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Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

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Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#231

Post by redthrowaway »

netcan wrote: post #172
napoleoncomplex wrote: post #12

I know Google's policy on this, but I completely understand where the developer is coming from. Google has been taking a collective shit on every developer out of its list of seller countries[0], which is ridiculously short and hasn't been expanded in god knows how long, and even then, there were only a handful of countries added. On Google's page about seller countries they say: "We're working hard to add more count…

It's interesting seeing Google as a grown up company, with many of the flaws they acquired early on still intact and at Google scale. You can be spending $100ks per month on adwords and still not have a competent person to call when you need help. EVen if you do, they don't know much and can't do much. Realistically, it's not much better than an outsourced call centre and much worse than the far less profitable Big A…

>You can be spending $100ks per monthon adwords and still not have a competent person to call when you need help.

We just got bit by this recently. One day our organic referrals just took a nosedive (4000 -> 1000 clicks/day overnight). We got in touch with our Adwords contact, who said they'd look into it, then ... left. No longer with the team. Now we have no contact and no way to figure out what went wrong and how we can fix it.

It didn't have a huge impact on us, but it did cost us ~$3k/month, which isn't negligible. The worst part is that there's seemingly no way for us to address this, despite spending a pretty significant amount of money on Adwords every month.

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#232

Post by ceejayoz »

rmrfrmrf wrote: post #209
ceejayoz wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> EDIT: I should make very clear to non-developers out there that, with a native app, you're able to display a web browser without a URL bar or any other UI, which makes it exceedingly easy to trick people into thinking that they're at an official PayPal site or other shenanigans that the unscrupulous dev wants to try. Nothing's stopping a non-standard browser (Opera, Firefox, etc.) from doing that, and they're permi…

are you trying to miss the point?

Are you? A custom browser can be designed to quietly send people accessing PayPal off to a phishing site just as easily as an app integrating a PayPal payment method. If Google's going to use that sort of attack as a reason to prevent non-IAP payments, they should be banning non-Google browsers too.

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#233

Post by netcan »

NickPollard wrote: post #227
netcan wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting seeing Google as a grown up company, with many of the flaws they acquired early on still intact and at Google scale. You can be spending $100ks per month on adwords and still not have a competent person to call when you need help. EVen if you do, they don't know much and can't do much. Realistically, it's not much better than an outsourced call centre and much worse than the far less profitable Big A…

> If you now want to buy a current nexus phone or tablet, you have to be in a country where they allow purchase. They would deliver a much better customer experience (and sell many more phones) if they just let Amazon handle selling them. Disclaimer: I'm lucky to be in a country (UK) with good Google coverage. That said, their customer experience for buying a phone online (nexus 4) is superb and far above amazons. Th…

They're following a 80/20 (or maybe 50/50) rule of thumb. If they can serve you easily they do. Otherwise, they can live without your purchase. They didn't have that much stock anyway. That makes sense in one way, but it feels disrespectful in other ways. If you live in Ireland (where Google's non US headquarters is and where the damn phones ship from), they give you an error message.

It's just one example though. In my opinion it's an example of below average competence. Equivalent to a bank website going down because of a traffic surge and taking 16 hours to come back. There are certain things that mature companies draw a line under. They don't just say 'we're not good at that.'

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#234

Post by danmaz74 »

natch wrote: post #217
danmaz74 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is downvoting a comment which merely points to a fact?

A fact which completely misses the point... maybe it's time to re-read the fine article.

So you don't like that fact. But it is still a fact - don't shoot the messenger :)

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#235

Post by BlackDeath3 »

bsbechtel wrote: post #228

If everyone on here set duckduckgo.com as their browser homepage, you might (that's a big might) get their attention.

Am I the only one who almost never even visits their homepage? My browser's homepage functionality could be removed and I have no idea how long it would take me to notice. Even then, it isn't currently set to Google.

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#236

Post by billmalarky »

conradfr wrote: post #128
ishansharma wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main problem with Google is their lack of customer care. I had my Adsense account rejected a few years back for no reason (there was no bad activity) and when I appealed, their response was the same "We have reviewed your appeal and can't do anything about it."

It happened to me. I try to forget it to avoid uncovering the rage buried deep my brain :)

I had successfully forgot about them doing it to me, but I get reminded every time they pull stunts like this. Which seems to be almost constantly now that they touch so much of the tech industry yet have refused to improve this aspect of their company.

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#238

Post by radley »

zrgiu_ wrote: post #93
napoleoncomplex wrote: post #12

I know Google's policy on this, but I completely understand where the developer is coming from. Google has been taking a collective shit on every developer out of its list of seller countries[0], which is ridiculously short and hasn't been expanded in god knows how long, and even then, there were only a handful of countries added. On Google's page about seller countries they say: "We're working hard to add more count…

I had one of the first 100 apps ever published on Google Play (then called Android Market). After a few months being live, I eventually implemented my own in app purchases using PayPal. Back then Google had no support for any kind of paid apps (only free apps were allowed), and Apple hadn't introduced IAPs. Still, Google removed my app 3 times before I gave up republishing it. Also, in the classic Google style, when…

Obvious question: which country?

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#239

Post by DominikR »

xioxox wrote: post #62
NickSharp wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The app in question was using Paypal. Right or wrong, there is no way Google is going to let developers use Paypal instead of their own Google billing, for which they keep 30%.

I wonder why they allow skype? As far as I know skype use their own billing for credit. This isn't a physical product, so I can't see why this shouldn't be disallowed by the terms of service.

Because Skype allows you to use the digital content that you buy outside of the Android app. (Desktop, Web and so on)

Apple has a similar rule. (We have an iOS App in the App Store that uses Paypal)

Edit: Here's the relevant part from the TOS:

Developers ... must use Google Play's in-app billing service as the method of payment, except: ...

... where payment is for digital content or goods that may be consumed outside of the app itself (e.g., buying songs that can be played on other music players).

Re: Google permanently bans popular application from Play for not using IAP

#240

Post by bsbechtel »

BlackDeath3 wrote: post #235
bsbechtel wrote: post #228

If everyone on here set duckduckgo.com as their browser homepage, you might (that's a big might) get their attention.

Am I the only one who almost never even visits their homepage? My browser's homepage functionality could be removed and I have no idea how long it would take me to notice. Even then, it isn't currently set to Google.

Haha ok you make a good point. I guess people need to set their default search engine then...
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