When a Client Wants to Resell Your Build to Other Businesses (What to Say and What to Charge)
- A client who wants to resell your build is telling you it works. That is good news, but resale changes the deal: your work is about to earn money from businesses you never priced, and someone has to support every copy.
- Use the Profit Room's Resale Fork: read what your agreement says about ownership, then offer one of four paths - a resale license with a fee per copy or a share of revenue, a full buyout priced for what resale is worth, a partnership where you run the product and they sell it, or no resale. Never let it happen on a handshake.
- Put it in writing either way. In the US, ownership of creative work generally only moves to someone else through a signed written document, so a resale deal needs its own signed terms on who owns what, who supports the end customers, and what you can still reuse.
The Short Answer
When a client wants to resell the AI build you made for them, slow down and treat it as a new deal, not a favor. First, read what your agreement says about who owns the work. Then pick a path on purpose: license them to resell it, sell them full rights at a price that reflects resale, partner with them so you run the product while they sell it, or keep resale off the table. Whichever path you pick, put it in a short signed document.
That is the Resale Fork. The mistake is not saying yes or no. The mistake is saying 'sure, go for it' in a chat message, and then finding out months later that other businesses are running your work, calling you when it breaks, and paying someone else for it. A client asking to resell is a compliment and an opening. Handle it like the [productized service](/blog/productize-your-claude-code-service) it is about to become.
First, Check Who Owns What
This is not legal advice, and the rules differ by country, so have a lawyer look at any real resale deal. But the general picture in the US shapes the conversation. Ordinarily, the person who creates a work is its author and owns the copyright. Work an outside contractor creates only counts as 'made for hire' for the client if it falls into one of nine specific categories, such as a translation or a contribution to a collective work, and both sides sign a written agreement saying so. Custom software built by an independent builder is not one of those nine categories. And a transfer of copyright ownership is not valid unless it is in writing and signed by the owner.
In plain terms, that means what you signed matters far more than who paid. There are three common situations, and [who owns the code you build for a client](/blog/who-owns-the-code-you-build-for-a-client) covers the ownership clause itself in more detail.
| What your agreement says | What it usually means for resale | Your next move |
|---|---|---|
| You assigned all rights to the client | They likely own the custom work and can resell it, except any of your own tools you kept | Check what you kept, then offer support and updates as a paid service |
| You kept ownership and gave them a license to use it | Resale is likely outside what they bought | Offer a resale license or a buyout |
| Nothing about ownership at all | Murky, and a bad place to be for both sides | Fix it now with signed terms before any copy is sold |
Where you stand depends on your agreement
Run the Resale Fork
Once you know where you stand, give the client a clear choice. Most will pick one of these four paths.
| Path | How it works | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| Resale license | They can resell copies; you get a fee per copy or a share of what they charge | You want ongoing income and they have the customers |
| Full buyout | You sell them full rights to the custom work for a one-time price that reflects resale value | You do not want to be involved and the price is right |
| Partnership | You build, host, and maintain the product; they sell it under their name and you split the revenue | The product needs real upkeep and you want to own the engine |
| No resale | They keep using it for their own business only | The build is built around your own tools you want to keep selling yourself |
The Resale Fork: four paths and what each one means
- Ask who they want to sell it to and how many. Ten businesses in their own trade is a different deal from an online store selling to anyone.
- Ask who will support the end customers. If the answer is 'you, I guess,' that is unpaid work you are about to inherit, and it belongs in the price.
- Separate the custom work from your own tools. The prompts, templates, and components you reuse across clients are your inventory. Name them, and decide whether they are part of the deal.
- Price the path, not the hours. A resale license or buyout is priced against what the client can earn from it, the same thinking as [value-based pricing](/blog/value-based-pricing-stop-charging-hourly).
- Sign it before anything ships. Use a short written addendum, not a chat message.
What to Put in Writing
A resale deal deserves its own short addendum to your [one-page agreement](/blog/one-page-agreement-before-you-build). If you are going the partnership route, [white-labeling your AI builds](/blog/how-to-white-label-your-ai-builds) covers how to deliver under someone else's name, and [retainer vs subscription](/blog/recurring-revenue-retainer-vs-subscription) helps you pick how the money comes in.
| Term | What it says | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Rights granted | Exactly what the client can do: use, resell, change, or all three | Stops 'I thought I could' arguments later |
| Your tools | Which of your own prompts, templates, and components stay yours | Keeps you free to build the same kind of thing for others |
| Fees | The license fee, revenue share, or buyout price, and when it is paid | Ties your income to the copies actually sold |
| Support | Who supports the end customers and what that costs | Keeps you from becoming free help desk for strangers |
| Data and accounts | Every copy runs on its own accounts and never carries the first client's data | Protects the first client and every buyer |
| Ending the deal | What happens to existing copies if the deal ends | Avoids stranded customers and angry calls |
Terms every resale addendum should cover
Have a lawyer look over the addendum once, then reuse it. Next time, settle resale up front: one line in your original agreement saying the build is for the client's own business use, with resale available under separate terms, heads off the whole question.
When to Say No
Say no to resale when the build is mostly your own reusable tools, when the client wants to sell it in a way that competes directly with your own offer, or when they want resale rights without paying anything extra and without taking on support. Offer the license or partnership once more, and if they will not move, keep the deal as it is: they use the build in their own business, and you keep the right to sell your tools elsewhere. If they push hard on something you cannot agree to, [turning down the request](/blog/how-to-turn-down-a-client-project) politely is better than a deal you will resent.
Most clients will not push that far. They asked because the build works, and a fair license or partnership usually beats the hassle of supporting software they did not build. Handled well, this is how one client project turns into a product that pays you every month.
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Frequently asked
Can a client resell an AI build I made for them?
It depends on your agreement. If you assigned them all rights, they likely can. If you kept ownership and gave them a license to use it, resale is likely outside what they bought. If the agreement says nothing, fix it with signed terms before any copy is sold, and have a lawyer look at it.
Does a client own the code just because they paid for it?
Not automatically. In the US, work by an outside contractor is generally owned by the person who created it unless there is a signed written transfer or it fits a narrow work-made-for-hire category, which custom software usually does not.
How should I charge a client who wants to resell my build?
Price the path, not your hours. A resale license can be a fee per copy or a share of revenue, and a buyout should reflect what the client can earn from reselling it, plus the cost of any support you will provide.
Who supports the businesses that buy a resold copy?
Whoever the written terms say. If it is you, put support in the price. If it is the client, make sure they understand they are taking it on before the first copy is sold.
Can the client resell a copy that includes their own data?
No. Every copy should run on its own accounts and keys and carry none of the first client's data. Treat that as a hard rule, not a negotiation point.
Last reviewed October 30, 2026.
Co-founder of the Claude Code Profit Room. Built and sold AI services to real clients; writes about offers, pricing, outreach, and closing with receipts.
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