Clarification on Billing Rule 1.2.1 for a multi-platform SaaS with Shopify as an optional data source

Shopify App Store
1

Hi Shopify team,

We’re looking for clarification on how billing requirement 1.2.1 applies to a standalone, multi-platform SaaS product where Shopify is only an optional data source.

About Adlyse

Adlyse is a performance-marketing analytics and automation platform. Customers connect advertising platforms and other business data sources to analyze campaign performance, create reports, and receive optimization recommendations.

Adlyse exists independently of Shopify. Shopify is not an exclusive or required part of the product, and only a small portion of our customer base needs to connect a Shopify store.

How we use Shopify

For customers who choose to connect Shopify, Adlyse uses store, product, order, and revenue data to add commerce context to their marketing analysis. For example, this can help customers:

  • Compare advertising performance with sales outcomes
  • Understand which products generate the most revenue
  • Add commerce data to reports and performance recommendations

Shopify is therefore a read-only data source within the broader Adlyse platform. Adlyse does not manage the merchant’s storefront, checkout, or payment processing, and customers do not purchase a Shopify-specific product or add-on from us.

How Adlyse billing works

Customers subscribe to Adlyse as a whole. Their subscription provides access to platform-wide functionality across their advertising accounts and other integrations; it is not a charge for connecting Shopify.

Payment and the Shopify connection have no fixed ordering or causal relationship. A customer might:

  • Subscribe to Adlyse months before connecting Shopify
  • Subscribe immediately before connecting Shopify
  • Connect Shopify first and subscribe later
  • Subscribe without ever connecting Shopify

Likewise, a customer might upgrade after connecting Shopify for reasons entirely unrelated to Shopify.

App review rejection

Our public app submission was rejected 3 times in a row because Adlyse has a paid upgrade path. In substance, the accompanying review video appeared to say: “Your app has a paid upgrade path, so billing must go through Shopify.”

We understand that charges associated with a Shopify App Store app generally need to use Shopify App Pricing or the Billing API. What remains unclear is whether simply having an optional Shopify connection means the customer’s entire Adlyse subscription becomes an “app charge,” even though the subscription covers a much broader product and may have existed before the Shopify connection.

Could someone clarify the following?

  1. Is every Adlyse customer who connects Shopify required to move their entire Adlyse subscription to Shopify billing, regardless of when or where they originally subscribed?

  2. Can customers who subscribed to Adlyse before connecting Shopify retain their existing external subscription?

  3. If a customer connects Shopify first but later upgrades for platform-wide functionality, must that subscription go through Shopify solely because a Shopify connection exists?

  4. Does the customer’s acquisition source matter—for example, an existing Adlyse customer connecting Shopify versus a merchant who first discovers Adlyse through the Shopify App Store? (We also do not intend to have a public Shopify App listing)

  5. Can a genuinely free Shopify connector comply with rule 1.2.1 if it contains no Shopify-specific paid features or external checkout links, while the broader standalone Adlyse product continues to have its own subscription?

  6. If this model requires an off-platform billing exception, what is the correct process for requesting one before resubmitting?

We are not trying to circumvent Shopify billing for a Shopify-specific charge. We’re trying to understand how to comply without making Shopify the billing system of record for an otherwise independent, multi-platform subscription simply because one optional data source has been connected.

Thank you for any guidance.

2

Hey @Yaozhong_Kang - thanks for reaching out.

I did some digging based on what you’ve laid out, and the key distinction is how the customer relationship was established. Customers who were already paying for Adlyse through a non-Shopify channel before connecting their store can retain that external subscription. They don’t need to move it to Shopify solely because they later add Shopify as a data source. This matches the existing-customer scenario confirmed in this previous community answer.

Merchants who discover Adlyse through Shopify, connect Shopify before subscribing, or enter the paid service through the Shopify app flow need to use Shopify App Pricing or the Shopify Billing API. The Shopify flow can’t direct them to subscribe externally before connecting as a way around this requirement. Describing the integration as a free connector also doesn’t create an exception when it connects to Adlyse’s own paid service. You can find the applicable requirement under Rule 1.2.1, which you mentioned in your post.

The public requirements don’t separately address upgrades made by an existing externally billed customer after they connect Shopify. I’d include that exact account and upgrade flow in the Test Instructions when resubmitting so it can be reviewed alongside the two billing paths.

That existing-customer treatment isn’t a Billing API exemption. Based on the model described, Adlyse isn’t eligible for an off-platform billing exemption. Being multi-platform, treating Shopify as an optional data source, or offering a free connector to Adlyse’s own paid service doesn’t create an exemption. Shopify-originated paid users must use Shopify App Pricing or the Billing API.

Just to set expectations, this clarification doesn’t replace or override feedback provided during App Review. The App Review team makes the final determination based on the submitted app and its billing flows. When resubmitting, include as much context as possible in the Test Instructions, including how existing customers are identified, how the billing paths are separated, and how upgrades are handled.

Hope this helps!

3

It’s very helpful. Thanks for the response.