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Reserved Instance Marketplace
The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Reserved Instance Marketplace makes it easy to buy and sell Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances by matching sellers who have reserved capacity that they no longer need with buyers who are looking to purchase additional capacity. Reserved Instances bought from third-party sellers through the Reserved Instance Marketplace work like any other Reserved Instances.
For a buyer, the main difference between these Reserved Instances and Reserved Instances purchased directly from Amazon Web Services (AWS) is that the Reserved Instance Marketplace Reserved Instances that you purchase from third-party sellers will have less than a full standard term remaining and can be sold at different upfront prices. The usage or reoccurring fees will remain the same as the fees set when the Reserved Instances were originally purchased. Full standard terms for Reserved Instances available from AWS run for one year or three years.
As a seller, you can choose to list some or all of your Reserved Instances, and you can choose the upfront price you want to receive. Your Reserved Instances are then listed in the Reserved Instance Marketplace and are available for purchase. You can use your Reserved Instance until it's sold. When you sell, what you are giving up is the capacity reservation and the accompanying discounted fees. You can continue to use your instance after you have sold the reserved capacity. You will just have to pay the On-Demand price, starting from the time that your Reserved Instance was sold.
Note
Only Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances can be sold in the Reserved Instance Marketplace. Other AWS Reserved Instances, such as Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) and Amazon ElastiCache Reserved Instances cannot be sold on the Reserved Instance Marketplace.
This section discusses the basics of the Reserved Instance Marketplace:
For information about Reserved Instances, see Reserved Instances.
Getting Started Quickly
Here's what you do to quickly get started selling or buying in the Reserved Instance Marketplace.
Quick Start: Selling in the Reserved Instance Marketplace Video
The following video shows you how to sell Reserved Instances in the Reserved Instance Marketplace using the AWS Management Console. This video includes instructions on registering as a seller and listing your instances.
Quick Start: Buying in the Reserved Instance Marketplace Video
The following video shows you how to buy Reserved Instances in the Reserved Instance Marketplace using the AWS Management Console.
How the Reserved Instance Marketplace Works: Seller Overview
The Reserved Instance Marketplace will be useful to you if you own Reserved Instances and want to sell the remainder of the term, or if your business is looking for Reserved Instances with configurations that are different from the ones you currently own.
Listing on the Reserved Instance Marketplace provides you the flexibility to move to new Reserved Instance configurations when your business needs change. For example, say you currently own several three-year m1.xlarge Reserved Instances in the EU (Ireland) Region. This year, your customer base expanded to Asia, so you need an m1.large Reserved Instance that you can use in the Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Region. You can use the Reserved Instance Marketplace to sell the remainder of the term on some of your m1.xlarge Reserved Instances purchased in the EU (Ireland) Region and purchase capacity in the Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Region.
Any US legal entity or non-US legal entity can sell in the Reserved Instance Marketplace by first registering as a Seller, and then listing Reserved Instances, which are then included in the marketplace. Sellers who have 200 or more transactions or who plan to sell $20,000 or more in Reserved Instances will have to provide additional information about their business for tax reasons.
After you have listed your Reserved Instance, it will be offered for sale, and you will receive an email notification when your Reserved Instance is sold. While it's listed for sale, you can continue to use your instance and benefit from the discounted hourly rate of the Reserved Instance. When your Reserved Instance is sold, you still can continue to use your instance, except that you will be charged the On-Demand rate.
For more information, see Selling in the Reserved Instance Marketplace. For information about quickly getting started selling in the Reserved Instance Marketplace, see Quick Start: Selling in the Reserved Instance Marketplace Video.
How the Reserved Instance Marketplace Works: Buyer Overview
The Reserved Instance Marketplace is useful for buyers who want to purchase Reserved Instances with terms that are different from the terms offered by AWS. You can also search the marketplace for Reserved Instances with configurations that address your specific business needs.
To purchase Reserved Instances in the Reserved Instance Marketplace, you must have a valid Amazon Web Services (AWS) account. If you have purchased Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances in the past, you will find that the process and tools for purchasing Reserved Instances in the Reserved Instance Marketplace are very familiar.
When you have specified the configuration of the Reserved Instance you want to purchase, the Reserved Instance Marketplace will match what you're searching for with what's available. Then, the marketplace will sell the lowest priced Reserved Instances to you first, and continue to sell the available Reserved Instance listings until your demand is met. You will be charged based on the total price of all of the listings that you purchase.
For more information, see Buying in the Reserved Instance Marketplace. For information on quickly getting started buying in the Reserved Instance Marketplace, see Quick Start: Buying in the Reserved Instance Marketplace Video.
