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."

Comments

Bad, but not as bad as Visa

[Teppy]

I run an online game and "chargebacks" are really annoying. How it works is that if someone calls their credit card company and says "I don't recognize this charge", Visa immediately removes the charge and debits our account the $13.95 monthly fee, plus a $25 "chargeback fee". We then have the opportunity to provide documentation that they really did sign up for the game.

If Visa then determines that the charge was legitimate, we get the $13.95 back (but not the $25.) If they determine that the charge was not legitimate, then we get neither back, and are charged an additional $25.

The worst that's happened is that someone used a bunch of stolen credit cards to create dozens of accounts over several months, always being careful to use open proxy servers. So we ended up with $1800 in chargebacks, and no way to stop them!

What we ended up doing was explaining the situation to everyone in the community, and when this guy contacted any of his in-game friends ("hey it's me, just had to create this new character") they would tell us and we would shut the account down right away and reverse any charges, but what a PITA!

Eventually this guy moved on, but we never did find him. Some social engineering indicated that he was from playing from internet cafes in Romania, but that's as far as we got.

Re:Not to be an apologist...

[Jahf]

Part of the problem IS Apple though. They take a TON of time releasing fixes and updates for some apps. I've got an app, which was one of the reasons that convinced me to buy an iPhone, that took 3 months for Apple to release the update. But it had been in queue after being submitted by the developer for over 3 -months-.

Sorry but no, Apple has a cash cow with the store ... and many other companies are releasing competing stores ... Apple should refund the cost to the customer, too. Or have a "restocking fee" that they won't refund and pocket that. Especially since the entity that determines whether the refund will happen is Apple. The entity that determines the validity of a refund needs to have some skin in the decision.

It won't happen today or even next year ... but Apple is shooting the iPhone in the proverbial foot. Android is continually improving their dev environment and has much better store policies. Blackberry is releasing their store soon and while I doubt their policies are better on the store, their messaging capability still can't be beat. Apple needs to find ways to -strengthen- their position with developers, not piss them off.