4 ms·

> If I were in a position where Apple is forcing me to pay a 30% tax, I would literally add "30% Apple Tax" to the check out screen on top of the regular fees t

> If I were in a position where Apple is forcing me to pay a 30% tax, I would literally add "30% Apple Tax" to the check out screen on top of the regular fees to make consumers aware. Course I'm sure Apple wouldn't like this at all either. They straight up won't allow you to do this.... I've tried before, and got a call from the Apple Reviewer to say that they won't allow anything like this to be published.

LeonB 6y ago
Do you have more information about this?
- gsich 6y ago
  https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines 3.1.3b >your general communications about other purchasing methods must not discourage use of in-app purchase It's vague (probably intentionally) but having a higher price in the app is certainly discouraging compared to the "normal" way.
  - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
    I wonder if Apple did start requiring the IAP price to be the same as the price everyone else pays - would that definitely be illegal? I have a B2B app in the app-store which only has a login-screen on the app - so hopefully that won't attract Apple's attention, but if they do I was thinking about making our service-fee an Apple Pay ("real-life") purchase with lower fees where we'd mail the customer a brick with an activation code printed on... tempting...
    - LeonB 6y ago
      A normal business would not get away with that as it is an unreasonable request. If apple were to do that then it would only be because of their market power. Hence they’d be (further and more clearly) demonstrating that they are in breach of anti trust laws. So yes, my guess is it would be clearly illegal.
      - londons_explore 6y ago
        Airbnb and booking.com get away with requirements not to list the same property elsewhere for less money.
        DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
        Do you have a citation for that? Because that definitely seems unreasonable if AirBnb are taking a cut of that.
    - donatzsky 6y ago
      I'm pretty sure they used to require uniform pricing. I remember Spotify getting in trouble for having different prices in the app. But that was several years ago. B2B apps are exempt from the the IAP requirements.
      - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
        How does Apple define "B2B" though? It's an important question to SaaS products that want to pivot to B2C or launch a B2C view of a B2B product. Take Office 365 for example, originally it was B2B for the first few years then Microsoft made it available to everyone. Similarly, would you consider Adobe Creative Cloud a B2B service or B2C?
      - scarface74 6y ago
        Spotify didn’t get “into trouble” for doing this. They did that for years.
        LeonB 6y ago
        They took Apple to court. There’s a huge battle over it. It’s been quite troublesome!
    - chrismorgan 6y ago
      I think it would be illegal in Australia. Credit card networks have charges, and they used to tell businesses “you’re not allowed to pass this fee on to your customers”. I don’t know if they try to maintain this rule elsewhere, but this was confirmed to be illegal at some point in Australia (I dunno, maybe 10–15 years ago? I can’t immediately find a reference to the decision), so some businesses will say things like “1.5% surcharge for using Visa/Mastercard” (per https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/prices-surcharges-receipts/credit-debit-prepaid-card-surcharges https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/prices-surcharges-receipts..., the surcharge isn’t supposed to exceed the merchant’s actual costs; in practice I suspect it regularly does on small businesses, so that they can state a simple percentage rather than calculate more precise figures that vary by payment type). If Apple tried to tell an Australian business “you may not pass the 30% fee on to your users”, I expect that business could appeal to… I don’t actually know who it would be, maybe the ACCC?
    - vinay_ys 6y ago
      Cost of doing business and price you would want to charge and what customers are willing to pay - all these would be different for different sales channels, different geographies, different feature bundles etc. And it is perfectly logical and reasonable to charge different rates on that basis. It would be very surprising and most likely run afoul of anti-competitive laws in most countries if any particular channel/marketplace operator demanded its participants to keep price parity with all other channels in general. They could do that or even demand exclusivity for a limited period in exchange for other special considerations (like special promotions etc). But in general, quite unlikely.
  - scarface74 6y ago
    There is a difference between you can’t advertise a higher price than you can’t have a higher price. There are plenty of existence proofs that companies have been having different prices for years. I’m sure Best Buy wouldn’t want you to advertise in Best Buy that you can find the product cheaper on Amazon.
eptcyka 6y ago
I've seen some VPN apps do this. Not by explicitly telling the user that they'll be paying more, but it was rather blatant.
ameen 6y ago
Twitch does this blatantly. I think they’re able to skirt the rules because of being an Amazon company. A subscription on the web is 4.99 and the same subscription via the official twitch iOS app is 5.99.
- Abishek_Muthian 6y ago
  Any discount is enticing, but I wonder how many really go through the effort of - 1. Searching, Opening the web page in Safari. 2. Signing-in. 3. Updating personal details. 4. Updating credit card details. 5. Making the payment. Instead of clicking a button to save $1? P.S. I would.
  - luckylion 6y ago
    I believe a lot of people would, because of the psychology of "it's not just $1, it's 16%, what if I save 16% on everything, I would be rich", the feeling of "sticking it to the man (Apple)" and "I don't want to be an idiot that pays too much". Most people are not rational about money, me included.
  - raverbashing 6y ago
    To be fair I would pay more on the Apple/Google store if I knew that a) I wouldn't need to give my CC details to a random company b) cancelling would be hassle-free
    - vinay_ys 6y ago
      I had a very bad experience trying to cancel nytimes subscription. That's when I realized the usefulness of App Store being the intermediary/guardian.
  - jbverschoor 6y ago
    I would not, as it will cost be time and money down the road in case the company doesn’t have a proper way to deal with cancellations
jbverschoor 6y ago
Don’t forget to add Sales Tax Credit Card fees
scarface74 6y ago
Do you also feel that every product sold in a physical store should display the margin between wholesale and retail?

LeonB 6y ago

Do you have more information about this?

gsich 6y ago
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines 3.1.3b >your general communications about other purchasing methods must not discourage use of in-app purchase It's vague (probably intentionally) but having a higher price in the app is certainly discouraging compared to the "normal" way.
- DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
  I wonder if Apple did start requiring the IAP price to be the same as the price everyone else pays - would that definitely be illegal? I have a B2B app in the app-store which only has a login-screen on the app - so hopefully that won't attract Apple's attention, but if they do I was thinking about making our service-fee an Apple Pay ("real-life") purchase with lower fees where we'd mail the customer a brick with an activation code printed on... tempting...
  - LeonB 6y ago
    A normal business would not get away with that as it is an unreasonable request. If apple were to do that then it would only be because of their market power. Hence they’d be (further and more clearly) demonstrating that they are in breach of anti trust laws. So yes, my guess is it would be clearly illegal.
    - londons_explore 6y ago
      Airbnb and booking.com get away with requirements not to list the same property elsewhere for less money.
      - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
        Do you have a citation for that? Because that definitely seems unreasonable if AirBnb are taking a cut of that.
  - donatzsky 6y ago
    I'm pretty sure they used to require uniform pricing. I remember Spotify getting in trouble for having different prices in the app. But that was several years ago. B2B apps are exempt from the the IAP requirements.
    - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
      How does Apple define "B2B" though? It's an important question to SaaS products that want to pivot to B2C or launch a B2C view of a B2B product. Take Office 365 for example, originally it was B2B for the first few years then Microsoft made it available to everyone. Similarly, would you consider Adobe Creative Cloud a B2B service or B2C?
    - scarface74 6y ago
      Spotify didn’t get “into trouble” for doing this. They did that for years.
      - LeonB 6y ago
        They took Apple to court. There’s a huge battle over it. It’s been quite troublesome!
  - chrismorgan 6y ago
    I think it would be illegal in Australia. Credit card networks have charges, and they used to tell businesses “you’re not allowed to pass this fee on to your customers”. I don’t know if they try to maintain this rule elsewhere, but this was confirmed to be illegal at some point in Australia (I dunno, maybe 10–15 years ago? I can’t immediately find a reference to the decision), so some businesses will say things like “1.5% surcharge for using Visa/Mastercard” (per https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/prices-surcharges-receipts/credit-debit-prepaid-card-surcharges https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/prices-surcharges-receipts..., the surcharge isn’t supposed to exceed the merchant’s actual costs; in practice I suspect it regularly does on small businesses, so that they can state a simple percentage rather than calculate more precise figures that vary by payment type). If Apple tried to tell an Australian business “you may not pass the 30% fee on to your users”, I expect that business could appeal to… I don’t actually know who it would be, maybe the ACCC?
  - vinay_ys 6y ago
    Cost of doing business and price you would want to charge and what customers are willing to pay - all these would be different for different sales channels, different geographies, different feature bundles etc. And it is perfectly logical and reasonable to charge different rates on that basis. It would be very surprising and most likely run afoul of anti-competitive laws in most countries if any particular channel/marketplace operator demanded its participants to keep price parity with all other channels in general. They could do that or even demand exclusivity for a limited period in exchange for other special considerations (like special promotions etc). But in general, quite unlikely.
- scarface74 6y ago
  There is a difference between you can’t advertise a higher price than you can’t have a higher price. There are plenty of existence proofs that companies have been having different prices for years. I’m sure Best Buy wouldn’t want you to advertise in Best Buy that you can find the product cheaper on Amazon.

eptcyka 6y ago

I've seen some VPN apps do this. Not by explicitly telling the user that they'll be paying more, but it was rather blatant.

ameen 6y ago

Twitch does this blatantly. I think they’re able to skirt the rules because of being an Amazon company. A subscription on the web is 4.99 and the same subscription via the official twitch iOS app is 5.99.

Abishek_Muthian 6y ago
Any discount is enticing, but I wonder how many really go through the effort of - 1. Searching, Opening the web page in Safari. 2. Signing-in. 3. Updating personal details. 4. Updating credit card details. 5. Making the payment. Instead of clicking a button to save $1? P.S. I would.
- luckylion 6y ago
  I believe a lot of people would, because of the psychology of "it's not just $1, it's 16%, what if I save 16% on everything, I would be rich", the feeling of "sticking it to the man (Apple)" and "I don't want to be an idiot that pays too much". Most people are not rational about money, me included.
- raverbashing 6y ago
  To be fair I would pay more on the Apple/Google store if I knew that a) I wouldn't need to give my CC details to a random company b) cancelling would be hassle-free
  - vinay_ys 6y ago
    I had a very bad experience trying to cancel nytimes subscription. That's when I realized the usefulness of App Store being the intermediary/guardian.
- jbverschoor 6y ago
  I would not, as it will cost be time and money down the road in case the company doesn’t have a proper way to deal with cancellations

jbverschoor 6y ago

Don’t forget to add Sales Tax Credit Card fees

scarface74 6y ago

Do you also feel that every product sold in a physical store should display the margin between wholesale and retail?