It’s pretty common across the board. 30% is really high for sure, but payment processors gotta get paid at some point.
I think Apple should split the fee up. Make a portion what they charge for processing payments and the rest their commission.
I think Apple should split the fee up. Make a portion what they charge for processing payments and the rest their commission.
one is the cost of doing business, the other is predatory
Do you know how much manufacturers earn on products sold in grocery stores? Far less than 50% of the retail price. When distributors are involved, it’s even less. The company that makes a bar of soap might get paid $1, the distributor gets $1 and the retailer sells it for $3 and has the right to return unsold product. And shipping costs aren’t included in these amounts. The manufacturer gets $1 but also has to pay shipping to the distributor.
People complaining about 30% have no idea how real world businesses operate. They are in some kind of fantasyland. Don’t forget, the App Store also handles your worldwide sales tax payments, fraud protection, chargebacks, hosting, distribution, your storefront, your payment processing and gives you worldwide availability for your app in the specific local currencies.
If those services aren’t of value to you, then don’t sell apps for iOS. Certainly Windows Phone has some users, or perhaps create your own device and ecosystem that offers terms you find more amenable. This is Hacker News, not crybaby news: you don’t like the status quo, then get some friends, start making a better system, raise some money, then compete. If you think 30% is predatory, then make a system that only charges $what_you_think_is_fair.
As far as Stripe, they take more than 3%. And for connect accounts, the percentage is closer to 3.5% not to mention you get charged $15 or $20 for a chargeback. What’s Apple charge developers for chargebacks? Zero. How often do developers have to challenge chargebacks with Apple? Zero. If you are selling using Stripe, it can become a significant expense, depending on your industry, especially gaming.
It’s my feeling that people complaining about 30% have no idea of the expense of “doing it themselves.”
Getting INTO stores is hard. The store can dump product back onto you - so they have no risk. The price on shelf has NOTHING to do with what you get, if you are small you are already going through some intermediaries. Ie, person making product, packing, shipping to distributor (some make you pay cost to get it to them), then distribution costs then retailer markups then return handling yadda yadda. THEN retailers will ask you to run promos and give them discounts or they will drop you.
3%? EVERYONE would pay that. In retail I'd say person making product gets maybe 20%? 80% is taken by others?