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Benefits of Selling Outside the Mac App Store

dancounsell.com

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Re: Benefits of Selling Outside the Mac App Store

#31

Post by SyneRyder »

milen wrote: post #20
TillE wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxes are a huge deal for solo developers and tiny companies. Selling direct can be extremely complicated, especially if you want to properly follow every possible sales tax law which applies to you. Putting your software on the App Store or Steam or similar (notably not Google Play[1]) means you're just getting paid royalties, not selling a product to individual customers. [1] https://play.google.com/intl/ALL_us/abo…

Indeed you are correct and that's why it's generally simpler to use a service that acts as a reseller - i.e., they are the vendor of record. This means you shift all of the responsibility to them and you don't have to deal with it. Using the likes of PayPal / Stripe is not a good idea because you will be responsible for VAT compliance and with the newly introduced EU legislation, it can be a huge hassle - you need to…

Another +1 for FastSpring, they've been fantastic to me. But there are other companies who do this too: Kagi & Avangate spring to mind, and Digital River bought & consolidated several companies that used to do this.

Re: Benefits of Selling Outside the Mac App Store

#32

Post by nicky0 »

rbritton wrote: post #29
jhack wrote: post #25

For developers who sell the same app on both the Mac App Store and outside of it, do you keep the same price for both or do you encourage users to buy directly from you with variable pricing? Thirty percent is a significant chunk and I'm wondering if anyone's tried to pass some of the savings (so to speak) when selling directly.

I'm not familiar with the rule number offhand, but I'm reasonably certain they require you to have the same list price in both places.

Actually there is no such rule.

Re: Benefits of Selling Outside the Mac App Store

#33

Post by nicky0 »

pavlov wrote: post #10
milen wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of sandboxing, Reeder 2 for Mac (one of the best RSS readers) was forced to remove the option to be set as the default RSS reader from within the app. This is because a function on Yosemite is longer allowed in sandboxed apps but still works fine on 10.9 [1] While it's not the end of the world, it's just plain annoying having to remove such a common sense feature. The consequence of this means that if you we…

I would add that something as complex as a web browser would be impossible on the Mac App Store anyway -- a sandboxed browser wouldn't even be able to open file:// URLs. Berners-Lee's original web browser was developed on the NeXT (direct ancestor of OS X)... But if he wanted to take that 1991 browser and distribute it on the Mac App Store today, he would have to remove important functionality.

Impossible on the Mac App Store, but perfectly possible on the Mac. Which is the appropriate comparison. Tim's web browser wasn't released on the NeXT App Store, after all.

Re: Benefits of Selling Outside the Mac App Store

#34

Post by gulpahum »

As a Mac user, I only download applications from the wild-wild-web if the developer is a big player, like Google, Mozilla or Adobe (except I refuse to install Flash).

I think it is just too big risk to download from a small business which I don't know and run their application outside the sandbox.

So, I'd recommend that you have some version in MAS, otherwise you may lose customers.

Re: Benefits of Selling Outside the Mac App Store

#35

Post by MichaelCrawford »

I wouldn't dream of selling a Mac App in the App Store. The only reason I would sell an iOS App in the App Store is that users would otherwise need to jailbreak their phones.

If someone recommends an app store product, they'll link to apple's website.

If I sell products from my own site, and someone recommends it then they'll link to my site.

In general, inbound links are worth a lot more than individual product sales.

Re: Benefits of Selling Outside the Mac App Store

#36

Post by eveningcoffee »

Not only are software developers starting to realize that middleman Apple only grabs huge chunk of revenue without providing much value.

I talked with local audio gear seller and he told me that we will start to see less audio products compatible with Apple as they just want to grab 20% of revenue.

Re: Benefits of Selling Outside the Mac App Store

#37

Post by pavlov »

nicky0 wrote: post #33
pavlov wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would add that something as complex as a web browser would be impossible on the Mac App Store anyway -- a sandboxed browser wouldn't even be able to open file:// URLs. Berners-Lee's original web browser was developed on the NeXT (direct ancestor of OS X)... But if he wanted to take that 1991 browser and distribute it on the Mac App Store today, he would have to remove important functionality.

Impossible on the Mac App Store, but perfectly possible on the Mac. Which is the appropriate comparison. Tim's web browser wasn't released on the NeXT App Store, after all.

Well, yes, web browsers are possible on the Mac. They are probably the most commonly downloaded type of Mac app.

Which begs my original question: what good is a "Mac app store" that can't accommodate Mac apps?

Apple isn't alone in this, of course. The Windows 8 app store (Marketplace, or whatever it's called these days) is just as limited... But really, if the most apt comparison for the MAS is the Windows 8 store, that further illustrates just how badly Apple has blown it.

Re: Benefits of Selling Outside the Mac App Store

#39

Post by godzillabrennus »

JScarry wrote: post #18
eps wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30% is an insane commission. Absolutely mind-boggingly brutal. The kind of commission that should guarantee that your product is featured on Apple's home page in large bold, possibly flashing, letters well above their own products. If it's not, then it's not "high-visibility" and 30% is just a blatant rip-off. # A message from your local software retailer who's doing really well by selling directly.

It’s not too bad considering the alternatives. Not all of my customers are able to download software so I still sell through catalogs. They get a 35-40% discount—which is more than Apple charges. Plus I need to press discs and print manuals. It would be nice if Apple would fix the search features on the Mac and iOS Apps stores so people can actually find my software.

Can you link is to what you sell?

Re: Benefits of Selling Outside the Mac App Store

#40

Post by mikeash »

JScarry wrote: post #18
eps wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30% is an insane commission. Absolutely mind-boggingly brutal. The kind of commission that should guarantee that your product is featured on Apple's home page in large bold, possibly flashing, letters well above their own products. If it's not, then it's not "high-visibility" and 30% is just a blatant rip-off. # A message from your local software retailer who's doing really well by selling directly.

It’s not too bad considering the alternatives. Not all of my customers are able to download software so I still sell through catalogs. They get a 35-40% discount—which is more than Apple charges. Plus I need to press discs and print manuals. It would be nice if Apple would fix the search features on the Mac and iOS Apps stores so people can actually find my software.

Comparing a digital download to physical distribution is nonsensical. The alternatives for downloaded software involve setting up your own online store and credit card processing, which costs on the order of $5/month and 3% of sales. Apple does not provide nearly enough more to justify $99/year and 30% of sales.
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