Question if this is allowed for in-app purchases

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Hello,

I read the pages on here about in-app purchases and just wanted to check on this. I have written an app for creating your own label to print. You get to create and design your own custom label with graphics and other items in the app. When you are done you click to print it. What the app does is send the image of the label to a server. You log into the website and select the label (in case you have more than one) and it generates a PDF to print on the sheet of labels.

I am wanting to make an in-app purchase when you click the print button in the app. So it does not sent the label image to the server unless you pay for it. Is this allowed? I was wondering because the app is not actually giving you any content you purchased. It is just sending it to the server.

I did not want to charge at the website because I was only going to charge $1.99 for each label designed and most merchant accounts charge a good bit. The only other way I can do this is to let the user print with credits and charge them a minimum amount of credits like $5 worth. Anyone have an opinion on which way I should go with this?

Thanks,

Warren

#2

Actually I just looked at stripe.com merchant account and it is 2.9% plus 30 cents which is not bad. That would be only 36 cents for a $1.99 purchase. Their minimum purchase amount is 50 cents.

Warren

#3

I’m not sure In App Purchases are going to help you here.  It’s for real world goods which your labels would seem to be.  You probably could make IAP work if your printing site didn’t charge, but both Apple and Google will take 30% of the take which would be $0.60 on your $1.99 purchase.

#4

So if I set it to charge in the app instead of the website you think it would get rejected? I think I would make more money charging through the app if it allows me because it is more of a spontaneous purchase. If they click print in the app and then go the website and have to purchase there I will probably lose some sales. I will have their email address after they submit it to the server so I can send out an email reminding them to visit the website to print their labels which is where it will charge them but I know the app would be better. Maybe I’ll just do it with the server side charging. It is a very unique app with nothing out there like it so if they want to print them they will pay.

Thanks,

Warren

#5

Hard to say.  I don’t see why Apple would reject them making money.  They would more likely reject using a 3rd party, but since it’s a real-world object you’re selling, you could convince them to pass the app if they rejected it.

Rob

#6

Maybe I will change my strategy on this. I was going to charge $1.99 for each label they can print but maybe I’ll do it where I unlock the printing feature for a little more. This way you are not paying for the printed labels but instead unlocking the print capability. I hate raising the price though cause when you get over a certain amount then people won’t pay it. If it didn’t use my server I wouldn’t care and let them print all they want at $1.99. But the label image is uploaded to my server where it is saved (small file though). Then when they go to print I create a PDF on the server for the label sheet and save it. They get deleted after 24 hours cause they should be done printing by then. Maybe I will have the label expire in 14 days so I can delete them. Thinking out loud… 

#7

Actually I just looked at stripe.com merchant account and it is 2.9% plus 30 cents which is not bad. That would be only 36 cents for a $1.99 purchase. Their minimum purchase amount is 50 cents.

Warren

#8

I’m not sure In App Purchases are going to help you here.  It’s for real world goods which your labels would seem to be.  You probably could make IAP work if your printing site didn’t charge, but both Apple and Google will take 30% of the take which would be $0.60 on your $1.99 purchase.

#9

So if I set it to charge in the app instead of the website you think it would get rejected? I think I would make more money charging through the app if it allows me because it is more of a spontaneous purchase. If they click print in the app and then go the website and have to purchase there I will probably lose some sales. I will have their email address after they submit it to the server so I can send out an email reminding them to visit the website to print their labels which is where it will charge them but I know the app would be better. Maybe I’ll just do it with the server side charging. It is a very unique app with nothing out there like it so if they want to print them they will pay.

Thanks,

Warren

#10

Hard to say.  I don’t see why Apple would reject them making money.  They would more likely reject using a 3rd party, but since it’s a real-world object you’re selling, you could convince them to pass the app if they rejected it.

Rob

#11

Maybe I will change my strategy on this. I was going to charge $1.99 for each label they can print but maybe I’ll do it where I unlock the printing feature for a little more. This way you are not paying for the printed labels but instead unlocking the print capability. I hate raising the price though cause when you get over a certain amount then people won’t pay it. If it didn’t use my server I wouldn’t care and let them print all they want at $1.99. But the label image is uploaded to my server where it is saved (small file though). Then when they go to print I create a PDF on the server for the label sheet and save it. They get deleted after 24 hours cause they should be done printing by then. Maybe I will have the label expire in 14 days so I can delete them. Thinking out loud…