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Comment by autokad | Hacker News Reader

> "he 30% cut they ask of developers is more than reasonable."

Not really, the fee's much of big tech often puts on people are draconian, and they are able to continue doing so because of the monopolies they hold. 30% is huge. Just try running a business when you loose 30% strait off the top line.

> "Want to bypass that cut?"

break the monopolies.

The cuts big tech muscle on their constituents actually hurts them in the long run. Facebook's cuts are so deep, its nearly impossible to run a sustainable business and ultimately limits the apps and services people are providing through facebook to their users.

I'd argue the same for mobile.

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Because instead of having 2 players that ask for 30% cut, having 6 that do the same is going to make Netflix any happier. There's no reason to think other similar platforms wouldn't charge the same. Look at GOG vs Steam, both charge 30% too, even tho GOG is much smaller market and for devs it means spending resources making the GOG version in addition to the Steam version, GOG still charges as much as Steam and doesn't see a reason to lower the cut.

Well in the case of games, you end up with the big players making their own store like EA did with Origin (or Epic, Blizzard....) Which kinda sucks since you now have a bunch of apps with different logins.

I'm also not convinced you would end up with 6 players all taking the same %. Take a smaller cut, and offer a lower price to the consumer so people use your store.

>Just try running a business when you loose 30% strait off the top line.

Brick and mortar retail does just that. Even online retail, once you factor in the costs of maintaining a secure payment system, managing fulfillment, customer service, etc. it winds up adding up to a lot.

"Just try running a business when you loose 30% strait off the top line."

Like every retail business ever?

People here seem to have forgotten what it was like to sell something back before Apple's App Store. 30% was considered insane in just how small it was.

> Just try running a business when you loose 30% strait off the top line.

What's your take on taxes?

Most business owners lose a lot more than 30% straight off the top from governments with no way to opt out (other than not to work at all which isn't really feasible in most countries if you want to enjoy your life).

No, with taxes they lose (typically sub) 30 % off the top of profit, not revenue. This is 30 % off the top on revenue.

> No, with taxes they lose (typically sub) 30 % off the top of profit, not revenue. This is 30 % off the top on revenue.

Getting dinged on revenue is pretty common for things like that.

Stripe takes 2.9% + 30c of your revenue, and PayPal is similar. Udemy also takes 50% of your revenue (a marketplace for courses, but less lock-in than the app store).

There's really no reasonable way for payment gateways, the app store or any online marketplace to take a cut from your profits.

My comparison of the app store and taxes was more on the line of it being a non-negotiable set up where you have no options other than to pay, or be unemployed (not paying taxes) or not selling your app (avoiding the app store's rates).

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