Solar Dealer Agreement: Territory, Termination and Buyback Checklist

A solar dealer agreement should turn commercial discussions into an operable responsibility map. Before signing, review the exact parties, products, territory, targets, pricing process, credit, stock, delivery, warranty, service, marketing, data, termination, and dispute terms, including every schedule incorporated by reference. Use qualified legal, tax, accounting, and operational advisers.

If you are applying for the distribution route rather than reviewing a proposed agreement, start with the Qbits distributor registration walkthrough and keep the application separate from any later appointment terms.

What should be collected before reviewing a solar dealer agreement?

Collect the complete proposed agreement, every incorporated schedule and policy, the legal identities of the parties, the product scope, commercial proposal, warranty terms, service workflow, price and credit documents, and any promises made during negotiation. Mark missing or changeable documents before comparing individual clauses or modelling the business case.

Build a document register first:

If a discussion says standard policy applies, ask for the dated policy and confirm how future versions become binding. If a schedule is blank, to be agreed, or hosted at a changeable link, record the commercial risk rather than assuming a favourable answer.

How should territory, channel and exclusivity terms be reviewed?

Territory terms should define geography, covered customers, sales channels, products, exclusivity, reserved accounts, online sales, inbound leads, cross-territory business, performance conditions, review rights, and the treatment of open opportunities. A map or city name alone does not explain which sales count or when protection can be changed.

Ask these questions against the actual wording:

• Is the appointment exclusive, non-exclusive, sole, or conditional?
• Does the territory apply to billing address, delivery address, installation site, lead origin, or another test?
• Are national accounts, government tenders, EPCs, marketplaces, direct sales, projects, or existing customers reserved?
• Can another partner sell into the area, and can this partner sell outside it?
• Which product families and future models are included or excluded?
• Who owns a lead, how is it registered, and when does protection expire?
• What target, payment, service, staffing, stock, reporting, or brand condition supports the appointment?
• What notice and cure process applies before territory or exclusivity changes?
• What happens to quoted, ordered, installed, or service-stage opportunities after a change?

How should targets, pricing, rebates and credit be checked?

Review each commercial mechanism as a formula with named inputs, evidence, timing, approval, and reversal rules. The agreement should distinguish a target from a binding purchase obligation, a list price from the invoiced price, a conditional rebate from earned margin, and requested credit from an approved credit facility.

Use a worksheet rather than a headline percentage.

Do not publish a typical dealer margin or credit period as Qbits policy. The current signed proposal and authorised commercial schedule control. The solar dealer margin disclosure guide shows why project, product, contribution, and net-margin claims cannot be compared without the same base. Test the cash cycle using the actual payment date, stock holding, customer collection, tax, freight, returns, rebate timing and warranty reimbursement assumptions, with an accountant reviewing the treatment.

For a distributor appointment, use the credit and territory review guide to connect the facility calculation, territory scope, target trigger, and downside cash-flow case before accepting either term.

What stock, delivery and return terms matter?

Stock clauses should identify ordering authority, acceptance, forecasts, allocation, delivery point, title and risk transfer, inspection, shortages, transit damage, storage duties, obsolescence, returns, restocking, replacement, recall, and end-of-term inventory. A return right is useful only when eligibility, approval, condition, timing, freight, credit, and exclusions are defined.

Map the inventory life cycle from purchase order to final disposition:

1. Who may submit and approve an order?
2. When does an order become binding, and can it be changed or cancelled?
3. Which delivery term determines freight, insurance, title and risk?
4. How quickly must quantity, model or visible damage discrepancies be recorded?
5. Who bears loss caused by unsuitable storage, delayed installation or unauthorised handling?
6. Can slow-moving or discontinued models be returned or exchanged?
7. How are opened, installed, demo, damaged, recalled or warranty units treated?
8. What credit note, replacement or refund evidence closes an approved return?
9. What happens to saleable and unsaleable stock when the agreement ends?

Is a stock buyback automatic when the agreement ends?

No buyback should be assumed. Ask whether the proposed agreement creates a repurchase right, an optional return process, a transfer to another partner, a limited sell-off period, or no exit route for remaining stock. These outcomes are commercially different.

Avoid using buyback, return, and stock adjustment as if they mean the same thing. Record the exact models, serial-number or invoice evidence, packaging condition, age limit, valuation basis, taxes, freight, inspection, set-off rights, credit-note timing, and treatment of disputed units.

How should installation, warranty and service responsibilities be allocated?

The agreement should allocate sales representations, design, installation, commissioning, customer handover, fault intake, diagnosis, site attendance, warranty authorisation, parts, labour, freight, removal, reinstallation, records, escalation, and regulatory communication. It should also state which separate product, workmanship, service, or maintenance document controls each obligation.

Create a responsibility matrix with one accountable party for every step.

Use the solar inverter warranty guide to distinguish headline duration from coverage, remedy and cost allocation. Do not tell customers the dealer agreement provides a manufacturer remedy unless the controlling warranty and signed agreement support that statement.

What should marketing, data and intellectual-property terms cover?

Marketing and data terms should define approved brand assets and claims, campaign approval, lead ownership, reimbursement evidence, platform access, confidentiality, personal-data roles, permitted use, security, retention, breach handling, account closure, and return or deletion. Intellectual-property permission should be limited to the stated purpose, channel, territory, term, and current brand rules.

Check whether the partner may:

• use logos, product images, datasheets and trademarks, and in which formats;
• create local-language, comparative, price, warranty or performance advertising;
• bid on brand terms or operate websites, domains, marketplace listings and social accounts;
• represent itself as authorised, exclusive, certified, or another defined status;
• collect leads through manufacturer systems and export customer data;
• continue using materials, customer lists or system access after termination.

Put claim approval and withdrawal into an actual workflow. A partner should not keep publishing an outdated warranty, model specification, subsidy rule, price, or territory statement because an old brochure remains in a shared folder.

Which termination and post-termination questions need answers?

Termination terms should distinguish expiry, convenience, breach, insolvency, prolonged disruption, change of control, regulatory risk, non-payment, missed performance, and reputational or safety events. For each route, review notice, cure, immediate-action rights, open orders, customer support, stock, receivables, rebates, data, brand use, confidentiality, records, and dispute preservation.

Ask what happens on the day the relationship ends and during the following transition:

• Are accepted purchase orders fulfilled, cancelled, or reviewed individually?
• Can the partner sell remaining genuine stock, and for how long?
• Is stock repurchased, returned, transferred, or unsupported?
• Who supports installed customers and open warranty cases?
• When are rebates, credits, invoices, deposits and security reconciled?
• Which customer, lead and service data is returned, retained, or deleted?
• When must signs, domains, listings, credentials and marketing assets stop being used?
• Which confidentiality, payment, warranty, indemnity, audit, records and dispute clauses survive?

The exit plan affects customers who bought during the agreement. Service continuity and truthful status communication should be resolved before signature, not improvised after termination.

How should liability, insurance and disputes be reviewed?

Qualified legal and insurance reviewers should assess warranties, disclaimers, indemnities, liability caps and exclusions, insurance, compliance duties, audit rights, governing law, notices, negotiation, mediation, arbitration or court process, venue, interim relief, and cost allocation. These provisions interact, so a checklist cannot determine whether the final allocation is acceptable.

Do not review a liability cap in isolation. Ask which claims sit outside it, whether indirect or consequential loss is defined, how third-party and customer claims are handled, and whether insurance actually matches the assumed responsibility. Tax, competition, consumer, data, employment, product-safety, electrical and local licensing questions may also need specialist advice depending on the proposed work.

Record the dispute mechanics in operational language: who sends a notice, to which address, within what contractual period, who can settle, which records must be preserved, and whether ordinary supply or service continues during a dispute.

What is the final pre-signing checklist?

Before signature, close document gaps, compare negotiation promises with the final text, model cash and stock exposure, map customer and service duties, verify approval authority, obtain specialist reviews, and create an exceptions register. Sign only the final agreed version with completed schedules, traceable changes, correct parties, and a practical implementation owner.

1. Confirm the legal names, registration details, addresses and authorised signatories.
2. Check definitions against every clause and schedule that uses them.
3. Mark each commercial promise as included, excluded, conditional, or unresolved.
4. Model targets, stock, credit, payment, rebate, tax, freight, returns and exit scenarios.
5. Complete the territory, order-to-cash, warranty, service and termination responsibility maps.
6. Obtain qualified legal, tax, accounting, insurance and technical review where applicable.
7. Resolve blanks, conflicting documents, editable web policies and side messages.
8. Confirm version, attachments, initials, signatures, effective date and record storage.
9. Assign internal owners for compliance, reporting, renewals and change notices.

Prospective Qbits partners can prepare with the field-by-field application guide, review the partner-route guide, and then use the current partner application. The application is not acceptance and this checklist does not promise territory, exclusivity, margin, credit, stock return, marketing support, service level, or any other commercial term.

Sources checked 26 September 2026: the current Qbits partner application, Qbits warranty guide, datasheet library and partner-route article. This checklist is general guidance. Confirm the actual agreement terms with Qbits channel, finance, service, tax and legal contacts before signing.