I am trying to use Google Play Billing 2 on my game. In documentation, it says:
Test pending transactions with license testers
Pending transactions can be tested using license testers. In addition
to two test credit cards, license testers have access to two test
instruments for delayed forms of payment which automatically complete
or cancel after a couple of minutes.
My question is, how exactly to test it? Can I test it without credit card? Thanks in advance
Related
I have done the Apple Pay integration https://developer.apple.com/documentation/passkit/apple_pay/setting_up_apple_pay_requirements and tested https://developer.apple.com/apple-pay/sandbox-testing/.
I have done the testing successfully by using sandbox and real cards but cannot see the transaction history for any of them. There is no record on Card Issuer Bank statement.
I've followed the following guidelines to check transaction recordshttps://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph7b666943a/ios but couldn't see any change?
Has anyone done this yet? if yes, then please guide me through the process to check the transaction history record of payments made by Apple Pay iOS app and where can developer(retailer/owner of the app) can see the transactions done by user?
Actually I have implemented auto-renewable subscription feature using In-App Purchase on my project.
It throws payment cancelled when I try adding card whilst subscribing. If card is already added, it is working fine.
But App store shows subscription and payment done.
I have used SwiftyStoreKit library which is no longer maintained from May 1.
I have tested all in production mode by downloading app from app store.
Is there any way to test it while development? In sandbox mode, there is no option to test by adding card or paypal.
No,
there is no option to test it while in development. It might be possible to simulate the exact same scenario, but with "parental permissions" - create IAP product that requires parental permissions, and make sure your account is "child" or "limited" - it should have similar flow like expired credit card. Although I have not tested it, but worth a shot.
what happens is that if you add new transaction to the transaction queue, and credit card has expired, you will get "transaction failed" in your queue. If user then fills out the correct credit card, you will get "transaction succeeded" message.
https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/6431
here you can read more about credit card expiration.
I want to A/B test free trial for auto-renewal subscription. How can I do that?
I can A/B test the app UI describing subscription, but iOS system modal screen will display free trial anyway if it is enabled in appstore connect.
The other option I think of is creating another one similar subscription in appstore connect with free trial and A/B test it with the existing one. But I doubt it will pass review. And it will be a pain to support two subscriptions from now on.
Any ideas how to perform such a test?
To A/B test a free trial you should create two different subscriptions that are part of the same Subscription Group. This will ensure that a user can only be subscribed to one at a time. Apple allows this and you won't have any trouble passing review due to having multiple subscription offerings - it's a fairly common practice across subscription apps.
As far as supporting two subscriptions - if they unlock the same content in your app it shouldn't be any more work than supporting a single subscription. The only difference will be they'll have different product_ids.
Case:
Our iOS app offers selling of custom made recipe packages that would be created for each user specifically. For example - user buys package of recipes, but for each user this package would be created individually, based on users preferences and needs, by someone from the app team. This package should be created in 5 days for example. If app team fails to create this package and deliver to end user in 5 days, automatic refund should be triggered and end user should receive money back that he spent on this in app purchase, thus invalidating purchased custom package.
Problem:
Is this kind of scenario even possible in Apple / iOS world? Can app developer trigger refund process of one specific purchase that end user made? If user isn't satisfied with specific purchase, could app developer trigger this is refund process if he has reference to transaction receipt?
P.S. We aren't really selling custom recipe packages, this was just an example scenario to help to understand this refund scenario case. ;)
EDIT:
If such scenario isn't possible via Apple refund, are there some examples of this kind of purchase model, implemented in some other way? It's hard to wrap my mind that only way for end user to get refund for something is to write Apple and that also needs to be done by user itself.
If you get paid using Apple services (in-app purchases) then NO, it isn't possible for an Apple Developer (business or individual) to refund App Store customers.
The only option is to direct customers to iTunes Store Customer Support as officially stated in the iTunes Connect screenshot below:
To increase the chances for your customers in getting refunded you could provide them with an e-mail stating that you would like them to receive a refund which they could show to the iTunes Support employee.
As a colleague stated, an option would be to use an external payment processor like PayPal which would allow you to manage refunds, but I think this will greatly increase the work needed since you will need to manage almost everything regarding payments on your own.
Also note that this option is highly restricted by Apple to only physical services or goods and sometimes Apple does not approve apps providing services through third-party payment processors. So.. you should be very careful what path you choose to take.
If the recipes you're providing to your customers are in digital format and users receive them in your app, you can be 100% sure that Apple will force you to use the in-app purchase system.
If such scenario isn't possible via Apple refund, are there some
examples of this kind of purchase model, implemented in some other
way?
In some cases you can use payment through PayPal (for example). We did it in our application where we had to take money of users and return it after a certain period. Check if you case is suitable for using third-party payment systems. Because (for example) Apple will restrict your app if you want to sell in-game content via Paypal, not with in-app purchase.
One very simple alternative would be to have your users buy virtual currency in your app that they can then spend on their recipe-package-orders. Since you are managing their virtual currency account balance, you can easily refund, give volume-discounts, etc. as you please. The only thing that will still be hard then is to have users return their virtual currency to get back their actual money.
There is no api for allowing users to refund a purchase (otherwise guess what can happen).
More info here
We are prepping for the release of a large web application that has been in development for the past year. We are about to start the process of integrating ActiveMerchant to handle recurring subscription fees for the service.
I am looking for any advice regarding best practices considering our requirements (listed below) and any additional heads-up for common pitfalls or specific issues I should be giving special consideration. The payment gateway we will be using is PaymentExpress as it's one of the few supported gateways that has recurring billing and doesn't have any special conditions for companies operating outside of the USA. The business behind this application is based out of the UK.
Users of the application create an account with a sub-domain where they can access and customise the application and their data. Below are some of the requirements/features that might have an effect on how billing works:
All users get a 30 day trial
There are different plans, including a free one
Higher priced plans have larger limits on the amount of data (e.g. users, projects, etc) they can have in their account
Billing period will be monthly, beginning after trial
There will be discounts/coupon codes to get a percentage off the normal price for a year on plans, etc.
Plan pricing will change as features are added
Specific hurdles I can foresee will be things including the following:
How to handle downgrading when they violate the plan limits for lower level plans.
Behaviour when credit cards expire or payments don't go through (a read-only mode enforced, perhaps)
When plan pricing changes, we want to honour previous prices for existing users for a time period (such as 6 months), then start charging higher rates. If the plan price decreases, it will take effect immediately.
Other advice that would be helpful would be anything regarding flow of the application. How should billing forms be presented to the user? When should credit card information be required? How should invoices be sent, stored, and accessible?
I should disclose that we plan to base a lot of the code base off SaaSy. SaaSy is designed to be used as a separate Rails app that handles all the signup and account management side of things. However, this doesn't work for us since we never planned for this from the beginning and it would be a tedious process to adapt our application to work like that. Consequently, we'll be pulling code and ideas from SaaSy and merging them into our app, a considerably less tedious task.
One thing I wanted to add: keep in mind you don't need to use the recurring billing feature that is built into the gateway. In general these systems are legacy and very difficult to deal with, we get spoiled in the rails world.
You get a lot more flexibility just using them for one purpose (to bill a credit card, and perhaps also store credit cards for PCI compliance). Then roll your own recurring billing in your rails app with a cron job, a date field for when they are paid through, and amount each person is paying (in case they used a coupon) etc.
One small example: sometimes people will cancel a monthly subscription in the middle of the month. They want to make sure they don't forget to cancel before the next payment. Most gateway recurring billing that I've seen will instantly terminate the account (or send you a message indicating this). In reality, the user has paid through the end of the month and should be given 2 more weeks of access. You can do this if you have rolled your own recurring billing in rails, but not if you are using the gateway recurring billing. Just a small example.
RailsKits has a Software as a Service kit that should do what you need. It has built-in support for free trials, upgrading, downgrading, plan limits, etc., and it supports PaymentExpress (and some others).
I've researched it a bit for a project I'm doing, but I haven't purchased it yet so I can't vouch for it. However, I have seen a few blog posts praising this kit.
While the RailsKit is relatively inexpensive when compared what it would cost you to implement all of its features yourself, there are a couple open source versions out there that aim to accomplish the same thing. The one I remember off the top of my head is called Freemium.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that Ryan Bates said in his most recent Railscast that his next episode or two will deal with recurring billing, so keep an eye out for that. He usually does one episode per week, and the five he's done since December 22 all cover handling payments of different types.
Peepcode has a PDF for sale(70 pages) that details various aspects of payment processing and industry practices for this. It may be worth checking out:
http://peepcode.com/products/activemerchant-pdf
I'm also in the middle of setting up a subscription based website and these are our current requirements. They may help you regarding best practice:
Users will be able to choose one of
the subscription plans.
Users will be required to enter their
credit card details to sign up to
their chosen plan.
All major credit and debit cards must
be accepted including Maestro and
American Express.
Each plan will have a 30-day free
trial so users' credit cards should
only be charged after the 30-day
period expires. However, the validity
of credits cards should be checked at
the time of sign up.
Users will be emailed a few days
before their credit card is charged
to notify them that they will be
charged soon unless they cancel their
account. If they cancel their account
within their 30 day free trial, their
credit card should not be charged.
After any free trial period, users
will be charged in advance for their
use of the system - ie they will
pre-pay.
Users will be charged automatically
every month for their chosen plan.
Each month, users will be sent an
email a few days in advance to notify
them that they will be charged. Once
payment has been made, users will be
emailed an invoice showing that their
payment has been received.
Users will be able to upgrade or
downgrade their accounts at any time.
When users upgrade/downgrade, their
next subscription charge will be at
the new rate. Users will only be able
to downgrade their accounts to a plan
that can handle their data. For
example, if they currently have 10
active projects they can't downgrade
to the Basic plan because the Basic
plan only allows 5 projects. They
will have to delete or archive 5
projects before you they can
downgrade to Basic.
Users will be able to log in to their
account and change or update their
credit card details.
Users will be able to cancel their
account at any time. There will be no
further subscription charges after a
user has canceled their account.
However, users will not be refunded
for part of the month they have
already paid for.
All parts of the payment system must
be 100% PCI DSS compliant; including
any 3rd party systems.
The payment system must support
automated notification and retry of
failed subscription renewals.
The payment system must support
discount vouchers with expiry dates.
Credit card details must not be
processed by or stored on our servers
they should always be processed/stored by our 3rd party
payment processing partner. We do not
want responsibility for securing
these details and complying with
legal rules and regulations.
Users will be able to log into their
accounts and see a full billing
history including dates and amounts
paid. We will also need to be
able to log in to a system to see
customer payment plans and payment
history. This will be essential for
customer service.
We've also been looking at http://chargify.com/ which looks like it could save a lot of coding time.