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iPhone App Refund Policies Could Cost Devs
CBRcrash writes "Apparently, if iPhone users decide that they want a refund for an app (users can get a refund within 90 days, according to Apple policy), Apple requires that developers give back the money they received from the sale. But, here's the kicker: Apple will refund the full amount to the user and says that it has the right to keep its commission. So, the developer not only has to return the money for the sale, but also has to reimburse Apple for its commission."
Apple has a tradition of screwing their partners.
The decided to stop doing business in the early 9o's with the small retailer to work with the super stores.
The allowed Mac clones and then would not renew the licenses for upgraded models.
They told all of the developers that they were responsible to rewrite every thing in OSX and Apple was not going to help provide transition information.
The latest is just one in a long line of Apple examples of arrogance toward their resellers/developers.
Yeah- those sons of bitches have changed everything in the last 12 months...
In the first 24 hours of the Appstore I didn't have to worry about reviews or competing products or anything! Too bad those days are gone.
Now people write apps hoping other people will download them and like them- thats a horrible reason to develop for the iPhone. I'd much rather write an open source perl 'program' that does something dumb and mundane that no one will ever want or care about, and keep it on sourceforge.
That way everyone will know I'm keeping it real- thats what matters to me.
Because actual resources were consumed by Apple on the behalf of the developer when an app was purchased - banking costs, accounting costs, bandwidth, storage et al. They don't magically get zeroed out when a refund is processed, they have already been consumed.
Why should Apple eat that cost? Its the developers app that caused the refund to happen...
Its all academic anyhow, since this entire story has been proven false - Apple do not get teh developer to pay the full 100% refund, so yes Apple are indeed eating the cost of the consumables.
From the article:
Apple charges a 30% commission on all paid apps sold through the App Store. So basically, developers get 70% of a given sale but if the end-user wants a refund, the developer has to pay Apple 100% of the sale.
We are assuming that Apple still has to pay bank fees on a charge if a consumer wants a refund, but certainly bank charges don't amount to 30 percent.
The point is that the charges are unfair.
Ah, if the developers think those charges are "unfair", perhaps they should take a really hard look at what musicians end up at the end of that greed-riddled food chain. 70% sounds like a damn good percentage to me.
Also developers shouldn't be bitching about an enabling portal like Apple to expose their app to a Global market almost instantly, especially when they take a hard look at their Marketing "expenses" and "effort" involved as they click "Upload" in their underwear while sitting at home...
| Nowhere else in retail does the original maker get 70% of the price to himself. People count
| themselves lucky to receive 10-20%
What about consignment stores, which is a fair analogy. They don't get a 30% commission
do they?
And I don't think that giving software developers an incentive for vengeance is a particularly
comforting plan from the customer's point of view.
Every once in a while Apple seems to do something that makes me imagine a picture of a roasted
pig with an apple in its mouth, and makes me think how glad I am not to be trapped by them.
It's only once in a while, but nobody likes to feel stupid and victimized. Not that feeling
vandalized by Wintel-specific spyware/viruses is any fun either.
Clearly I'm talking myself into going Linux!
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