Google is “Not Happy” with Android App Purchases

by Antonio Wells Jan 27, 2011 11:50 AM – 10 Comments

Last week we held a quick poll on our site about one of the glaring reasons among others why Google might not be “happy” with sales performance of paid Android apps; that being the reduction in refund window time from 24 hours to 15 minutes. More than 500 people who took the poll agreed the refund window for purchasing Android apps was too short (95%). Of those 31% felt the original 24 hours was sufficient and another 24% agreed with 4 hours while 21% felt 1 hour was good.

One could argue some other app ecosystems such as Apple do not have refunds at all, having a shorten refund window on digital download goods would increase impulse buying sales. There is also the fact that more than 65% of Android apps in the Market are free, whereas this stat is in reverse in other app marketplaces. Eric Chu, Android platform group manager at Google, state they are making strides to improve sales by tapping into direct carrier billing. Plus including more accurate recommendations and better merchandising – for instance, listing top apps based on actual usage. What are your thoughts… comment below!

[Source SFGate Business Insider Article via Androinica]

Tags: Android Apps, Android Market, Android Market 15 Minute Refund, Android Market Refunds, Google, Google Not Happy With Android App Purchases

Categorised in: Featured, News

10 Comments

By Steve on January 27, 2011 at 12:31 pm:

I hardly ever buy apps on the market as most are in a different currency; so it doesn’t matter whether the price is low; every time I buy through Google checkout, my bank charges me an extra £1.25 for a foreign transaction charge.

Compare this to Apple’s store where I pay in local currency and my iPod has a fair collection of paid apps.

If Google gets Paypal hooked up, or alters Google Checkout so I buy in my local currency then I’ll start buying apps.

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- By feelkarma on January 28, 2011 at 4:19 am:
  
  Totally agree, same here in France, no way people will accept to pay double the price of an app in banking fees. PayPal does allow to pay in different currencies without charging a fixed fee – but Google is trying to reinvent the e-wheel and ignores PayPal.
  Many people have pointed this out but so far no reaction from Google http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?fid=164bd70acae205ad00049a1b56db8204&hl=en
  
  Reply
By foebea on January 27, 2011 at 1:12 pm:

With the 24 hour period I purchased many many apps, returning most of them, but keeping several hundred dollars worth of apps. Without a viable return window I have purchased nothing without trying a demo version first. Many of the apps I have purchased in the past did not have demos.

If the developers start as a rule creating ad supported versions in addition to paid, I will be able to continue as before. I will not buy any software sight unseen.

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- By prowse on February 3, 2011 at 2:05 am:
  
  The Market STILL gives no warning as to the refund period. About half of the people I know that have Android devices STILL believe (until I correct them) that there is a 24 hour window for refund!
  
  Pay via carriers? How in the hell is that not going to piss Google and Android users off?
  
  Reply
By Rajeev on January 27, 2011 at 1:55 pm:

You know how they can fix the app purchase issue? 1) Convince Samsung to get their 10 million phones on Froyo, which will help a lot of users get the latest apps available in the Market. 2) This will help users move apps to the SD card to get more space to get more apps. That way they can buy more apps.

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- By prowse on February 3, 2011 at 2:07 am:
  
  Whoah, shemp! Moving Apps to SD means no more widgets working for the apps that have been moved. How do you not know this by now?
  
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By Ray on January 27, 2011 at 1:56 pm:

I have not purchased an app from the android market place since they shortened the refund period to 15 minutes. I have purchased 10 apps before they shortened the refund period to 15 minutes and returned 4 of them. I am hesitant to purchase an app with out being able to evaluate all of its features for a reasonable amount of time. 24 hours is reasonable in my opinion.

If the game app creators have concerns about the 24 hours there are things they can do to fix this. They can only have a few levels unlocked at first purchase and unlock the rest after the 24 hour purchase or after the user agrees to not return the item.

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By friendinme on January 27, 2011 at 2:21 pm:

The market needs a better way of sorting out junk apps and bringing the quality apps to the front. For example, I just did a search for “launcher.” One of the best launchers (ADW) didn’t show up until the 9th page of results, two others (LauncherPro and ADW Launcher Ex) still did not show after 12 result-screens.

In the meantime, virtually all the GO Ex Themes showed up in the search.

The 15 minute trial is far too short. In the case of a launcher, for example, it is not even enough time to become acclimated to what the app is doing. I have been stuck more than once with a crap app that I used for an hour. So, lately, I am leery of putting up money on a 15 minute gamble… especially the more expensive apps.

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By dbareis on January 27, 2011 at 9:40 pm:

The developer should be allowed to specify the refund window and that should start at INSTALLATION time. The refund time needs then to be clearly stated in the apps description. 4 hours might be enough for the most simplistic apps but not for more complex ones hence the current existance of TRIAL “free” versions that expired after 7-31 days etc.

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By Mike on January 28, 2011 at 6:26 pm:

Currency is my biggest issue. It always seems like most of the apps I want are being sold in another currency, and I just have no interest in paying a currency exchange fee on top of the price of the app. I don’t care about the refund window because anyone who is serious about selling their app will offer a demo.

Now, if Google would actually listen, we might have a better app store going.

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