I am integrating in-app purchase into my application but I have a few questions that I have not been able to find answer to.
Can anyone tell me what are the fees that google applies per transaction for selling digital content thru in app purchase using google payment flow?
30% charge as a standard :) Google Fee's Specifically:
In-app billing is available to developers in supported locations for merchants. In-app billing may only be applied to digital goods sold inside applications distributed through Google Play. The Google Play program policies apply to in-app transactions. The standard 30% transaction fee applies to in-app transactions on Google Play.
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Google Play IAB charges 30% transaction fee while Google Pay is free for both business owners and customers. If we can use a WebView to show a Google Pay flow instead of using Google Play's billing, it will be enormous amount of revenue boost. We may still need Google Play to manage the subscriptions, but for one time purchases, it seems certainly replaceable.
It depends on what you are selling.
The following answer provides a very good overview: Google Play/App Store in-app purchase policies
In-app purchases:
Developers offering virtual goods or currencies
within a game downloaded from Google Play must use Google Play's
in-app billing service as the method of payment.
Developers offering additional content, services or functionality within another category of app downloaded from Google Play must use Google Play's in-app billing service as the method of payment, except:
where payment is primarily for physical goods or services (e.g., buying movie tickets, or buying a publication where the price also includes a hard copy subscription); or
where payment is for digital content or goods that may be consumed outside of the app itself (e.g., buying songs that can be played on other music players).
I heard from someone that on App Store, everything you sell or anything the user buys, Apple must have their 30% on it. That would imply that even if you open a web page within the app and accept a donation, Apple must have its percentage. Otherwise you would have to redirect the user to make this donation outside of the app - for instance, calling the browser.
So, if it's true, I wanted to know if Google holds the same policies. I couldn't find this specific answer in the documentation, just info about in-app purchase (but I'm considering that scenario a purchase within the app, but not IN the app itself (sorry if it sounds confusing).
Taking Groupon as example. If you buy a coupon, is it an "in-app purchase"? I don't believe Google would take 30% on everything you buy there, so I just wanted to make sure it is according to their rules.
The app I'm working on will have both donation and coupon purchase from sponsors (Walgreens, etc). Is it ok if I do this through a WebView, or would I have to actually call the browser?
Sorry if my concept of "in-app purchase" is blurred.
Any information on this topic is much appreciated.
EDIT:
From my understanding, In-App Purchase (for both Google and Apple) is like an API that you use to process these payments.
What I find confusing is that, for instance, in the Apple's In-App Purchase Guidelines:
So, does it mean I cannot use Apple's In-App Purchase to sell my book (but could open my e-commerce site in the app and sell it), or I cannot sell my book at all inside my app?
I know it may sound like a dumb question, but it doesn't seem so clear to me.
The standard 30% transaction fee applies to in-app transactions on Google Play and goes to the distribution partner and operating fees.
According to the Google Play Developer Program Policies:
In-app purchases:
Developers offering virtual goods or currencies
within a game downloaded from Google Play must use Google Play's
in-app billing service as the method of payment.
Developers offering additional content, services or functionality within another category of app downloaded from Google Play must use Google Play's in-app billing service as the method of payment, except: >
where payment is primarily for physical goods or services (e.g., buying movie tickets, or buying a publication where the price also includes a hard copy subscription); or
where payment is for digital content or goods that may be consumed outside of the app itself (e.g., buying songs that can be played on other music players).
Reference: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/112622
With In-App Purchase on iOS and OS X, you can offer your customers additional digital content, functionality, services and even subscriptions within your paid or free app.
For example, In-App Purchase will allow you to sell:
Digital books or photos
Additional game levels
Access to a turn-by-turn map service
Subscriptions to digital magazines or newsletters
Digital content hosted on Apple servers
There are four supported categories of In-App Purchase items that you
may sell: 1) Content, 2) Functionality, 3) Services, and 4)
Subscriptions. You must deliver your digital good or service within
your app. You may not use In-App Purchase to sell real-world goods and
services.
Reference: https://developer.apple.com/in-app-purchase/In-App-Purchase-Guidelines.pdf
I would have commented on another answer that is missing a bit of information, but as I lack the required reputation, I'll post this as a new answer.
It's 100% possible and allowed to sell physical goods or services in an app released on both iOS (via Apple Store) and Android (via Google Store), but the main difference between selling physical good or services and digital goods comes in the payment system to use. Both platform actually have 2 payments systems with, each, their own restriction and legal implementations.
In the case of Google Store (a.k.a. Google Play), it's as this:
Any digital purchases that adds anything into the app itself must be done through Google Play In-app Billing system. To put it simple, this is the typical in-app purchase you see in any game that charge onto the Credit Card registered by the user on the Google Play account.
Any Services and Physical Goods that are not set toward in-app usage have to use either your own version of a selling system (which has to be separated from Google Play In-App Billing system) or, if you want an more secure way, by using the Google Pay API.
The Google Pay API is really similar to the Google Play In-app Billing system as it allow any user to also use the credit card registered to their Google account (note that it's not Google Play, but a general Google Account), but the main difference is that the Google Pay API can also be used outside of an App (like on a website).
An example of stuff you must use the Google Pay API and NOT the Google Play In-App Billing system is to purchase physical goods (which requires a shipping address to be registered with the sell of goods) or services (like paying a rent of a room at an Hotel or the purchase of plane ticket, digital or not).
Here's the link toward the Google Pay API official website: https://developers.google.com/pay/api
For iOS and its Apple Store, the same equivalent exists, but the problem comes from the fact that both methods uses the same base system called Apple Pay.
For sells of goods and services, you need to address to the site "for merchants":
https://support.apple.com/HT204274
https://developer.apple.com/apple-pay/
For digital goods that are accessible directly through the app itself, you got to use the In-App Purchase system which is described here:
https://developer.apple.com/in-app-purchase/
There's one important thing you got to remember: Both stores might have some resistance to the idea of publishing an App as an App and as a Game. Both payment systems have their own rules and guidelines and, as such, if you are to put both a in-app purchase and an option to sell goods and/or services, both has to be visually separated and must NOT be mixed from one to another. For example, they might refuse to publish a game that has only physical goods to sell or an App in their Store app that is more of a game with in-app purchases and barely any instance of real-good purchases.
The cost of using either Google Play In-App purchase or Apple Pay In-App purchase is 30% of the sales.
On the other hands, Apple Pay for merchants (physical goods & services) have no additional cost from the credit cards issuers' fee which is usually around 3% to 6% based on the payment methods. For example, if the user is using Paypal to pay on Apple Pay, it's 2.9% + $0.30 USD per transaction. Direct Mastercards and Visa users might pay up to 6%. This is done and managed directly by Apple Pay.
Google Pay (for merchant) is also free and come with a fixed percentage rate of 2.9% per sales with credits cards and, in some countries, offers free transaction for direct-bank-transfers and debit cards.
In both cases, there's a limit per transaction. Google Pay has transaction limits, but their depends on the shops and user (shopper) data. I have seen the number $10,000 often as a limit per transaction.
Apple, technically, has limits or security based on the country where the purchase is placed. (All numbers are here: https://support.apple.com/HT207435 )
My application is used to buy journey tickets. The ticket price is different everytime. Can I use In-App Billing to make the user pay a custom price everytime? If so how? i.e. can I set the price which the user has to pay programmatically?
You cannot programmaticaly change the price of a product using Google Play In-App Billing .You could fix the price in the Android developer Console .If you still want to custom price at the runtime you could use PAYPAL for that :
https://www.x.com/developers/paypal/products/mobile-overview
You cannot use Google Play In-App Billing to make the user pay a custom price.
Moreover you cannot use Google Play In-App Billing to sell physical goods and services like journey tickets:
You can use In-app Billing to sell only digital content. You cannot use In-app Billing to sell physical goods, personal services, or anything that requires physical delivery. Unlike with priced applications, once the user has purchased an in-app product there is no refund window.
http://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/billing_overview.html
Your use case perfectly fits the Google Wallet Instant Buy API for Android. Google Wallet Instant Buy API for Android is specifically for physical goods and services and has a simple integration into your Android App. It was launched during Google I/O 2013 and you can get an overview at the following blog post:
http://googlecommerce.blogspot.com/2013/05/fast-and-easy-checkout-for-android-apps.html
Also, please checkout the Google I/O Talk on the same topic
https://developers.google.com/events/io/sessions/330844794
Since this is still in beta, if you're interested please sign up using the interest form
http://getinstantbuy.withgoogle.com/
I want to use Google Play's in-app billing for one of my applications. But it seems I can't use it.
First problem is that according to supported locations for merchants my country - Turkey - is not in the list.
And as a second problem, my app is listed on some other markets except Google Play. Google Play in-app billing overview section In-app Billing Requirements and Limitations says that In-app billing can be implemented only in applications that you publish through Google Play. Therefore even if Turkey will be in merchant list in the future, I could not use Google Play's in-app billing for other markets. Is that right?
Then I thought using other APIs like ZooZ, Authorize.net (Actually, I did not examine them deeply, but I guess they do what I want)
But this time I read in Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement that All fees received by Developers for Products distributed via the Market must be processed by the Market's Payment Processor. Is that a problem for using such APIs? If so, what should I do for in-app purchase?
If your country is not supported, you can't really use In-App billing for your app. You could look at alternate stores, for example, Amazon app store. they have recently implemented In-App billing.
https://developer.amazon.com/welcome.html
The simple answer for Google Play would be "No" for now, till Google supports Turkey.
Get a bank account in a country that does support merchant accounts.
I want to use an alternative way for in-app purchases in my Android application such as Fortumo or PayPal libraries. Don't they violate Android Developers Terms of Services? Or will it cause the suspending of my developer account?
Can I also sell electronic currencies in my application using Android native In-App-Purchase?
In-app purchases: Developers offering virtual goods or currencies
within a game downloaded from Google Play must use Google Play's
in-app billing service as the method of payment. Developers offering
additional content, services or functionality within another category
of app downloaded from Google Play must use Google Play's in-app
billing service as the method of payment, except:
where payment is primarily for physical goods or services (e.g., buying movie tickets,
or buying a publication where the price also includes a hard copy
subscription);
or where payment is for digital content or goods that
may be consumed outside of the app itself (e.g., buying songs that can
be played on other music players).
Developers must not mislead users about the apps they are selling nor
about any in-app services, goods, content or functionality they are
selling. If your product description on Google Play refers to in-app
features to which a specific or additional charge applies, your
description must clearly notify users that payment is required to
access those features.
Source: https://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy.html
Consult a lawyer, not SO. IANL, but the Market agreement states that
All fees received by Developers for Products distributed via the
Market must be processed by the Market's Payment Processor.
AFAIK, the only authorized payment processor is Google Checkout/Wallet, so you decide whether using PayPal violates the agreement.
Direct in-app payment would violate Google's terms. However there are a large number of developers (e.g., KKBox) which do not want to pay Google 30% split. What they do is essential setting up a login page with passcode. On the other hand, they sell those passcode as pay-as-you-go or subscription. I believe this does not violate the terms of Google.