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This is nonsense. Apple executives have repeatedly claimed that the 30% fee was a good deal compared to retail boxed software which they say was the norm in 200
by agsnu 3y ago
This is nonsense. Apple executives have repeatedly claimed that the 30% fee was a good deal compared to retail boxed software which they say was the norm in 2005 or so, but really there were large numbers of small independent software vendors making good money through specialised e-commerce vendors like DigitalRiver or the original Kagi with fees in the 8-15% range iirc, or just selling direct with payment processors like PayPal for ~5%. Bandwidth was not a big cost back then and still isn’t today unless you’re doing something like 4K video streaming.
- ben_w 3y ago> Kagi with fees in the 8-15% range iirc, or just selling direct with payment processors like PayPal for ~5%. Bandwidth was not a big cost back then and still isn’t today unless you’re doing something like 4K video streaming. That's untrue, from my experience using Kagi (payment processor and marketplace/in-app SDK) to sell shareware in c. 2010. Kagi had fixed fees in addition to a percentage, so anything sold for $5 had close to 30% just from Kagi, and my bandwidth also independently ended up close to 30% of my post-marketplace fees.
- agsnu 3y agoHmm, perhaps my memory is from more like the $15-20 price point. Lower sale price would result in greater percentage being eaten by fees for sure. I remember using eSellerate c. 2005 and it was much less than 30%.