Split billing for a multi-channel SaaS: does a Shopify-billed path for App Store installs satisfy 1.2.1?

Shopify App Store
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We run IcloneU, a multi-channel AI customer-engagement platform. Merchants connect Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Telegram, web chat, email, and their ecommerce store (Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix). Today every customer signs up on our own site and is billed via Stripe — Shopify is one integration among many, not our platform.

We want to list a public app in the Shopify App Store. We’ve read requirement 1.2.1 and the guidance given in similar threads here: App-Store-acquired merchants need a Shopify-billed path, and existing customers don’t need to change. We intend to comply. Before we build, we’d like to confirm the architecture is right, because getting it wrong means a rejection late.

Planned architecture

  1. Every account is stamped with an immutable billing provider at creation. Merchants installing from the App Store are stamped “Shopify” during the OAuth callback — before any pricing is shown anywhere.
  2. Shopify-stamped accounts start on a free plan. All plan selection and payment for them happens through Shopify App Pricing (the Shopify-hosted plan page). They never see our Stripe checkout, pricing, or credit-purchase UI anywhere in the product.
  3. Existing direct customers stay on Stripe. People who sign up on our website, outside any Shopify surface, continue on Stripe.

Questions

  1. Does the above satisfy 1.2.1 for App Store distribution?

  2. The seam case: someone who is already a paying direct customer of ours (Stripe-billed, possibly using us only for Instagram and WhatsApp) later installs our app from the App Store and links the store to their existing account. Our design keeps that account on its original provider — the install adds a store connection, it doesn’t create a subscription, and no app charge flows outside Shopify for any account created through the App Store. Is that acceptable, or does this case need to be handled differently?

  3. Our pricing has prepaid usage credits on top of plan quotas. Usage caps aren’t supported under Shopify App Pricing, so for Shopify-billed merchants we plan to launch with plan quotas only (no overage purchases) and look at App Events metering later. Any concern with quota-only at launch?

  4. Is the legacy Billing API (appSubscriptionCreate) still selectable for new public apps, or is Shopify App Pricing required for new submissions? Happy to build against App Pricing — just want to target the right one.

Our full product is a standalone web app; the embedded admin surface will be a focused companion (connection status, current plan, setup, deep links) on App Bridge with session-token auth.

Thanks — a written answer now determines our architecture.

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Hey @Jeronimo_Bertran - I think your proposed approach lines up with requirement 1.2.1.

A paying direct customer who predates the Shopify install can keep their existing Stripe billing. We confirmed that same scenario in this thread. I’d key this exception to an existing paid subscription, rather than simply an existing free account.

Quota-only Shopify plans are fine. App Events now support usage billing, although usage caps aren’t currently supported. Shopify App Pricing is the default/recommended option for new public apps; the manual Billing API remains available mainly for outlier pricing models.

Approval is still up to our App Review team, so I can’t definitively guarantee anything, but I hope this helps!