WHOA...Market refund window being reduced to 15 minutes?

[Chris Kerrigan]

This move could very likely lead to price increases. Why not get some more money, there is a better chance you will get to keep it even if your customers aren't overly pleased.

For 99 cent apps, I'm not too worried. But if I'm spending three or four dollars I want to check it out. There are very few professional reviews and there may be users writing the app reviews who like an app but the it doesn't work as I hoped. I have tried a couple that where reviewed by the AndriodCentral team that I didn't like. They worked fine, but not quite what I wanted.

I would like to see the dev have selectable window, say 1 hour, 1 day, one week. Those who develop quicky games can set refunds to an hour where as those who develop productivity oriented app or more sophisticted games can give you a day or even a week to try an app.

I think one of the things that concerns me most is the fact that some of these apps? comments and reviews section in the market is completely spammed up. Take PingChat for example, ? of the comments are ?ADD ME!!!?. There?s no way you can draw a logical conclusion with that, and the average consumer isn?t going to go online and look all of this up themselves.

 

[sniffs]

I think it has to do with most people buying a game, beating the game and refunding.

Or buying an app, backing up the apk, refunding and still having that apk.

It's a win/loss.. Win for developers/Google, loss for us.

 

[raziel]

Since they are going to limit apps to 15 minutes for refund, Google needs to QC their apps better in return because there are just so much malicious and bogus apps in the Android Market, I think that will be more fair.

 

[Doc]

I have to wonder if this policy will run afoul of the different consumer protection laws in the US. Most states have laws that allow buyers to return or back out of purchases after a period of time (that is a lot more than 15 min). The most prominent example is when you buy airline tickets online for a non refundable fare you have 24hrs to cancel the sale.

I hope that Google will rethink what they are doing an put a policy in place that makes more sense.

Doc

 

[kenyee]

Or buying an app, backing up the apk, refunding and still having that apk.

I think that was the main culprit. E.g., I have a paid app and a Lite version of my Studio Buddy app. Lite version has all the functionality except for extra graphics. Half of the purchases were refunded...

That said, I doubt the 15min window will deter pirates...

 

[bnob99]

That said, I doubt the 15min window will deter pirates...

Piracy will only increase after these changes take affect.

 

[Brett]

This will not affect piracy. The people who buy apps to support the developers will still buy apps to support the developer. The people who have always downloaded illegal copies of apps will continue to do so.

I really feel like this whole issue if giving people false justification to download pirated apps. It's almost like "Now that there is only a 15 minute exchange policy I will download a free copy off of a site and will not buy it in the marker. Google it is all your fault." The people who say that they are going to download pirated apps are going to say "if google would have left the 24 hour window open, I would have bought the app". Odds are that this person has been downloading warez prior to this refund policy changing.



On a side note, I just realized this thread is in the wrong section of the forum. Yes it is about apps but not directly about an app, rather the policy that regards downloading apps.

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Coming from BB App World where there is no refund....15 minutes is better then nothing. Strong Apps with a good reputation will stay on top while junk apps will become obsolete . I never purchase an app without first researching it or reading members reviews.

A lot of people were probably downloading everything and anything knowing they could get a refund. If you go to the store and buy something and open it, you can't return it. Same should go with apps. Once you use it you can't return it. If its defective and doesn't work then the developer should have a support system....if not, its a junked app, gets bad reviews and nobody else would buy it.

 

[Scott_L#AC]

Someone already asked this with no response and I feel it's worth repeating.

Does anyone know if this change has been made? If not, when?

If it's still 24 hours I need to purchase the apps in my wish-list and make sure they work for me using my test methodology.

-Comments in Market, AppBrain, etc don't mean anything to me. I trust my opinion or will tend to trust more credible sources to help my purchase decision, but no amount of research by others can determine how an app will work for me.

-I need at least an hour, but felt 24 was fair. I'm not a dev, but know it takes time to see how an app interacts with the way I use my phone and which apps it has to play nicely with throughout the day/night.

 

[Cyber Warrior]

I believe it changes with the new market update. So until the update is pushed to your device or unless you manually download it........ you still have 24hrs...download away.

 

[ls377]

I believe it changes with the new market update. So until the update is pushed to your device or unless you manually download it........ you still have 24hrs...download away.

I manually updated the market, and still have 24 hours. I guess Google is just going to make the switch all at once. Or maybe they're taking the time to rethink it.

I think they meant to announce it later, anyway. They'll probably want to get it out to as many people as possible to cut down on the questions/complaints.

@Scott_L (sorry, haven't figured out how to do multiple quotes lol): It hasn't taken effect yet, so get it while you can.

 

[Bravozero]

Yea this is crap. How are you supposed to thoroughly make sure an app works in less than 15 minutes? Especially if it has to do with root or other development? There needs to be a BIG letter from the Android community protesting this. Not only is it hurting us Android users, but if you think about it, it's also going to hurt App developers as well since fewer people will be buying apps.

This decision is almost Apple-like. Scary.

 

[stimulatedboredom]

Agreed that this is a strange move by Google. Thankfully the majority of devs offer a free version with a clear explanation of what the paid version would unlock or provide. Usually it is just the removal of ads, unlocked settings or simply a way to support a dev that created a quality product.

I have purchased a lot of apps wherein the paid version was nothing more than a way to support the dev for a job well done (which I am fine with and happy to do). However, there are a number of apps that did not have a free version, but I would always feel comfortable downloading them, knowing I had a day to try them out.

Not a fan of this move and hopefully Google has someone scouring the forums. I understand not keeping the 24 hour window, but at least provide a couple of hours.

 

[Civ2boss]

You guys could try tweeting to their twitter account (@androiddev) with pleas of restoring the 24 hour window.

 

[TheBigCheese]

Speaking from a developer point of view, I think this is a perfect move. It's the reason why so many game developers ignore Android. Take GameLoft, for instance. People would buy their games for 24 hours, and then after playing through the majority, would refund their money.

Why does everyone think they are entitled to their money back simply because the app was not as good as they thought? Do you ask the manager at a fine restaurant for your money back if the meal "was not worth buying"? 15 minutes is plenty to see if you just download a spam application.

Seriously, you're talking $2-3 here, it's not like you wasted a month's salary.

 

[Bravozero]

Speaking from a developer point of view, I think this is a perfect move. It's the reason why so many game developers ignore Android. Take GameLoft, for instance. People would buy their games for 24 hours, and then after playing through the majority, would refund their money.

Why does everyone think they are entitled to their money back simply because the app was not as good as they thought? Do you ask the manager at a fine restaurant for your money back if the meal "was not worth buying"? 15 minutes is plenty to see if you just download a spam application.

Seriously, you're talking $2-3 here, it's not like you wasted a month's salary.

Remind me not to buy/download your apps.

And 2-3 dollars may not seem like much at that point in time, but it adds up. That 3 dollars might be an extra gallon of fuel for their vehicle, or lunch for that day at work, or many other uses. Why do you think stores have a return policy? If they buy a product that doesn't work for them as planned they can return it, with the exception of certain items. If someone buys an app and it's junk, or it doesn't do exactly what they need it to, they have the right to uninstall it and ask for a refund.

 

[stimulatedboredom]

Yes, I do ask for my money back if a meal is terrible...or at least send it back.

All other purchases that most people make involve some form of being able to try them out (at least a little) first: in store demos, clothing, shoes, sporting equipment etc...AND you get a 30 day return policy.

You do bring up a good point about the games though.

But if it's just "$2-$3", why should we be stuck with a crappy app that we realize has some issues 16 mins after downloading it while we are exploring it to determine if we like it?

Devs shouldn't have a problem with refunding "just $2-$3" if they aren't going to offer a free version for people to try. I know you give your 30% to Google, but I wouldn't expect people to "suck it up" if they download an app and don't like it.

15 mins just seems a little rushed to me. I'd be fine with an hour.

 

[PhyscoAssassinX]

Guess im going to have to look towards W***z to see if an app is useful -.- and if it is then buy it sorry but with a mare 15 min this is my only choice

 

[Mikey47]

This doesn't affect me because if I plan on buying an app, I already did my research and I know EXACTLY what it will offer me. Also, you guys have to see this from a developers perspective. They spend hundreds, even thousands of hours on these applications only to have a good percentage of them get refunded for stupid reasons. People will see one small thing wrong and instantly give it a one star rating, even though the developer was going to fix it.

Whoa. So if someone buys and app, and can't get it installed, or it doesn't meet their needs, and devs are ticked because they get a 1 star rating .... how exactly is changing the return policy going to address this? This will even further infuriate users as they may get an app and struggle with the install, or configuration, or whatever and go beyond the 15 minutes and then not only be ticked off, but having to have paid for it.

 

[Mikey47]

WOW! 15 minutes is awfully tight time frame.

Actually I do not doubt at all that **most** apps that are returned are done within 15 minutes. Think about it, how many times have you gotten a widget or background, or whatever and just said "Yuck!" and returned it right away?

My question is: "When does the 15 minute clock start ticking?" Is it when you push that last "purchase" button, or is it once the software is installed on your phone? I mean they can't penalize you if you are installing a 20MB app across a crappy 3G connection whereas it can't even download it in less than 15 minutes.