You purchase a year-long EC2 Reserved Instance (RI) from Amazon Web Services (AWS). You’re now saving 30% on your sparkling EC2 instance cost!
Fast forward three months. Your project tanked and is costing you money instead of making money. You need to kill it and kill it fast.
But then you remember that one-year contract you have with AWS. <doomed>
You then remember that you can sell off your RI to a marketplace. Bank account saved – mostly.
That part is easy to research and follow the steps for success.
Now “Wannabe Joe” is looking for a deal and wants to purchase that discounted RI you’re selling off. Joe goes to the EC2 console and clicks “Reserved Instances”. He then proceeds to “Purchase Reserved Instances”.
He sees a paragraph:
Reserved Instances sold through the Reserved Instance Marketplace are identical to those sold by Amazon Web Services, except they may have different prices and terms. For more information about the Reserved Instance Marketplace, go to the Reserved Instance Marketplace web page.
He remembers about the marketplace selling unwanted instances so he clinks on the provided link. Listing, selling, fee and getting paid. All great for the seller. But how does he purchase one. Click-after-click just provides frustration.
Don’t worry Joe. You overthought the whole process.
- In the AWS Console Home, go to the EC2 console
- Press the “Reserved Instances” link on the left and then press the “Purchase Reserved Instances” button up top.
- Choose your platform, types, zone, term and tenancy.
- Press the “Search” button
- If there are any unwanted instances up for sale, they will be listed under the “Seller” column as “3rd Party”.
- Add to cart and away you go.
Simple 🙂
Reference and image by: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/amazon-ec2-reserved-instance-marketplace/
Chris Tierney 