Is there an app price tracker we can set to watch the prices of certain apps (and notify us when they go below a certain level)?
Say, if we're unwilling to buy a certain app at the current price, but would go if there was a discount.
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Our company (brand: ibolt.co) is a manufacturer of "hardware" accessories for Smartphones. A particular app, which is currently being sold on the Google Play store for less then $5. We wish to bundle this app (=include at no additional cost) and "give" to anyone buying our hardware accessory. The challenge is that from our understanding the Google Play store does NOT offer the option of entering a (for example) a 12 or 15 digit randomly generated code that we as hardware sellers could include in each package of product shipped to consumers. This would be "pre-paid" to the developer and Google (yes, they need their share I guess...).
The option of "sideloading" and providing a link via email is not a real option either as this would eliminate the verification/app protection process currently in place for the Developer to avoid that there's an unprotected app "out there" that would surely be posted on file sharing/black market type sites immediately.
For reference our "hardware" products will mostly be shipped from Amazon or purchased by the consumer in a Telecom store type Sprint, Verizon dealer. We would like to have a sticker/image on the box saying "Android app XX" included, value $4.99" or something similar.
QUESTION: Is there any technical option of solving this and including an Android app together with a piece of "hardware" and still protect the Developer with regards to license verification etc.? We are hoping there's a solution out there as many Corporate applications are "sideloaded", yet they must have some protection in place...
MikaelPe said:
Our company (brand: ibolt.co) is a manufacturer of "hardware" accessories for Smartphones. A particular app, which is currently being sold on the Google Play store for less then $5. We wish to bundle this app (=include at no additional cost) and "give" to anyone buying our hardware accessory. The challenge is that from our understanding the Google Play store does NOT offer the option of entering a (for example) a 12 or 15 digit randomly generated code that we as hardware sellers could include in each package of product shipped to consumers. This would be "pre-paid" to the developer and Google (yes, they need their share I guess...).
The option of "sideloading" and providing a link via email is not a real option either as this would eliminate the verification/app protection process currently in place for the Developer to avoid that there's an unprotected app "out there" that would surely be posted on file sharing/black market type sites immediately.
For reference our "hardware" products will mostly be shipped from Amazon or purchased by the consumer in a Telecom store type Sprint, Verizon dealer. We would like to have a sticker/image on the box saying "Android app XX" included, value $4.99" or something similar.
QUESTION: Is there any technical option of solving this and including an Android app together with a piece of "hardware" and still protect the Developer with regards to license verification etc.? We are hoping there's a solution out there as many Corporate applications are "sideloaded", yet they must have some protection in place...
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I don't think this is possible with the play store. The next best thing I can think of is for you to refund your customers directly (ie: make them purchase the app and then refunding them the money via a coupon code or something included with the hwardware.)
Master_T said:
I don't think this is possible with the play store. The next best thing I can think of is for you to refund your customers directly (ie: make them purchase the app and then refunding them the money via a coupon code or something included with the hwardware.)
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i ws thinking the same, but since you are selling your hardware in amazon, why not check if amazon app store has something to offer you?
What about in app purchase?
You can make the application free on the market, but then make your own arrangements with your customers
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I am a developer from India and i'm looking to start selling a new app in the coming months. But my doubt lies with this whole sales tax (or VAT or whatever) collecting problem.
The official doc containing these policies can be found here : https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/138000?hl=en
My question is : Do I need to keep aside a certain amount of our sales earnings as tax (based on the tax rate in that country)? If so how do I pay it back to the tax authorities in those countries.
One more doubt was regarding the registration of our app dev company in India. Do I really need to register my company in order to SELL apps on Play store? Will it interfere with any of the tax policies if I don't register my company here?
I would prefer to implement In-app purchases rather than actually sell the app. How will the above given tax policy affect my tax collection then?
Thanks a Lot
Gautam Padirooted said:
I am a developer from India and i'm looking to start selling a new app in the coming months. But my doubt lies with this whole sales tax (or VAT or whatever) collecting problem.
The official doc containing these policies can be found here : https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/138000?hl=en
My question is : Do I need to keep aside a certain amount of our sales earnings as tax (based on the tax rate in that country)? If so how do I pay it back to the tax authorities in those countries.
One more doubt was regarding the registration of our app dev company in India. Do I really need to register my company in order to SELL apps on Play store? Will it interfere with any of the tax policies if I don't register my company here?
I would prefer to implement In-app purchases rather than actually sell the app. How will the above given tax policy affect my tax collection then?
Thanks a Lot
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There is a company called Lotaris that would takes away the risk and administrative burden by becoming the Merchant of Record and tracking, administering and remitting the taxes to all the relevant tax authorities on your behalf. I'm not affiliated with them and I do not use their services so I cannot help you much here. But if you are interested, you can read the detail here: www.lotaris.com/android and scroll down to the "Google Play Store Tax Service" section.
---------- Post added at 06:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:00 PM ----------
But I believe there should there is a threshold for VAT and GST before you have to collect and pay the tax so perhaps if your IAP volume is still low you should not worry about it yet? Please correct me if i'm wrong. I'm also wondering what the other developer here do about those taxes.
east_62687 said:
There is a company called Lotaris that would takes away the risk and administrative burden by becoming the Merchant of Record and tracking, administering and remitting the taxes to all the relevant tax authorities on your behalf. I'm not affiliated with them and I do not use their services so I cannot help you much here. But if you are interested, you can read the detail here: www.lotaris.com/android and scroll down to the "Google Play Store Tax Service" section.
---------- Post added at 06:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:00 PM ----------
But I believe there should there is a threshold for VAT and GST before you have to collect and pay the tax so perhaps if your IAP volume is still low you should not worry about it yet? Please correct me if i'm wrong. I'm also wondering what the other developer here do about those taxes.
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Thanks a lot.
I will definitely inbox you or something when i find a solution for this.
You don't need to deduct sales tax for foreign countries unless your country has a treaty with the buyer's company. In practice, this means that any EU merchant needs to withhold sales tax for any buyer in the EU, or in the US, for certain buyers in the US (depends on state).
For me (EU based), this means everyone has 21% (EU) or 0% sales tax rate. I don't think this applies to India at all, so except for the domestic buyers, you don't charge any sales tax.
Disclaimer: call your tax department for the final answer.
Booink said:
You don't need to deduct sales tax for foreign countries unless your country has a treaty with the buyer's company. In practice, this means that any EU merchant needs to withhold sales tax for any buyer in the EU, or in the US, for certain buyers in the US (depends on state).
For me (EU based), this means everyone has 21% (EU) or 0% sales tax rate. I don't think this applies to India at all, so except for the domestic buyers, you don't charge any sales tax.
Disclaimer: call your tax department for the final answer.
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Do you have to create invoices/bills for your tax authorities? If you do, do you issue them to Google or to the individual end users?
Here we just report the revenue totals to the tax authorities, but it's up to us to prove the numbers are correct. For that, we have the detailed purchase log from wallet, it includes a separate column for tax, and per purchase, an unique id.
That's good enough for our accountant. It's not like we're a restaurant where you can under report to evade tax, Google pays out to the cent exact.
Next year the situation is going to change though, direct to consumer will be charged at the local tax rate. With a ton of countries in EU, Google decided to handle VAT themselves and issue payments with tax withheld, so all Google Play revenue will be taxed at 0% effectively.
Booink said:
Next year the situation is going to change though, direct to consumer will be charged at the local tax rate. With a ton of countries in EU, Google decided to handle VAT themselves and issue payments with tax withheld, so all Google Play revenue will be taxed at 0% effectively.
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I have just noticed tax deductions in my Play/Wallet merchant account.
My income is thus dropping about 20%. This sucks !
Wrote a post explaining in the general forum here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/dammit-google-dammit-eu-vat-policies-t3003275
What do you all think ?
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Hello,
What is a typical pricing for a paid app distributed preinstalled on Android devices?
For example, let's say I have an app for sale at $3 on the Play Store, and a distributor wants to sell 100,000 devices with my app preloaded. What would be a typical price per app?
Thanks!
I am not very sure about how much, but as far as i read in other places its not much, may be, 5 cents per install ...and in some cases i heared about 20 cents
take in consideration that preloaded installs payment is muuuch lower than selling the app...as its suppose to be very high preinstalation numbers.
Hi Guys,
Firstly as a lowly user, thanks for developing apps for us lesser mortals.
I must admit that I am a bit frustrated that I can't purchase certain apps in the UK via Samsung Gear Apps because PayPal, my debit card & Vodafone all have a minimum limit & the apps are priced below it.
The problem seems to be with the apps that are either €uro or US$ based. The minimum amount for PayPal UK is 79 pence which is more than €1 or US$1 which is where I think some developers in Europe & the USA have priced their apps. (Heart Monitor from the Netherlands is an example - cost 77p in the UK - below minimum acceptable)
Sadly I realise this will mean putting up the price a bit for people outside the UK but thinking positively it means the developers will earn more and hopefully developed more as a result.
The other option is for Samsung to buy the apps outright and offer them free to their Gear S customers? Tizen is, after all, a minnow in a large pond of ferocious fish and to gain 'full' acceptance and Samsung need to make it an attractive alternative!