I am submitting a free app, but I charge separately for the core service outside of Shopify.
Basically, all i use the shopify app/partners program is to allow the users to install a theme extension to implement my code int othe right place on theri shopify store. I dont charge anything in the shopify app itself and it will be FREE.
Can anyone confirm if this specific model is compliant with the App Store policies before I pay the $19 submission fee?
How doI get i ntouch with Partners support to talk about this?
Jon
Hi @Jon_Neal
You’ll need to bill merchants using your app using Shopify’s Billing API - you won’t be able to redirect merchants somewhere else to be billed. The rationale for this is that we need to ensure charges to merchants are compliant and secure, as well as being a more seamless experience with the Billing API.
What devs commonly do where services are billed outside of Shopify is to process these off-platform fees themselves, and then set up usage-based subscriptions to charge merchants for these fees. Would this model work for you?
Hey @Liam-Shopify - Unfortunately, no it would not work for me. I don’t redirect merchants anywhere from the app, they merely wont be able to use my app without signing up on my own app and site before hand.
The only purpose for my app in Shopify store, is to make it easier what I already do manually (which is add embed code to their site). My app is basically a theme extension with the sole purpose of giving the user that capability to place my script in an easier manner onto their shopify store. Thats it.
I want this to be totally free on Shopify.
The majority of my users are not on Shopify and the the billing API on Shopify wouldn’t work for them. Anyways we use stripe because it has way more billing features within their API too that we need to use (one time payments, credit deductions, rebates etc). Theres just no way to use Shopify Billig for us… Its possible that Shopify has some good features on their Billing API, but this only makes sense for Apps that only sell to Shopify users.
From what I can tell, if there is no required payment in the app in the Shopify partner store, this is allowed if my app is FREE in the shopify store and doesn’t link anywhere else. Thats it. I can still charge outside of the app.
I’m not sure I understand - if your app is free, then you can have just a free app on Shopify. And no need for using the Billing API. You can simply select “Free to install” as your app’s primary billing method when submitting your app to the Shopify App Store.
@Liam-Shopify
Thanks I just wanted to confirm all of this before I pay the $19.
So, just to confirm this scenario…
App A is my app that people pay for. Totally separate and nothing to do with Shopify.
App B is my dedicated shopify app. It will be listed as public and go through the process to be verified and placed on the app store. App B, the only purpose of it is a theme extension, like I said, to place code in the right spot on the Shopify stores of clients. This app is also “connected” to app A in that you have to have an account on that app, to use app B. App B however, does no billing, needs no billing API’s nothing like that at all. So there is no billing or anything taking place within this shopify app. Like I said, just places code. We do no route anyone anywhere billing wise.
Please confirm this is OK to list for free on Shopify app store process-wise and does not violate app store rules or something and I will get going on that. Thanks.
If this is still hard to grasp what I mean (which is totally possible), is there a way we can hop on a quick call?
If it’s hard for me to grasp, then I imagine it will be even more confusing for merchants using your app.
Either your app is free (including the service it provides) or there is a charge (whether it’s to install or to use a critical feature of the app). If the merchant can’t use the app without signing up on a different surface, then it’s not a free app, and it shouldn’t appear on a marketplace as “free”.
You can still have the app on the Shopify App Store, but it will need to use the Billing API to process the fees that merchants will need to pay to use the service.
1 Like
This makes no sense. Im sorry.
The app i’m making for Shopify, is NOT meant for users to just go and signup through Shopify. Nobody would know about it. Unless shopfy deliberately markets my app within its ecosystem, and that would warrant using Billing API and paying shopify with volume.
But currently, It would be my already existing clients that have shopify accounts, and directing them to use my app is all.
Is there not a version of making an app private to the public on the app store but where I can still give specific stores access - but lots of stores? So like, not as in 1 store only?
If I have to make the app public, you are right, people could go and download the app, but they would need my external stripe subscription to enter in the “instance ID field” and thus use the Shopify app.
But If I use the Billing api, i’d still charge $0 or FREE in the Shopify app store… and the user would still have to have a separate account for it to work.
Thanks for describing the user flow more - I do understand it better now.
It sounds like this will need to remain a custom app that is installed on multiple stores via an install link, as described here: Select a distribution method
There is a “unlisted public app” type where the app has an app store listing page but it’s hidden from search. App devs typically would share the unlisted app store URL privately - however apps that are unlisted still are not permitted to have an off-platform billing method, like the one you described. They’d still need to use the Billing API for all payments a merchant would make.