A note for international travelers who want to get paid apps via Google Play - beware!

douglerner

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For international people and travelers - Apple's app store for paid app purchases is much easier to use because your country and currency is associated with your credit card address. For example, if you have a U.S. credit card you use the U.S. store no matter where you are.

With Google Play, however, you must use the currency of the country you happen to be in and, Google Play support told me you also must use a local currency credit card! This makes Google Play purchasing not very useful for international travelers.

Also the pricing can be very different. I'm trying to purchase a $4.99 app right now, but it is showing up as ?579, which is really $5.95.

I'm trying to get around it by using a VPN, but still, Apple's app store definitely wins on this one.
 

Diknak

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That's good to know. You could also have someone from home log into play.google.com and buy it under your account.
 

douglerner

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Depends on the local prices and exchange rate, I suppose. Some things are cheaper in the US and others are cheaper in Asia.

It's not just that though. According to Google Play tech support you also must have a local currency credit card to make the purchase. That's pretty bad for international travelers.

I think I can get around it by using a VPN though.
 

Rule9

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Let me make sure I understand this correctly -

If I want to buy an app/game/movie/magazine/book from Google Play while I'm on vacation out of country it won't let me just use my regular account associated with my device? But Apple's app store does?

That sucks if correct.
 

douglerner

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Let me make sure I understand this correctly -

If I want to buy an app/game/movie/magazine/book from Google Play while I'm on vacation out of country it won't let me just use my regular account associated with my device? But Apple's app store does?

That sucks if correct.

That is what Google Play support told me when I called to ask. They said they even have trouble with people who live in the U.S. visiting Canada and trying to make a purchase. Seems bizarre to me. Note - I have not attempted this myself and, to be honest, the Google support people don't seem to be very knowledgeable.

I don't want to attempt it myself because the particular item I am interested in purchasing is 25% more expensive in Japanese yen than in U.S. dollars. So I'm going to try to just buy it via my VPN, which makes my computer appear as though it is in the U.S.

doug
 

dan1431

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Granted I always use my VPN when making purchases overseas, but colleagues who do not have their own personal VPNs have not complained about purchasing apps overseas.

I should also point out that as of two weeks ago Google Play All Access Music worked perfectly fine without a VPN in both Singapore and Indonesia and my account is registered in the USA.

Dan
 

Rule9

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I'd need this tested to be sure. If they're saying the cc on my play store account can only be used while in my own country that's messed up
 

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