I'm currently trying to integrate a service that will enable my users to purchase In-App virtual products.
However I've tried to integrate Google's In-App Billing service into my app, however it requieres a Google Checkout Merchant account, which is not supported in South Africa for some reason. So I can scrap that idea unless I have a bank account in one of the supported countries?
I'm just having a look PayPal. Is this a good option?
So my questions:
Is there anyway I could still somehow get Google In-App billing to work?
Is PayPal a good option? (I'm guessing it would limit potential customers)
Are there any other good options for IAP?
Read the developer agreement and consult a lawyer if necessary, but simply put all billing for virtual items needs to go through Google Checkout/Wallet. PayPal would be against those terms if you distribute through Google Play.
The only reliable way is open a developer and bank account in a country that supports paid apps.
Related
Is the Google Wallet online payment system on Android phones mandatory for e.g. movie, songs or game levels purchases in a similar way the Apple’s In-App-Purchase is on iOS?
According to the information here “Developers offering additional content, goods, or services for an application downloaded from Android Market must offer an authorized Payment Processor as the payment option“.
Our understanding is that if user has installed an application, which plays movies and users pay per single movie view application needs using the Google Wallet otherwise it can be removed from Google Play. Is that correct?
Similar situation is within game if user wants to pay for the additional level. Is that correct?
For subscriptions it is not required to use the Google Wallet (again the similar situation is on the iOS).
STeN
I had an app that had LogiaMobile billing integrated and was rejected from Google Play for that very reason (it was in Sept 2011). The app tried to bill users when they wanted to download videos.
Find a good explanation about the policies in this Techcrunch article
My advice would be to always integrate Google In-App billing (now v3 is far more confortable to work with).
I hope this is what you were asking for :)
'Google Wallet' is a confusing name, because it may refer to different thing. First there is the Google Wallet app that lets you pay with your phone via NFC. You certainly don't need this to buy things from the Play Store and it is supported only in the US, and only on a limited number of devices. Google Wallet also refers to Google's online payment system (aka Google Checkout). You need to register your credit card with that in order to make purchases on Android. It serves as the 'authorized Payment Processor' in most case. Other ones being carrier billing on supported carriers.
I'm struggling on the payment options to make available on my Android app (4.0+) distributed through Google Play. If I add Paypal as an option in the app, and selecting it will redirect user to the Paypal cart to be opened on a third-party browser, will it be considered a method of in-app payment?
Although this does not answer the question in it's entirety, I would like to point out a rather important point.
If you are intend to use in-app purchasing integrating PayPal, you cannot distribute your application via Google Play. If you distribute it through other channels, then it is an entirely different thing.
Check the Google Play Developer Program Policies.
And this, http://www.insidemobileapps.com/2012/07/31/google-drops-the-hammer-on-third-party-android-billing-services-apps-must-use-googles-billing-system/
Of course, as already pointed out by BenjiWiebe, from a purely technical point of view, it should not be considered as an in-app payment. The risk lies in Users flagging the application on Google Play.
So, if the rewards are worth the risk....
I've pretty much only found out that "You must have a Google Wallet Merchant account to use Google Play In-app Billing." But I don't understand... What is it for? Do I actually need this? What does it do? How and where do I get one, and does it cost anything? The Google Wallet website seems to only have information for actual stores, not apps.
What I want is there to be a free, limited version of my app, but the user could pay a monthly subscription to get access to the full features.
I found out that what they mean by "Google Wallet merchant" is just "Google Checkout". "Google Wallet" has two parts, the app and online. The app is just for NFC purchases and nothing else, you cannot use any prepaid money on the Google Wallet app to buy anything on Google Play. The other part is the payment system that Google runs. This second part was formerly called Google Checkout, but a few months ago they merged Google Checkout and the Google Wallet system into one name to keep their money systems consistent.
TL;DR - you do not need Google Wallet to use in-app billing. You need Google Checkout, which is easier to register for and free.
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 setup Google merchant account in android market for selling my apps. I am Indian and in the country dropdown India is not available. How can I create my merchant account, and can I use another account like paypal for selling apps?
Thanks.
If your country is not on the list of countries eligible for creating merchant account, you cannot publish paid apps, unfortunately. You will need to find different ways to monetize your application, which might be one of the following:
As mentioned above, get a PayPal account and ask users for donations
Sign up to ad-serving site (AdMob seem to be popular choice) and place a banner in your application.
Implement in-app purchases in your own manner, independent from the Android Market in-app purchases.
#jubin though its more than a year when you asked this question, but now india is in the list of countries where android developers can create merchant account m happy for it..:-). check it here
EDIT: It was the mistake of Google, they put India in list for small time and later they removed again, now India is not in the list..:(
Edit: This time i am happy to edit my answer...:) Good news --> Indian android developers can set up merchant account on google play developer account..:)
check this here
The way I understood i.
If it is not in the list you cannot join. I happen to be in the same situation. You can sell your apps with Paypal but not on Google's official site. On your own site or on third party sites that accept you.
There is a nice table on Wikipedia where you can see in which countries selling of apps is possible.
As mentioned before, to "sell" Apps, you could accept PayPal-donations, display Ads oder sell the App on Google-independent Markets.
From India you can not open merchant account yet. And according to the Google TOS, it is in short against rules to earn money on Android Market in a way that that money does not pass through Google (so they get a cut). But it looks like that they tolerate that.