IAP or Apple Pay?

Our app is currently completely free but we are starting to think about monetization model.


Our app provide online community platform where anyone can create a message board to communicate with members. Our future business model may look like,


1) Pay To Join

-> Board admin may opt in paid subscription model for his/her own board to require members pay to join the board, thus collecting membership fee.

(The fee may be voluntarily set by the admin for each board, so this means we may eventually host 1 mil. boards and each board has different fees to join)

-> We will collect the money from the member for each board and transfer total amount to board admin excluding our commission (monthly)


2) Pay To Post

-> Board admin may opt in pay to post option for his/her own board. Members for his/her board are required to pay certain amount set by the board admin when they post.

-> We will collect the money from the member for each board and transfer total amount to board admin excluding our commission (monthly)


My question is should we use IAP or Apple Pay in order to provide above services?

We may or may not say that services for the board are consumed on app or offline. ie) Mom's club, Ask a question, etc.


Also, where does IAP guideline stand with following questions?

1) Can users reward other user with virtual currency within the app?

2) Can developer provide redemption features within the app that allows user to request to cash out from the app via PayPal or other third party ACH transfer services?


Our ideal case would be


1) People buy virtual currency from the app

2) They use virtual currency to post to a board or join boards

3) Board admin accumulate virtual currency over time and cash out earned virtual currency via PayPal integrated within the app.


Thanks in advance for your response.

Best

Jae

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enockjae
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If what you are selling is postings on a bulletin board then I think you must use IAP. If what you are selling is 'expert advise' then that is a real world service and you can't use IAP and can use a third party payment system, although it is unclear whether you can use that 3 rd party payment system within the app.


Regarding redemptions - that's unclear whether you can, in essence, refund in cash part (e.g. a fraction of the 70%) of the payment made by the user through the IAP system. I think you can.


There is one issue - that is the question of whether you can 'gift' consumable IAP credits from one person to another. There is a guideline saying you can't - but I think that does not apply to transferring a consumable from one user to another. I think that gno-gift guideline is meant to prevent a user from gifting a consumable that was not purchased through IAP (e.g. buy a candy bar and get a gift of 5 consumable credits for the candy bar app).


Good luck!

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PBK
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IAP vs. Apple Pay ...two different things, naturally


One (AP) is a payment scheme and the other (IAP) is a transaction process.


Apple Pay just hands off to a payment processor - IAP involves direct billing via iTunes, where Apple takes it’s usual 30%.


Apple has this to say...


Apple Pay APIs:

3.3.42 Your Application may use the Apple Pay APIs solely for the purpose of facilitating payment transactions that are made through Your Application, and only for the purchase of goods and services that are to be used outside of any iOS Product. For clarity, nothing in this Section 3.3.42 supplants any of the rules or requirements for the use of the In-App Purchase API, including but not limited to Section 3.3.3 and the guidelines.


In addition:

- You acknowledge and agree that Apple is not a party to any payment transactions facilitated through the use of the Apple Pay APIs and is not responsible for any such transactions, including but not limited to the unavailability of any end-user payment cards or payment fraud. Such payment transactions are between You and Your bank, acquirer, card networks, or other parties You utilize for transaction processing, and You are responsible for complying with any agreements You have with such third parties. In some cases, such agreements may contain terms specifying specific rights, obligations or limitations that You accept and assume in connection with Your decision to utilize the functionality of the Apple Pay APIs.


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KMT
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