Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 408 posts

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#11

Post by ribosometronome »

ado__dev wrote: post #7

Honestly if forcing everything through Apple's walled garden wasn't anti-competitive enough, this move certainly makes it so. What's next - pay 30% Apple tax for purchases made through Safari? I'm deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem. From phone, to computer, to home automation stuff. I have no desire to use a secondary app store. But I want that option to be be available. And there is no good reason for Apple to b…

If that option is important to you, why deeply embed yourself in an ecosystem that doesn't have it when others exist?

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#12

Post by dvt »

annoyingnoob wrote: post #9
jrochkind1 wrote: post #4

Can anyone provide a link to context on what OP is talking about, for those who don't know it? I don't understand what Apple is actually doing from this tweet/thread. Are they are somehow managing to force even payment links from ordinary web sites in an ordinary web browser (Safari?) to go through them as payment processor? (How?) Or is this a new rule for app store apps (what is the new rule?) Or a new payment stru…

[flagged]

> This is two big corporations arguing over which one makes more profit from you.

This slightly oversimplifies the situation, as Apple's policy is pretty clearly anti-competitive and, more importantly, anti-developer. As a developer, you have to bump your prices because of the Apple tax.

(And even as a consumer, prices are pushed up. Let's say you want to sell X for $10; too bad: you now have to sell it for $12 if you sell it in your Apple app to make up the difference. The consumer obviously eats that premium.)

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#13

Post by grishka »

dvt wrote: post #5

Feels like Apple is really tempting fate at this point. They essentially won v. Epic (as of yesterday, SCOTUS rejected the appeal). I'm not sure why they feel so emboldened to add a 27% tax on web purchases as well. Completely wild, but I guess shareholder value must always go up.

> I'm not sure why they feel so emboldened

Because they feel like they own the relationship between the user and the developer by virtue of it happening on a device they made, regardless of how much their contribution, if any, was to the formation of that relationship in the first place.

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#14

Post by mkl »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #4

Can anyone provide a link to context on what OP is talking about, for those who don't know it? I don't understand what Apple is actually doing from this tweet/thread. Are they are somehow managing to force even payment links from ordinary web sites in an ordinary web browser (Safari?) to go through them as payment processor? (How?) Or is this a new rule for app store apps (what is the new rule?) Or a new payment stru…

Huge thread a day ago: "US developers can offer non-app store purchasing, Apple still collect commission" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39020365

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#15

Post by ado__dev »

ribosometronome wrote: post #11
ado__dev wrote: post #7

Honestly if forcing everything through Apple's walled garden wasn't anti-competitive enough, this move certainly makes it so. What's next - pay 30% Apple tax for purchases made through Safari? I'm deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem. From phone, to computer, to home automation stuff. I have no desire to use a secondary app store. But I want that option to be be available. And there is no good reason for Apple to b…

If that option is important to you, why deeply embed yourself in an ecosystem that doesn't have it when others exist?

Apple's hardware is unmatched unfortunately.

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#16

Post by threeseed »

dvt wrote: post #5

Feels like Apple is really tempting fate at this point. They essentially won v. Epic (as of yesterday, SCOTUS rejected the appeal). I'm not sure why they feel so emboldened to add a 27% tax on web purchases as well. Completely wild, but I guess shareholder value must always go up.

Because this isn't a tax on web purchases.

As a developer you need to pay the 30% commission similar to how if you're using Unreal Engine you need to pay 5%.

You can legitimately argue this fee is way too high but the courts have already said that they are allowed to charge it.

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#17

Post by annoyingnoob »

dvt wrote: post #12
annoyingnoob wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> This is two big corporations arguing over which one makes more profit from you. This slightly oversimplifies the situation, as Apple's policy is pretty clearly anti-competitive and, more importantly, anti-developer. As a developer, you have to bump your prices because of the Apple tax. (And even as a consumer, prices are pushed up. Let's say you want to sell X for $10; too bad: you now have to sell it for $12 if yo…

As a developer, if Apple's fees went away, would you drop your price or just make more profit? Prices may have been pushed up but there is little incentive for them to ever come down.

Re: Apple's bad faith 27% tax on web purchases

#20

Post by mmbop »

ribosometronome wrote: post #11
ado__dev wrote: post #7

Honestly if forcing everything through Apple's walled garden wasn't anti-competitive enough, this move certainly makes it so. What's next - pay 30% Apple tax for purchases made through Safari? I'm deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem. From phone, to computer, to home automation stuff. I have no desire to use a secondary app store. But I want that option to be be available. And there is no good reason for Apple to b…

If that option is important to you, why deeply embed yourself in an ecosystem that doesn't have it when others exist?

Responses to this talk about how the ecosystem and hardware is great. I wonder if it would be so good if they were more squeezed to chase profits?

I’m usually skeptical of companies with this many users because of the potential to mine and sell data. I’m glad Apple hasn’t had to focus on that to stay profitable to the extent others have.

Post reply on HN