Would using FastSpring avoid Google Tax?

[rabbitBUSH]

We all know that Google et al take 30% as a "commission" or, call it a tax, on apps placed on Play Store etc..

The agency cost of selling via Google has been a subject of discussion elsewhere in the forum.

So, maybe not just FastSpring, any other similar service (I was going to put the link in here but why blatantly advertise for them?) ? Also, its one of those that appears to specialise in software sales (google opposition?).

I chose FastSpring because @Erel mentioned it in here. for this purpose we can ignore Erel's rant.

The other services like apkpure etc excluded.... What are the issues with selling through somewhere like FastSpring or even if my company set up its own ecommerce site to sell its own products? After all, if I'm right, {my wife says often I'm not - spot the commas there) : If I send you an APK and you install it, it will run without Google's increasingly anal checks on things and rules. (yeah i know what the hell happened to Google's initial principles?)

The "upside" of Play Store is that the 'Bot hammers-the-hell-out-of-developers to get it right (their way), which may not be a bad thing. But, does Amazon do that in the same way as Google does?

Is there a downside to NOT selling via Foolgle - the Boogy people? ? (other than those checks they do, lets stick to the monetisation thing).

Is the upside of selling elsewhere really increased revenue, alone?

And, what are the statistics about where users go to look for apps they want?

Would it be foolish on, the basis of avoiding Google Tax, to not use Google and avoid their taxation?

 

[Erel]

for this purpose we can ignore Erel's rant.

That's always a good idea

The major downside is that installing apps outside of Google Play requires a few more, possibly intimidating, clicks. The exact behavior depends on the Android version. On Android 7+ the user will need to allow Chrome to install apps. Technical users will be able to handle it easily, but not all users are technical.

 

[udg]

Another downside could be the update mechanism. When your app is in a store, it's the store that "pushes" the needs for an update. When you have your own server, it's up to you to pop-up a proper message to the user and then go to the steps outlined in my old lib AppUpdating.

And what about the search mechanism? On a store, an user looks for "music" and can find hundreds of references. If you developed the best music app but it's not in the store most users will fail to find it.

Yes, having a good, reputable store (let's say a community store) where we all publish our apps and then advertise it to the general public as long as to specialized blogs and magazines, that will easy things a lot. To keep it simple, just search, update and payment services available since day 1 (day 0 could avoid payments and be ready for free apps anyway). Beware, with payments it goes the taxation chaos..