App submission stuck on "assigning a reviewer" - CleoOS

Shopify App Store
1

Hi team,

Our app CleoOS has been stuck in the submission review process for weeks The status still shows “assigning a reviewer” with no feedback or reviewer comments in the Partner Dashboard.

We recently deployed an updated app version (cleoos-9) that includes all three mandatory GDPR compliance webhooks, protected customer data declarations, and read-only scopes. We believe the submission is fully compliant.

App details:

  • App name: CleoOS

  • Client ID: 31738b9d3f9525acda1d807f009fbe14

  • Scopes: read_products, read_orders, read_customers, read_analytics (read-only)

  • GDPR webhooks: customers/data_request, customers/redact, shop/redact

  • Protected customer data: configured with stated purpose

Is there any way to get visibility into where this sits in the queue, or if there are outstanding requirements blocking assignment?

Thanks for any help.

2

There is currently a high number of submissions so delays are to be expected at this time.

3

Hi @Luke

Thank you for your response.

We’ve now received feedback stating that our app is not compliant because we do not use Shopify Payments or the Shopify Billing API.

To clarify, our Shopify app itself is completely free to install and use. The app’s sole purpose is to connect a merchant’s Shopify store to Cleo, and there are no charges associated with the Shopify app functionality itself.

Cleo operates on a freemium subscription model, where optional paid subscriptions are processed directly through Stripe. These subscriptions are for Cleo services outside of Shopify, not for access to or use of the Shopify app itself.

Because the Shopify app is free, we did not believe Shopify Billing was required in this case.

We have provided this explanation previously, but it seems there may still be some misunderstanding regarding our billing structure.

Could you please clarify how you would recommend we proceed in order to comply with the following requirement?

“Apps that use off-platform billing cannot be distributed through the Shopify App Store. Your app must use Shopify App Pricing or the Shopify Billing API for any app charges.”

As noted above, there are no charges for the Shopify app itself, and all optional Cleo subscription payments relate to external platform services.

We would appreciate your guidance on how best to resolve this issue.

Thanks,

Leon

This is what is received.

Fix these core issues with your app:

4

@Luke is it possible to get a response please?

5

Luke doesn’t work for Shopify, so I don’t think he can directly help with your concern.

From my knowledge, you’d have to get a special exception from Shopify if you want to bill (at all) outside of Shopify billing - and I imagine these are almost impossible to achieve.

You’d likely need to implement your billing through Shopify Billing as the requirements (and reviewers) suggested, for customers that specifically install via Shopify.

See: https://www.datafeedwatch.com/ and Data Feed Watch Shopping Feeds - Product feeds for Google Shopping, Facebook feed, Bing & more | Shopify App Store - whilst their app does offer billing to non-Shopify customers. For the Shopify integration, the billing is done through the Shopify billing API. I imagine this is the pattern that Shopify want folks to use.

6

Hi, it’s been a good 3 months for us, the second reviewer was assigned on May 15th and to date we haven’t had any updates from him,