it.
6% is the Cranfield best case for one remanufacturer.
Optional. Credit to the customer for each old device you take back.
Example proposal text (check every figure before you use it)
Fill in the short form below to get the PDF download.
Assumptions. Cost saving = devices × refurbished share × new price × discount. Carbon = new devices × carbon per device, plus refurbished devices × carbon per device × refurbished percentage. Asset recovery credit = devices × value per retired device, assuming one device retired for each one supplied.
Disclaimer: examples only, not to be relied on. The figures this calculator produces are examples only and are not to be relied on. They come from illustrative default assumptions, not data for any specific product, price or deal. Check every price and carbon figure with the manufacturer before you use it in a proposal or in any environmental claim.
Get the Circular Channel Incentive Guide
What vendors now pay partners for refurbished, takeback and asset recovery
A vendor-by-vendor table of current programmes and incentives, what each requires and how to claim it, with the date every row was checked. It also covers the commission problem for salespeople and how to bid refurbished lots with warranty parity.
The same form gives you the PDF of your bid summary.
Join the Circular Channel Benchmark
The Circular Channel Benchmark measures what circular business actually earns partners per deal: margin, attach rate, rebate take-up and sales cost, compared with new-only deals. Participants get the full results before publication, and no individual partner's numbers are ever shown.
Frequently asked questions
What is the circular channel?
The circular channel is the part of the IT channel that earns from the second life of equipment, through certified refurbished sales, takeback and asset recovery, sold by the same partners who sell new technology and increasingly rewarded for it by vendors. The term is the Channel Institute's.
What is a channel incentive program?
A channel incentive program is how a vendor pays partners for the behaviour it wants: rebates on sales, bonuses for hitting targets, market development funds, and rewards paid to individual sellers. Circular incentives apply the same tools to refurbished sales, takeback and asset recovery.
Do vendors pay partners rebates on refurbished IT?
Several do. HP pays the same compensation on certified refurbished as on new, Cisco offers additional rebates through the Refresh Partner Incentive Program, and Lenovo is introducing rebates on certified refurbished in selected EMEA markets. Terms change, so check each programme before you bid.
Does selling refurbished hurt a salesperson's commission?
It can. Refurbished deals have smaller tickets, so commission paid on revenue falls even when the margin is good. Paying commission on gross profit, or adding a circular bonus, removes the problem.
What are sustainable IT solutions?
In practice, sustainable IT solutions are the products and services that cut the carbon and waste of a customer's technology estate: longer device life, certified refurbished equipment, takeback and asset recovery, energy-efficient infrastructure, and the data to prove the saving.
Can refurbished equipment carry the same warranty as new?
Vendor-certified programmes often do. Cisco Refresh equipment, for example, carries the same Cisco warranty and support options as new. Third-party refurbished terms vary, so check before you put them in a bid.
Sources
- Omdia: Lenovo 360 Circle Summit 2026 (July 2026)
- Trellis: why HP lets its sales partners offer refurbished equipment
- Dell Technologies Partner Program 2023
- Cisco: Introducing Cisco Refresh
- IT Channel Oxygen: Canalys calls for more vendor incentives on circular IT
- IT Channel Oxygen: Agilico's circular push
- Also: Office of Government Procurement (Ireland) remanufactured notebook framework; Omdia research on memory prices and refresh plans; Cranfield University study of laptop remanufacturing; Ellen MacArthur Foundation case study on Caterpillar remanufacturing; Eaton and Westcon-Comstor partner programme terms. Incentive terms checked October 2026.