Been thinking about bypassing the App Store for subscriptions but everyone just talks about the 30% cut.
What other costs or savings have you actually seen when going direct? Development time, support overhead, conversion rates?
You handle support for issues like failed payments directly. That adds a lot of hassle compared to using Apple.
Fraud protection gets expensive quick. Apple covers fraud losses when they process payments. Bill directly and you’ll need tools to catch stolen cards and sketchy signups. Expect to spend 0.3-0.8% of revenue on fraud prevention. There’s also tax compliance, which can be a nightmare. Apple handles sales tax everywhere. Go direct and you’re filing taxes in every state and country where you have customers. You’ll either pay for a tax service or waste weeks learning nexus rules yourself.
Margins improved a lot but conversions tanked.
Development dragged on way longer than expected. Took us 3 months to get a decent web subscription flow working.
Churn became a bigger headache. People would sign up on the web, then forget and couldn’t find their subscription in Apple settings. Support tickets went through the roof.
The upside? We can run retention campaigns now. Having direct email access means we can hit users with targeted offers before they bail. We’re saving about 8-10% of cancellations this way.
Downside is we’re dealing with payment disputes directly now. Apple used to handle that mess, but chargebacks hit us straight up.
You will save on fees but lose the trust that comes with the App Store. Many users hesitate when asked for their credit card information directly.
You can expect lower conversion rates due to the extra steps in your checkout process. You also have to manage payment processing, refunds, and failed transactions by yourself.
Creating a reliable payment system takes more than just a weekend. It requires significant development time.