Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by blueblisters 1943 days ago
Shopify is really terrible when it comes to partner support. The documentation is terrible and if you want to use their API, be prepared to bang your hand against the wall for their design choices. Partners are not Shopify's actual customers of course, but Shopify wants partners to make up for all the shortcomings of the platform without making appropriate tools and support available.

In your particular case, if I understand correctly, Shopify wants you to bill customers for App store purchases through their platform. I don't think that's wrong - most marketplaces expect a cut of the revenue you make off their platform.
1 comments
ponny 1943 days ago
These aren't purchases via their app store (I don't know if you can even do that?). They're within our webapp using Shopify's billing API to buy stuff. The Shopify integration is just used for discovery (via their app store), login, installation, email integration, and of course billing.
link
blueblisters 1943 days ago
Yes but if you bill them separately using Stripe, that's clearly against their Terms of Service.

> The Shopify integration is just used for discovery (via their app store), login, installation, email integration, and of course billing.

So Shopify is responsible for generating 100% of your revenue, correct? If you are opposed to a 20% cut of that on principle, how else do you expect them to make money?

link
aaomidi 1943 days ago
Using their subscriptions?
link
boringg 1943 days ago
Their subscription service alone doesn't cover the costs of running the business. That's why they take a margin on sales.

Also it seems like a fair way to make money -- sell hosting services for cheap (so people who want to start a business can get going fast) and as they move into larger revenues they provide a portion back to the services that helped them get there.

link
throwaway696_ 1943 days ago
do you show to the Stripe billing option to all installations (meaning also the ones that came directly from the App Store listing) or only the ones that came through your website / are existing customers?
link
ponny 1943 days ago
All. That's the issue they've got. It looks like we're going to have to hide it for anyone that comes in via the App Store.

Another problem is we've got 4 products and only one is listed on the Shopify app store. If they log in via product A's listing then buy product B, it seems we must use Shopify's billing for that too.

link