In-App eCommerce Store Solution

General
1

I know there have been many discussions on this subject and many relate to eSellerate no longer supporting Xojo etc and serial number generation and product activation … but I am only interested in finding a solution for an “In-App Embedded Web Store” so a user can purchase a plugin directly from my app, pay for it and have it automatically download to their computer and installed.

I know I could theoretically create this in Xojo using a web browser modal and linking to PayPal or another third-party payment provider using a merchant account but that’s a lot of work.

I checked out Paddle and FastSpring but they don’t seem to have a Xojo SDK like eSellerate does/did. And for Mac I don’t necessarily want to be tied to MAS.

Does anyone else have any cross-platform suggestions?

2

E-Junkie can do this very easily and cheaply.
Set up a paypal account, link it to your E-Junkie account.
Create a product, upload the binary.
E-Junkie give you a simple URL.

Customer goes there, pays Paypal using Paypal balance or a variety of card options.
E-Junkie verifies the sale and gives them an immediate download link.
You get all the money bar Paypal’s cut and a very reasonable monthly fee for E-Junkie.

It was great for me until the &**&^&^&^ VATMOSS situation came into play.
Now I have to pay Fastspring to offer the same kind of experience, so they get their cut AND the VAT has to be paid.
If you can avoid being hit for VAT (maybe they wont come knocking in the USA), E-Junkie is the way to do it.

3

Thanks, Jeff but that is not what I am after. I want to be able to code an in-app purchase and download (behind the scenes) not via a redirect on a browser to a website. This generally requires a third-party SDK and dll etc.

4

I would avoid in-app purchases if you can. I think they’re a shady way to hide the real cost of your app from the user. I recommend to all my friends not to purchase them, and I personally do not use apps that do it.

Additionally, I would not trust a web-view gateway inside an app to be secure or legitimate. I never buy from inside an app. I always find a way to buy on a website if I can. Screenflow was quite the challenge, but I pulled it off.

Doesn’t answer your question, but hopefully sways you away from selling via in app purchase.

5

Paddle is more flexible than you think, I don’t use their framework (although my ‘handler’ keeps suggesting that I do). Instead I their web based service via an HTML Viewer. You can set a product on their site to redirect your user to a specific URL once the purchase has gone through, to which you can capture within the HTMLViewer and unlock that content.

You can of course do this via the Mac App Store, but then you pay 30% to Apple (where as Paddle is only 5%).

6

Haven’t we already covered a lot of that in a thread before ? Is it not a case of unfinished painting ? Or pursuit of ever more complexity just for the sake of it ?

[quote=300448:@Denise Adams]a solution for an “In-App Embedded Web Store” so a user can purchase a plugin directly from my app, pay for it and have it automatically download to their computer and installed.
[/quote]

Behind the scene would require you set some sort of communication within the app to download. Which means code it specifically. Pretty much all systems, app stores included, require explicit download and installation from the user.

I have coded something close in one of my apps, where when user has paid, I check with my server that the transaction went through, and if so, download the license automatically, to unlock the product.

It may be possible to update the app as well, using Kaju from Kem Tekinay.

This gets real complex, with all that entails. The slightest glitch can mess up the entire edifice, with grief and anger from the users, and a lot of pain for you. But hey…

Come on… Some people also avoid credit cards and refuse to use checks …

Sure, in app purchase tends to encourage impulse buying, but it seldom masks the price. So I frankly do not see what is shady about it. Besides, most companies that offer in app purchase also offer the product on their site.

Developers need to make a buck. Otherwise they simply die. Things are hard enough these days, without dissing on of the few ways a honest programmer brings bread on the table.

7

When I say “in-app” purchase and download I am referring to small zipped binary files that will be located on my server and after purchase is complete the app downloads and unzips them and places them in the correct location and this means they are automatically installed for the user without them having to do anything.

I can of course sell them in a web store but then I would have to give instructions of how to install them and from my experience even saying to someone unzip it and put it in your documents folder can be complicated for some users and raise support levels.

I want to make the process as streamlined as possible and that’s what the current eSellerate ews engine allows but as mentioned, I’m trying to find a SDK ready replacement rather than having to roll my own.