This question has already been asked a lot of times but no complete/detailed answer has been provided so far.
I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question. I need to configure the Google Developer Console (and Google Wallet as well) in order to sell apps in Play Store. As you probably know Google has a list and not all countries are easily allowed to sell applications. However, there is one workaround using Payoneer and Google Wallet in order to get money from the apps sold. Basically you need to obtain an account in Payoneer and apply for "US Payment Services", doing this you will get a banck account in the US, after that you will need to create a Google Wallet Merchant Account and here is the problem:If your country is not listed in Google as an allowed location you will need to change the configuration in Google Wallet to an US address (you can get one in usbox.com for instance) and after that you will be able to create the Merchant account. The problem is that sells in Play Stores fail even if these steps were completed. I think that the problem is that I cannot verify my identity because I don't have an SSN or ITIN number.
Does anyone have more experience about this or know the required steps and configuration for Non-US Residents?
There is no general answer because if you are not a US resident, it still depends on your country. Depending on your country, you may get paid through wire transfer:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/2700656?hl=en
This applies to many but not all non US residents.
The general process is described here:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/173779?hl=en
Related
OK so in order to make a Google play account to distribute, I have to like make this Google wallet thing.. I want to know if it's allowed to do this if you are under 18. Also, for things like AdMob do you have to be over 18? Thanks!
you cant sign up for a adsense account(AdMob ) if you are under 18
read this
Taken directly from admob's site
If you are not yet 18, you may have a parent or guardian submit an application using their own Google Account. If their application is approved, all payments will be issued in this person’s name.
Google Wallet's ToS
By agreeing to these Terms of Service, you represent the following:
You are between 13 and 17 years of age and creating a Google Wallet account for the sole and limited purpose of redeeming Google Play Gift Card value for select items that are eligible for purchase by you on Google Play, subject to applicable laws and upon Google's discretion;
or
You are 18 years old or older; and
Capable of entering into a legally binding agreement.
So for admob you can use a parent's or guardian's assistance (so they will earn the money on their account), while on Google Wallet it seems that you can't earn money under 18, you can probably get a parent/guardian's assistance as well.
Keep in mind you don't need Google Wallet for free apps, I've uploaded many free android games but I'm not allowed to own Google Wallet where I live. You only need it for paid apps (or in-app purchase), you don't even need it for ads (like admob).
I have also wondered about this, but the simple answer seems like no unless you were to have your parents to do some parts for you.
This was taken from the Terms of Service just for a Google Play account:
"Age
Only users 13 years of age or older are permitted to use Google Play, and users under 18 must have their parent or legal guardian's permission to use Google Play."
"
More information can be found from the Google Play Terms of Service
That is only to use Google Play. On the other hand to become a developer, in order to distribute your application (Most likely a android app), you would have to pay a initial 25 dollar fee, and go on with additional steps, as shown here
In order to pay the initial fee, you would have to prove a valid credit card information which requires you to be the age of 18.
On the other hand, for AdMob you would have to read their own license and term of services just like you would for any third party application or service.
If you liked my answer, please mark this as the approved answer.
I will try to improve this answer as I gather more information.
I have a problem which is quite similar to this post:
Google Play Private Channel "Restrict Distribution" option missing. Both the question and the answers in that post did not help me out.
The option to restrict the distribution is also missing for me. I've made myself a checklist of the things I did and I can not figure it out why it is still not showing up. I made sure that the following things were done:
The company has a Google Apps for Business with a verified domain.
The Google Play Developer Console service is turned on and available for everyone.
"Allow users to update Google Play Private Channel" and "Allow users to access Google Play Private Channel" are both checked.
The developer account (Which is an #gmail.com account) has been invited as a user to the Google Apps domain of the company.
Just to be sure I also added someone from the domain as a user to the developer account.
The developer account has all the rights he needs on the Google Apps and the user in the developer account has all the rights he needs.
Waited for more than 24 hours, as things could take up that amount of time to get taken care off.
It doesn't matter if I upload an APK to the Google Developer Console with the developer account or with the user from the domain. The option to restrict the distribution is not visible on either of them.
If some one could help me out with this problem, then I would really appreciate it. Just mention it if I need to clarify some stuff a bit better. I'll edit my post then.
Got my answer after contacting the Google Play Developer Support (Got their response faster than I expected). It seems that the primary e-mail of the developer account must be in the same domain as the Google Apps.
A quote from the response that I got from the Google Play Developer Support:
In order for the option to be available to restrict distribution to your domain, the primary email of the developer account must be part of that domain.
So adding a domain user as a user to the developer account will not work.
You might ask yourself the question "But how do I change my primary e-mail?". The answer to that question is that you can't. You need to make a new developer account, transfer your apps from the old one to the new one and after that (Although it is optional) request a cancellation and refund of the old account. More information about this can be found here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/139626?hl=en
Is it officially allowed (or tolerated at least) by Google to do it?
I've got some users suggesting to me that it could be a good idea to add a one click 'donation button' opening up their default Android bitcoin wallet app with my bitcoin adress pre-filled.
But hey, I don't want to see my apps suspended just because of this!
Did you see some apps or widgets doing this yet on Google Play?
The same question could be asked about Paypal donations I guess...
Thank you to share your opinion.
I don't know what Google's official policy is for certain, but a donation should be no problem. In theory.
http://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html only mentions that any purchase of in-app benefits must be handled via Google's in-app billing system.
https://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreement.html#pricing-payments says essentially the same in legalese.
So as long as donors do not buy/gain anything, not even a thank-you or honourable mention, and that is made clear in your app, you're in theory safe. Disabling ads for donors is for example easily a violation of those terms.
The rules are however Google's to interpret and enforce. And sentences like
The Payment Processor must process all fees a Developer receives for any version of a Product distributed via the Store.
in 2nd link can easily be applied to donations if the app-review person sees fit, even just because he/she misinterpreted the donation button or
If Google decides that your donations are actually fees, they can & will suspend your app (probably without prior warning & time to fix the problem). There are cases of this you can find on the internet.
There is an appeals form you can find here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/2477981 but the answer in practice seems to be "No. Don't ask again.".
Also be aware that Google counts violations and can ban you as a person (not just your current account) from publishing apps on the Play store.
The answer to the question is: NO.
You can't accept bitcoin tips or donations in your Android app, even it is free.
The same is applied for any kind of payment processor, including Paypal.
This because it violates our payments policy.
Policy Issue: Payments
Alternative payment mechanisms to Google Play's in-app billing service
are only permitted if the products purchased are to be used outside of
the app. For example:
For physical goods or services, such as movie tickets, or a publication where the price also includes a hard copy subscription;
or
For digital goods that may be downloaded to devices and used outside of the app, such as songs that can be played on other music
players.
Donations to 527 designated tax exempt organizations are also permitted.
Google don't have clear statement about this but i near future it's possible to allow it
Source
Yes you can. There are already plenty of apps that do this. On another note, for bitcoin donations, use the coinbase api. Its probably the easier in my opinion.
We have an app that exists in the Google Play store that was created by a developer who is no longer at our company. We own the app and want to remove it, but we don't know what Google account the developer used to publish the app to the store.
Is there any way we can find out what account the app is associated with? If we try to log in under Google accounts we think it might be, Google wants to charge us $25 per guess.
If we can't find the account, is there a way to have Google remove the app for us if we can provide sufficient evidence that it's ours?
If the developer is unavailable or uncooperative, and you can prove that this app includes your intellectual property, you can file a DMCA request with Google, asking them to remove it from the GP store. Read the warnings on the page carefully:
http://support.google.com/bin/request.py?&product=androidmarket&contact_type=lr_dmca
You can't pull down the application from Google Play if you don't have the access to the account which is used to upload that application. If you are lucky and the developer who uploaded the app typed his mail as contact developer mail in application in Google Play, maybe in this way trying to send a mail you can find the account which is used to upload the app, but you can't trust that, because most of the developers and companies have different mails for communicating with the customers and it depends on that.
But if you contact to Google and explain them everything and as I told above if you are lucky you can convince them to delete the app from Google Play. Or the best situation in my opinion is to contact the developer who upload the application and ask him to remove it.
Good luck!
Pretty rough situation. I'm not going to advice you to use a corporate google account in the future, but I think the easiest way is to speak with the developer in person. Then explain to him that there are several clauses in his former contract with you, which concern the intellectual property obligations, signed by him.
If you don't have any, or if he was hired on a freelancer contract, with no mentioning of the above, then you'll have the real deal in the court when he sues you for "his" intellectual property (being th application), uploaded by him on the Play Store.
Of course, this is the worse case scenario, but you should consider it.
If you have nothing left, you can contact Google, as Android-Developer above me suggested, but you risk a denial.
It is a really complicated case and I would like to see the result of it, when you settle the things out.
Is there any way of getting to know who has bought your app on the Android Market? I currently haven't got an account on the market, my app is still in development so i'm asking you guys.
I'd like to know and make a list of the people who purchased, or downloaded for free, my apps. Not their email addresses or anything, just some unique usernames, maybe from the Android Market itself. Is that possible?
If not, is there any way to get this information AFTER the app has been bought? The in-app billing system i'm guessing is anonymous as well, as it's still part of the Google/Android Market billing system. But if i were to use PayPal to make "my own in-app billing" would that work? I'm guessing i can see any PayPal transactions from where/who it originated, no?
If someone can offer me a suggestion on how i could get this information, with the user's willing participation of course, i'd be grateful.
To track users, people generally use some kind of Analytics app:
Google Analytics for Android and Flurry are popular, to name a couple.
I know of no other way to track general downloads, other than the Android developer dashboard/console
To answer your first question:
Google Android purchases (market and in-app) show up in the Merchant section of Google Checkout.
EDIT: Also, once a purchase is made, it is not anonymous and you as a merchant have freedom to contact the customer directly.
EDIT #2: To address your second comment:
From https://checkout.google.com/sell/orders a merchant can see the following information for each order:
Google Checkout Order Number
Total $ (or other currency) Amount
If they've yet been charged/pending/or other Credit Card/Other processing problems and current status.
Order Details (Include user name - which is Full Name - and App Name)
Additionally, within each order you get:
Customer's full name
Billing Address
Full email, not masked
Sold on, Charged on, Confirmed on Dates/Times
App name ID
So, Quite a bit information.