🚫 Paused under 1.2.1 although the Shopify connector is already on App Pricing

[Dev_FloConnector]

What the app does

FloConnector is a hosted integration platform. It connects a business’s SaaS tools to the AI
assistant they already use. There are 50+ connectors across CRM, accounting, marketing and support, and Shopify is one of them.

What happened

Our submission was paused under 1.2.1 (off-platform billing). The screencast shows a reviewer opening Settings → Billing inside our own dashboard and finding a subscription surface that isn’t Shopify’s.

That page is real and I’m not disputing what was seen. But I don’t believe it’s a Shopify app
charge, and I’d like to understand how the requirement is meant to apply here before I resubmit.

How billing actually works

• The Shopify connector is on Shopify App Pricing. One public plan, standard, $9.99/month, 14-day trial, free on development stores. Enabled and live.
• We charge nothing of our own for Shopify usage. The connector is flagged included in our catalog, so Shopify tool calls don’t meter against anything we bill.
• The subscription the reviewer found is account-level and covers the other 50+ platforms. It’s scoped to a customer account rather than a shop, and for most customers it exists before Shopify is ever involved.

So no charge originating from the Shopify app is taken outside Shopify. What exists is a page where a customer manages the subscription for everything else we connect to.

The precedent I can see

Zapier is listed on the App Store, connects 7,000+ apps, and their listing carries:

“External charges may be billed by Zapier Inc separately from your Shopify invoice.”

with tiers (Free / Professional $29.99 / Team $103.50) that are Zapier’s own account-level
pricing rather than per-shop plans. That looks like the same shape as ours.

What I’m asking

1. Does 1.2.1 cover a merchant-facing page that manages a subscription for other
   platforms, when no Shopify functionality is charged for outside Shopify?

2. If it does — is the 1.2 exception (“unless you’ve been notified otherwise by Shopify”)
   available to an app in this position, and what is the correct channel to request it? A Partner Support case, a note in the submission’s review instructions, or something else?

3. If it doesn’t — is this resolvable by making the page unambiguous about scope (labelling the Shopify plan as Shopify-billed, and the other subscription as covering non-Shopify connectors), or does that page need to be unreachable entirely from a Shopify-originated install?

Happy to provide anything else that would help. Reference 127177.

[Alan_G]

Hey @Dev_FloConnector, thanks for reaching out. Happy to clarify a few things on this

The deciding factor for this isn’t necessarily whether Shopify activity is metered separately. The Shopify app component of your app would connect merchants to FloConnector’s paid platform, and if you do offer an additional FloConnector subscription outside Shopify as part of the actual subscription enabled functionality of your app, those platform charges would need to use Shopify App Pricing or the Shopify Billing API rather than being billed externally.

For Shopify merchants, the current setup can’t combine the $9.99 Shopify plan with another paid plan offered off-platform. Clarifying the billing page wouldn’t resolve this while that external purchase remains available. The relevant FloConnector subscription would need to be billed through Shopify before resubmitting.

We can’t use another app’s listing or billing arrangements as precedent, since each app is reviewed based on its own setup. The exception in section 1.2 only applies when Shopify has specifically notified an app otherwise.

I definitely get the distinction you’re making between Shopify usage and the wider FloConnector platform though as well as your frustration. I know in cases where, for example there were legacy users who used the app and were subscribers before a Shopify capability was added to the app and they were grandfathered in under the old subscription we have made exceptions but I can’t say exactly what the case would ultimately be here since approval is always at the discretion of our App Review team , but just wanted to share some info and share our general rules on app billing in case it’s helpful.

Let me know if I can clarify anything further.

[Dev_FloConnector]

Thanks so much for getting back to me, Alan. I really do appreciate you taking the time to explain it.

I understand the rule you’re outlining, but unfortunately I’m still struggling to see what the practical solution is for a platform like ours.

FloConnector is not a Shopify product. Shopify is one connector among 50+ other SaaS platforms we support. We need to be able to operate and sell FloConnector independently of Shopify because Shopify is only one part of the wider platform.

I originally would have preferred to make the Shopify connector completely free and simply allow existing FloConnector customers to connect their Shopify account. Once it became clear that wasn’t acceptable under the App Store billing rules, I specifically created the separate $9.99 Shopify App Pricing plan to try to comply.

So I suppose my main question now is: what is the actual path forward for a platform in our position?

There are clearly other multi-platform integration businesses operating on the Shopify App Store while also maintaining subscriptions outside Shopify. I understand that another app can’t be treated as formal precedent, but it does demonstrate that this type of business model exists.

Is there a process for having this particular situation reviewed or escalated by the App Review team?

For example:

• Can I open a Partner Support case requesting an exception under section 1.2?
• Can the submission be specifically flagged for review based on the fact that FloConnector is an existing multi-platform SaaS product?
• Is there another escalation or review process available for this type of billing model?
• If Shopify requires FloConnector subscriptions for Shopify-originated customers to be billed through Shopify, how is that expected to work when the same subscription provides access to dozens of completely unrelated platforms?

I’m not trying to work around Shopify’s billing requirements. I’m trying to find a compliant architecture that still allows FloConnector to exist as an independent SaaS platform.

We would genuinely love to support Shopify, but at the moment I can’t see a commercially or technically workable way forward from the current interpretation.

If you can point me towards the correct escalation/review channel, or explain how Shopify expects a platform like ours to structure this, that would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks again for your help.

[Alan_G]

Hey @Dev_FloConnector - I took another look at this on our end.

Existing FloConnector customers who already pay you directly likely wouldn’t need to be switched over to Shopify Billing. You can also certainly continue selling FloConnector independently to customers who aren’t coming through the Shopify app.

For new customers coming through Shopify, though, the paid access needed to use the connector should be billed through Shopify. That type of setup wouldn’t qualify for a billing exemption, so a Partner Support case or another review of the same flow wouldn’t change the outcome.

The practical path is to keep existing customers on their current billing and provide a fully Shopify-billed path for new Shopify customers. I know that split may not fit your current model, and you would still need to request an exemption for the other models, and I can’t guarantee exatly what our App Review team would say, but I just wanted to give you a clear answer here. Hope this helps a bit, even though it’s not ideal.

[Dev_FloConnector]

Thanks, Alan. I appreciate you taking another look, and I understand that you’re only explaining the policy as it currently stands.

But I hope you can understand how absurd this sounds from the perspective of a platform like ours.

Just so I have this correct:

If a brand-new customer discovers FloConnector through Shopify or not, and then later uses FloConnector for Gmail, Google Calendar, accounting software, CRM platforms, support tools, or any of the other 50+ completely unrelated services we integrate with, Shopify’s position is that the paid FloConnector subscription required to access that wider platform must still be billed through Shopify.

If that is genuinely the policy, then you’re effectively asking us to restructure our entire SaaS billing model around Shopify simply because Shopify happened to be the acquisition channel for that customer.

That makes very little sense for a platform that exists independently of Shopify and where Shopify represents only one connector among many.

I completely understand requiring us to bill the Shopify connector itself through Shopify. That is exactly why I created the $9.99 Shopify plan.

What I cannot understand is why Shopify should also control the billing relationship for access to functionality that has absolutely nothing to do with Shopify.

Surely this deserves to be reviewed as a policy.

If there truly is no exemption or workable structure available, then unfortunately I don’t see how we can offer the Shopify connector in the intended way. The only realistic alternative would be allowing users to configure their own Shopify developer credentials and connect that way outside of the App Store, which defeats much of the purpose of making the integration accessible to ordinary merchants.

But for any other developers building broader multi-platform SaaS products who find this thread in the future, I hope this discussion is useful.

[Dev_FloConnector]

Hey @Alan_G,

Where can I apply for the external billing outside of the API?

[Alan_G]

Hey @Dev_FloConnector -

Just confirming on that checkbox - it’s not an application. It’s only meant to be ticked by apps Shopify has already approved for an exemption, so checking it now wouldn’t change anything on the review side (and would likely just get flagged).

There’s no separate form for requesting one, though. The way it works is you include your exemption justification just at the very top of the Test Instructions field when you resubmit, and the review team evaluates it as part of that review. It can take up to ~7 business days for a decision.

Exemptions are generally only granted when the pricing model genuinely can’t be supported by Shopify Billing, when a third party owns the billing, or for specific categories like print-on-demand goods, shipping labels, donations and ad spend. A multi-platform SaaS that owns its own billing isn’t typically one of those cases, so I wouldn’t want you to spend a week waiting on something that’s unlikely to land differently. You’re more than welcome to submit it, though and I’d also just make sure you outline your billing flow exactly there in terms of why you believe it would qualify for exemption.

The general compliant shape would be this:

• Existing FloConnector customers stay on your billing, no change.
• For accounts that originate through the Shopify app, mirror your FloConnector tiers as Shopify plans (App Pricing supports tiered and usage-based plans) and gate the account-level upgrade behind Shopify Billing for those accounts, with the external billing page hidden for them.

I definitely get that this reshapes part of your model for one acquisition channel though. Let me know if I can help out further.