Eu refund policy ruined it

I can see both sides, some people may abuse it but the ones who abuse it non stop are the ones who might pirate apps anyway or whinge when they complete a 99c app a few days later and want their money back. The types who go after promo code after promo code and rarely talk about paid games in any of the threads. I think these people devs dont make much money from anyway

I think with this ruling it may 'also' help the public have more quality apps as not as many people will want to get a refund etc. Might be 'larger' style games etc

I wouldnt call it stupid, Apple should have done something similar to Android as in you get x hours with an app before they charge you for it.

You mentioned you have an '180 million dollar app' (is this the secret one you never mention to anyone despite being asked 10000 times ?) anyway so i doubt this will affect you much

 

I think your marketing has ruined any chance of you making money.


The policy has more implications for chart manipulation than actual consumers. I bet if you see there statistics a super tiny % of people actually make a refund.

Apple already basically give a refund for virtually no reason mostly because it easier than arguing over $2. They are more interested in keeping people who buy their thousand dollar hardware happy.

I do wonder how it will play out with consumables in games. You use them and ask for a refund. What mechanic will there be to get the goods back?

 

Really, you're now going after me in this thread also! # lol
I wonder if anything like this will happen in the states.

 

Spend a couple of thousand Dollar on the iTunes/Google Play Store in Japan, Austria, USA and of course New Zealand over a time period of twelve months in 2014 and so far i had requested and demanded a refund from Apple/Google for overall 25. Appz because those Appz where bugged as hell or just a 100% Scam.

While I can only speak for myself I can tell you that I'm more then sure that the Number of Appz that I had requested a refund for has never been higher then that in over seven(!) years of iOS/Android Mobile Gaming.

More then ever before a bunch of Publisher & Developer believe that they can put their broken Appz on iTunes or Google Play and then start patching their mess afterwards till it is hopefully working as it should be from Day One.

Those special Once as I called them will see an significant decrease in their sold Appz Stats in Europe over the next couple of months which will hopefully lead to some kind of cleaning process on the Mobile Market ergo we probably won`t see them a second time again if they screw up a couple of times.

On the other hand the new EU policy will make sure that those that have so far build up a bond of trust between them and their customer will see an increase of their sale stats since now not only those that are already aware of the quality of a brand will buy an App on Launch Day without even waiting to read a Preview/Review but also those that were so far unsure about it and had always hold back their money till someone had reported about the state of a Game with buying it.

I can ensure you that overall the new EU Policy will now not lead to less Sales but even increase those of Developer that take their time to polish their Appz over months before releasing it to the wild and of course of our beloved Developer`s & Publisher that don`t change their Price Tag after the first 48. hours of the "Launch Week" will too see an increase sooner then later in Europe.

Prediction for 2016:

Tim Cook will go up on Stage and announce for Europe that never before in the History of iTunes and the AppStore were sold more Appz then after the new 14-Day Return Policy was installed and that Apple will expand it around the Globe for every single AppStore over the upcoming months to make sure that every of their customer can request an refund for an App if they are not satisfy with it.

Think about it: There would be no more reason for anyone to hold back from buying any so called "full price" App since you could always try it out and return it back if you wouldn`t like it or if it would be too bugged. There would be absolute no reason from now on to don`t buy a $20 Square Enix App on the iTunes Store if you are not 100% sure about it since you could still return it after you have played it for a couple of Minutes and noticed that something isn`t right about it.

I can almost ensure you that the among of those that won`t ask for a refund will probably blow up your mind when Apple will announce a couple of Stats about it since I am more then sure that Apple will try to even increase the Price Tag Appz are getting sold at because Apple would earn that way too more in the longer run and there is no reason why Apple shouldn't promote the hell out of those Stats to indicate that through the new EU Policy more Appz are getting sold then ever before, doesn`t matter what Price Range they are from.

I`m almost sure that the split will be equal to 3(I`m asking for a refund)/7(I`m keepin the App) for ever ten sold Units while the overall Number of Sales will overall almost double over the upcoming twelve months.

We could probably even see a bunch of Developers doing Full Ports of their Console Games with a more realistic Price Tag (Something between $25 - $40 similar like for PlayStation Vita or Nintendo 3DS Games or PlayStation Network/Xbox Live Downloadables) then the current $0.99 Mobile World Price Tags which are almost equal to the Titanic and it`s steady drifting against the Freemium-Iceberg.

Overall in the longer run this hole thing will work out more then well for those that put up quality in front of quantity. I`m more then sure about it and I don`t see nothing wrong in it at all and I can`t understand why or how someone could see it differently then I do at the current moment.

 

I think this is great for consumers and will probably be great for developers that put out polished products. Hopefully it leads to a reduction in scam apps or buggy apps. I think the change in refund policy is great.

 

I wonder if this will curb any 1 week after release sales and games that turn into freemium. I know if I was a dev and this policy was in place I would think twice about doing that.

 

I guess you coukd say that the people who wait for stuff to drop won't any longer and just buy and then get refund.

I can see all sides, but I know it won't change the way I use the App Store, I just hope genuine hardworking devs don't get fleeced with the new terms and conditions.

 

The refund policy has always been around. I know this because once possibly twice in four years I had -1 sales.

 

Let it be known that I never once requested a refund.

 

Developers lurk in the same places as consumers (ie here for example).

It is one thing to protect a product when you haven't released it. Once it is released you need to try and tell the whole world. You have totally failed in that. These forums are one of the biggest collections of iOS gamers and you have decided to try and hide your game from them. I wouldn't call this smart. I would call it dumb.

Hopefully you will learn from your mistakes and if you make another app you won't try to kill it.

 

Just a quick note to say thank you for this. I've been feeling a bit down today and it made me genuinely laugh out loud.

 

How can you grow it if you won't tell anyone what it is or give a link to buy it?
Almost all of my purchases come from reading posts and recommendations on here, I don't think I'm unique in that so you could have lost a lot of potential customers by not telling them what it is your selling.

Or have I totally misunderstood and your app isn't even released yet?

 

Sorry pepper, i read my post back and it sounds like I'm talking about you when I meant people In general. Sorry if I pissed you off.

 

lol, no problem. No worries. #

 

He said it was released but he was disappointed with pretty much no sales.

Word of mouth is super important. I basically sold out my holiday program via word of mouth (over 600 tickets, 100 bucks+ a ticket)

 

So again

What is the name of your app so we can take a look ? You may get some sales or by 'word of mouth' get some that way

I dont think the Apple refund policy has ruined your chance of making money, i think more the decision to join an iOS forum without even mentioning your game is the main reason

 

I have no real problems with consumers getting refunds if they don't like what they got. It removes the risk of buying bad things, and will probably help more purchases in the future.

What does annoy me is that apple doesn't actually remove the app after it has been refunded. Or for inapp purchases they don't inform the developer of which purchases got refunded. So if it is virtual currency, there is no way to get that back off the player. I mean its like buying a bike from a shop, going back saying you don't like the bike, getting your money refunded, and then also getting to keep the bike. Or buying a big mac, eating it, then going back to say it didn't taste that good and getting a refund for it. That is just setting yourself up to be abused.

 

Ah I see, thanks.


Fair enough about not telling people until you're ready and all that but you can't really complain about disappointing sales if your buyers don't even know what the hell their meant to be buying. You're the only dev I've seen who isn't using the advantage of access to many potential buyers here. If you don't feel you game is complete or full (you're waiting for it to grow) then maybe you shouldn't have released just yet? I mean that kindly, not snippy.

In this case I don't think it's the EU policy that's ruined it for you, it's your lack of letting buyers know about your app. It may well have the potential to make you rich, but it can't do that if you don't let people buy it.