Selling Apps on the Play Store?

a fat guy

Hi folks,

Does anyone have any experience of selling Android apps on the Play store?

I was thinking of developing something cool to sell on it, but I don't know exactly what the legal requirements are (e.g. if I'm regularly selling apps, will a certain level of income "count" as a job, which I will then have to pay tax on?).

I've also heard that Google is quite strict on penalties for apps that go against their terms of service. Are there any particular pitfalls to watch out for?

And if I do get banned from selling apps, is it against the terms of service to make another account to sell apps with?

I've never created anything for the app store before, so any tips/help is "app"-reciated! :pac:

The Corinthian

It's been ages since I went through the process of registering a paid app (and conditions changed along the way) but while there is some red tape, it's relatively painless. Main things are you'll be asked to register a Google Wallet account, there's some verification as to your bank account and address and you'll need to register an address publicly (it'll appear on the app's Play landing page).

As to banning, it's more likely that the app will be suspended than your account. Things to watch out for are that what you're selling does not break any of the Google acceptable content rules and that it is age appropriate.

I'm not entirely sure what the situation is on registering multiple accounts is, but doing so to get round a ban would be considered a big no-no.

a fat guy

Any idea on the whole income tax deal? Or is that not applicable for some reason? I'd imagine Google have something set up to make it as painless as possible to develop apps for them.

The Corinthian

a fat guy wrote: »

Any idea on the whole income tax deal? Or is that not applicable for some reason? I'd imagine Google have something set up to make it as painless as possible to develop apps for them.

You have to declare income for tax purposes yourself.

a fat guy

The Corinthian wrote: »

You have to declare income for tax purposes yourself.

Yeah, I figured that would be the case.


Oh well, off to the tax forum I go! Cheers!

p

I used to do jobs on the side when I was employed. Just being a sole trader is pretty easy, you just save the money you get paid, and at the end of the year file and additional return and they'll tell you how much tax you owe. Pretty painless really.

My advice, write the app first, when you start earning over 100 euro, then worry about it You can always do this stuff retrospectively (up to about 6 months) so see if you actually make any money first.

identer

Getting the app to google play should be painless based on the loads of silly ebooks called app present in the store. The hard is usually making people buy your app. When it comes to mobile all people want is free or vouchers.

The Corinthian

identer wrote: »

Getting the app to google play should be painless based on the loads of silly ebooks called app present in the store.

What are "silly ebooks called app"? I presume you mean hybrid apps?

The hard is usually making people buy your app.

Yes, it would be if you're unaware of any other montization models.

When it comes to mobile all people want is free or vouchers.

Yes, the app stores are chock-a-block full of voucher-based apps...