App Store’s 90 day refund confirmed
It’s been rumored for some time now that apple was intent on adding an new provision to their contracts stating that not only must developers offer a 90 day full refund on App Store products, but they must foot the bill for Apple’s commission as well has indeed come true.
Pocketgamer was able to grab a hold of the passage in the new developers contract that clearly spells out what could be potential disastrous for developers if an application finds itself to fall into the following category. Here is the passage unedited.
“6.3 In the event that Apple receives any notice or claim from any end-user that: (i) the end-user wishes to cancel its license to any of the Licensed Applications within (90) days of the date of download of that Licensed Application by that end-user; or (ii) a Licensed Application fails to conform to Your Specifications or Your Product warranty or the requirements of any applicable law, Apple may refund to the end-user the full amount of the price paid by the end-user for that Licensed Application. In the event that Apple refunds any such price to an end-user, You shall reimburse, or grant Apple a credit for, an amount equal to the price for that Licensed Application. Apple will have the right to retain its commission on the sale of that Licensed Application, notwithstanding the refund of the price to the end-user.”
In inside developer let it be know that this passage isn’t new, but really new and has always been in the contract but has come to the publics attention now that Android’s version of the app store offers a 24 hour return policy.
We have not heard of anyone getting a refund as of yet, but as this comes to lite there are few apps I can think of that are incomplete and worthy of a refund however hard it might be to get one.
The 90 Day rule is worry some to me 90 days is a LONG life for some of these apps, it would seem a 24/48 hour window would be more appropriate.
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Category: iPhone
90 days!!! omg too long lol maybe like 1-5 days not 90!!!
Well maybe it will force the developers of these games to put up better quality versions as opposed to throw up a version 0.89 then keep updating…blah…blah…blah…like us users really care about version .89 or .98 like it should give them more leeway? yeah right!
We want it the best it can be when we buy it the first time!
“…this passage isn’t new, but really new and has always been in the contract…”
Really old, do you mean?
As for all of the rumors flying around…it’s been like this for a while, and yes, there are instances of folks getting refunds. I had to use it myself once–if you accidentally buy an app and report it within a reasonable amount of time, they’ll refund the money. But you can’t abuse the system; Apple wouldn’t profit off of that! This just lets them keep the door open *just in case*. You CANNOT get a no-questions asked refund. Apple has to approve it.
Wow 90 days? A lot of apps I don’t play after 90 days, I could basically just keep dropping apps every 89 days and rebuying them later.
Wow… 90 days? Really! Can’t believe this… I agree that 24 hours is enough to know. You’ve gotta have a pretty good excuse to want a refund. I’ve been unhappy with games but there are very few that i would say is worthy of wanting a refund. I wonder if they’ll come up with a criteria to go with this.
in 90 days you can finish any game 100% so you basiclly will play for free 24hrs max
90 days is way too long hahaha
I think this is an ill-advised provision that really sets developers up for a huge fall. 90 days? The majority of games in iTunes have a short shelf life, and combine this with the disposable low prices, three months is an eternity. Based on reviews in the store, many are simply idiots who either don’t know how to install/reboot or disappointed because of price drops. Devs already have a difficult time rising above the noise or making a profit in the store, and this provision could potentially drive many out.