E-mail from Amazon - App Pricing Discrepancy‏

scrapee_net

Today I received an email regarding my game Smash these Ants.

It is free on Google Play and iTunes, and 0,99 USD on Amazon.
It already had over 400.000 downloads on google play and 6.000 sales on Amazon.

I make no money from Google Play with the game as you know, because gamesalad does offer a way to put ads on android games.



The email that I received is this:

We’ve noticed that Smash these Ants is $0.99 on the Amazon Appstore, but $0.00 [Free] on a similar service. Please review our terms to ensure that the app pricing is compliant by following the link below: https://developer.amazon.com/settings/docs.html
Any necessary changes can be made via the Distribution Portal.

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I'm not sure about what should I do in this case. If they want me to remove the free version from google play, and if they care also about the iphone version.

Unfortunatly there is no way to answer the email they sent.

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Anyone know anything about this?

IsabelleK

Can't you just make all versions paid?

scrapee_net

Can't you just make all versions paid?

The iphone version even being free was not successfull. Changing it to paid would just make it worse.

The version on google play, the only option is to remove it as there is no way to charge for it after being free

tenrdrmer

I would suggest if you want to keep selling it on amazon you pull it from google play. I doubt they care about iTunes asince those downloads cannot work on the same devices.

There might be an option to remove from sale without completely removing the app all together.

lycettebros

Their new policy came out with the requirement for all App prices to be the same even if it has changed from an original pricing setting.
Basically whatever your pricing (or lack of pricing) on any other service has ever been MUST be matched on Amazon (and not exceeded).

You need to think strategically now about pricing on your Apps and if you release them on other stores or not now and into the future.
It sucks that it is a retrospective policy. It doubly sucks because if you want to make revenue from iAds in a free app on iTunes you cannot on Amazon/Android because no advertising functionality exists.

I will say it again. Publishers using GS need revenue generation options for Android apps to make it a serious publishing option.

tenrdrmer

If your free app has ads then its not the same app so they cannot force the same price.

I would say they are trying to exert the control over the developers like they used to have. I don't see something like this lasting.

They ultimately have no right to dictate what you sell your product for and i would bet you will begin to see developers dumping amazon over this. Maybe i'm wrong but its one of those situations if we all stand together and say F U then they will have no choice but to loose the policy. I under stand the policy where they compete with Google Play but there is no cross over between Android Devices and iOS devices.

lycettebros

If your free app has ads then its not the same app so they cannot force the same price.

hmmm interesting point...worth a try I guess.

scrapee_net

I don't believe they mean also iOS applescore where they say "similar service" as they are different platforms.

mmzbr

Ads for Android would be a priority to the next Gamesalad Versions. Google Play Store is based on 90% of Free Apps, with 400k downloads (depends how many active devices keeps and play your game) you're losing a good amount of money because there's no ads. What a shame.

scrapee_net

I wrote to amazon asking them about what the meant by "Similar service", and this is what I got.


"Similar service is in reference to any similar service where apps are available. Not exclusively Google Play."

So, they want to control us. This is really a bad thing.

Ren_Elljay

They're not really trying to control you. Amazon built their business by beating out competitors on price (ask Borders). So to allow a system in which their products are more expensive than the competition goes against their standard business model.

They're not asking you to make it cheaper on Amazon, they are only asking you to keep it the same (or cheaper, but only if you want to). They are known for having competitive prices. All they are trying to do is maintain this reputation/business model.

Furthermore, imagine someone who has a Kindle and an iPhone/iPad/other device. If its cheaper or free on the other versions then customers won't buy the Kindle version. You seem to be generating sales, but you may be an exception rather than the rule. In which case, what benefit is it then for Amazon to carry products that won't sell? Remember they're a business too.

Lastly, imagine yourself buying an app on Amazon, only to find it cheaper or free elsewhere. People would then think twice about purchasing from Amazon, or may even get angry at Amazon (even though they didn't set the price). Again they are simply protecting their reputation/business model.

You can argue that the free version can spur sales of the paid version, but it will be almost impossible to prove, and will mostly differ on a case to case basis. With thousands of apps they need to put in place a blanket of rules to cover all, and this makes the most sense.

EatingMyHat

Amazon is 100% right. If developers will start offering Free apps on Google but Paid on Amazon, customers will stay away from Amazon. It is their platform that you use and they have every right to make the rules, especially if the rule is that you have to threat their customers equally. You can make the point that iTunes is with Ads and Android is without, but having a Google Play as Free and Amazon is Paid is a big red flag for them (as it should).

I'm actually impressed that they are monitoring it. At the end of the day, if they will not - the ones that get hurt is the developers because people will not have the confident to buy from the Amazon store (in the same way that people do not have confident to pay for Google Play content).

As for what you should do - follow the money... if Amazon is your money maker just switch the others to paid. They might do $0 which is the same $0 that you are doing today, but would you risk your Amazon revenue to get more free downloads?

pinkio75

@scrapee_net
Hello, you said that you make ​​6.000 sales on Amazon, wow this is very awesome result for me; perhaps have you post your app into some site to advertising it?
I say this because i have 2 apps and after 3 days I have done ZERO download.
thanks.

TechNoir

@scrapee_net 400,000 downloads? Will GS releases adds for Android? What a shame you cant make money from this.. Can you release an update with a link to another paid Android game you have on Google Play?? Unfortunately you should just make the Amazon version free,, it obviously is a popular game,, build up your audience,,, take what you can from it..