App suspended under 1.2.1 but every charge already goes through the Shopify Billing API

Shopify App Store
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1

@KyleG-Shopify @Alan_G - hoping you can weigh in. Our app (AutoPrintEmail, App ID 369170677761, ref 116903) was suspended last week under 1.2.1 (off-platform billing), but every charge in the app already goes through the Shopify Billing API. I want to confirm we are compliant and get a re-review before we resubmit after August 4.

What the app is
AutoPrintEmail (https://autoprint.email) auto-prints Shopify documents - inventory transfer labels and order packing slips - to a physical printer at the store, via a small desktop “print bridge” (a local agent, like a printer driver). Free to install.

All charges go through the Shopify Billing API
The embedded app’s only billing surface is a “Plan” tab that uses Shopify’s native Billing API. There is no external checkout, no card form, and no off-platform payment path anywhere in the embedded app. Choosing a plan sends the merchant to Shopify’s own Approve-subscription screen, and the charge activates as a standard Shopify app subscription.

In-app "Plan" tab: Starter/Growth/Scale/Enterprise tiers, priced per print station, with "Choose plan" buttons
In-app "Plan" tab: Starter/Growth/Scale/Enterprise tiers, priced per print station, with "Choose plan" buttons1794Ă—1077 78.9 KB

Shopify's own "Approve subscription" screen after choosing a plan: "billed through Shopify", "You will not be billed for this test charge"
Shopify's own "Approve subscription" screen after choosing a plan: "billed through Shopify", "You will not be billed for this test charge"1794Ă—1077 77.1 KB

Charges activate cleanly. Here is our App history showing test subscriptions activating on dev stores:

Partner Dashboard > App history: "Subscription charge activated - $X (Test)
Partner Dashboard > App history: "Subscription charge activated - $X (Test)1794Ă—1077 121 KB

Why I believe this was a testing gap, not a real 1.2.1 violation
Our App history for the last review (Screenshot 3) shows the review store installed the app at 9:38pm and closed at 9:47pm - about nine minutes - with no subscription charge ever activated in that session. Because the app opens on a free 7-day trial, a reviewer is never auto-forced to a payment screen; you have to open the Plan tab to see the billing flow, and it looks like that step was not reached. So the flag reads to us like the billing path simply was not exercised, rather than an actual off-platform charge - there is not one.

This matches the “free to install, charges via the platform” pattern used by many App Store apps (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, HubSpot, ShipStation, Zendesk).

Asks

  1. Confirmation that this shape is compliant under 1.2.1: a free embedded app, all charges via the Shopify Billing API, plus a free local desktop “print bridge” agent that only talks to the printer.
  2. If our resubmission should carry anything specific in the listing copy, please tell me and we will add it.
  3. If possible, a re-review by a reviewer who can verify the in-app Shopify Billing path (open Plan > choose a plan > approve the test charge), so the billing step is actually exercised next time.

Happy to share a captioned screencast walking every embedded page, plus demo accounts. We have an EU multi-location design partner (two retail stores + a warehouse) waiting on this through their Shopify dev agency.

Thanks for taking a look.

  • Mitchel Kelonye, AutoPrintEmail (Kelm Software Technologies L.L.C-FZ, App ID 369170677761)
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Hey @kelonye - thanks for laying this out, the screenshots are helpful.

I can’t confirm an App Review outcome from the forum, but the area I’d focus on is whether all Shopify-related charges for merchants installing through the App Store stay inside Shopify Billing. Your public Shopify/pricing copy appears to imply that certain print-station plans are billed separately by AutoPrintEmail (for more than 10 stations). Since that service enables the printing workflow, App Review may still treat that as an app-related charge.

For resubmission, I’d update any Shopify-facing pricing/onboarding copy so Shopify-origin merchants are only routed to Shopify App Pricing or the Billing API, and include notes/screencast showing install > Plan > choose plan > Shopify-hosted approval > active subscription.

Small note too: for future threads, it’s best not to tag individual Shopify folks unless they’ve already jumped into the conversation.

Let me know if I can clarify anything on our end here and hope this helps.

3

Thanks Alan, this is really helpful.

One quick clarification on that line, because it isn’t meant to route larger fleets off Shopify. Our 1 to 10 station plans all bill through the Shopify Billing API. The “more than 10 stations, talk to us” wording is only there because we can’t pre-list an unbounded number of tiers, print stations can scale indefinitely, so above 10 we gauge interest first and then create the right-sized plan on request. The intent was never a separate charge; it’s just that we don’t publish a plan for every possible fleet size up front.

That said, I take your point that the current wording reads like an off-platform AutoPrintEmail charge, and I can see how a reviewer would land there. For the resubmission we’ll make it unambiguous:

  • Reword the more-than-10 line on our pricing page and the embedded Plan tab so it clearly means “contact us to add a larger plan, billed through Shopify,” with no implication of separate billing.
  • Ensure any larger plan we create for an App Store origin merchant is issued through the Shopify Billing API too, so billing stays on-platform at every fleet size.
  • Everything else stays as is: free to install, and choosing any plan goes to Shopify’s own approval screen.

I’ll also include testing notes plus a short screencast walking install > Plan > choose plan > Shopify-hosted approval > active subscription, so the reviewer can see the whole billing path end to end without needing a printer.

And noted on the tagging, apologies for pulling you and KyleG in directly, I won’t do that on future threads. Really appreciate you taking the time on this.

4

Hey @kelonye - thanks for clarifying, that distinction makes sense and no worries at all, happy to help! :slight_smile:

That sounds like the right direction for resubmission. I’d just make sure all Shopify-facing and embedded app pages are unambiguous that Shopify-origin merchants are not routed to any external billing path, including larger/custom print-station plans. The testing notes and screencast showing Plan > choose plan > Shopify-hosted approval > active subscription should also help the reviewer follow the billing flow cleanly.

I can’t confirm the review outcome from the forum, but if you resubmit with those changes and still run into issues, feel free to follow up here and I can definitely take a closer look.

5

Thanks so much for taking the time on this, really appreciate it.

That’s exactly the direction we’ve gone. Every Shopify-facing and embedded page now makes clear that Shopify-origin merchants only ever pay through Shopify Billing, including the larger/custom print-station plans (those get issued through Shopify Billing too, never an external path). We’ve also got the testing notes ready walking the reviewer through Plan > choose plan > Shopify-hosted approval > active subscription, and we’ll add a short screencast of that flow so it’s easy to follow.

We’ll resubmit with these changes once the dashboard reopens resubmission (it currently shows Aug 4), and if anything comes up in that review I’ll follow up here. Thanks again for offering to take a closer look.

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No worries @kelonye - glad I could help a bit. I’ll mark this thread as solved for now, but let me know if I can help out further.