Are in-app purchases mandatory for a reseller marketplace

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Created Apr ’23

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Currently, we have an online learning ecommerce platform, for example https://sellersubdomain.learningmarketplace.com. Sellers can register to this platform and sell access to content hosted on their own platform (think Coursera, EdX, Udemy). We offer licensing, pricing, and promotions of such non-hosted content for sellers.

This content can be sold for retail, or by packaging them into monthly subscriptions. We also allow a seller to resell another seller's digital content through their own super-subscriptions.

Our buyers are purchasing this content through another platform https://buyersubdomain.corporatelearning.com. Each Buyer can also get themselves a white-labelled iOS app.

On the web, when a user clicks on the purchase button in the buyer corporate learning platform, they are redirected to a learning marketplace URL (responsive webpage), where the learning marketplace evaluates if the user is purchasing a retail product or a subscription, and then processes the order accordingly. We use Adyen as a payment gateway, and it does offer Apple Pay as a payment method.

Once the order is completed, the user is then redirected to the seller's platform to consume the content.

In a way, our learning marketplace platform is very similar to Shopify, Selly, or WooCommerce, and the corporate learning apps are simply embedding a buy button that redirects users to the seller's shopify or sellify online store.

Given that we are reselling non-hosted third-party content that will not be consumed within the corporate learning app.

Question: Will the corporate learning app(s) be rejected for not using in-app purchases?

If yes, what is the right way of doing in-app purchases for selling access to content that is not even hosted within your app/platform?

How do we ensure that subscriptions started on iOS (using in-app purchases) can be cancelled on the web or android?

How can we use promotions from our learning marketplace platform for in-app purchases.?

We are not trying to avoid the 30% transaction fees, we simply want to be able to manage content licenses, pricing, and promotions from one platform

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Answer 1

Harry11077 OP

Apr ’23

Follow up:

Can someone help if the below exceptions to in-app purchases in the review guidelines might be applicable to the use case I explained above:

3.1.3 Other Purchase Methods: The following apps may use purchase methods other than in-app purchase. Apps in this section cannot, within the app, encourage users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase, except as set forth in 3.1.3(a). Developers can send communications outside of the app to their user base about purchasing methods other than in-app purchase.

3.1.3(a) “Reader” Apps: Apps may allow a user to access previously purchased content or content subscriptions (specifically: magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video). Reader apps may offer account creation for free tiers, and account management functionality for existing customers. Reader app developers may apply for the External Link Account Entitlement to provide an informational link in their app to a web site the developer owns or maintains responsibility for in order to create or manage an account. Learn more about the External Link Account Entitlement.

3.1.3(b) Multiplatform Services: Apps that operate across multiple platforms may allow users to access content, subscriptions, or features they have acquired in your app on other platforms or your web site, including consumable items in multi-platform games, provided those items are also available as in-app purchases within the app.

3.1.3(e) Goods and Services Outside of the App: If your app enables people to purchase physical goods or services that will be consumed outside of the app, you must use purchase methods other than in-app purchase to collect those payments, such as Apple Pay or traditional credit card entry.

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Answer 2

oemerhkl OP

Jul ’24

Hi Harry,

I have a quite similar use case and I am really interested, how you have solved the problem.

What was your solution? How did you use in-app purchases for your products? Did you configure one in-app purchase product for each item?

Best regards, Ömer

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