Ways to bypass App Store purchase
In-App purchase is one of the most convenient payment method for iOS Apps but Apple’s 30% cut takes out big Chunk. The Apple policy force virtual goods to be purchased only via Apple’s in-app purchase. When I use to work with a gaming company, I understand some work around to bypass this.
1. Adding physical goods with virtual one: For larger amount of In app purchase, add a physical good with it like T-shirt and create separate segment for it. And in this segment you can add credit cards etc. Because in this segment you are selling physical merchandise which gives digital credit, apple can not force you to have In app purchase
2. Subscription and tie ups: If your app supports subscription, Better to use tie ups (usually with telco/ecom works well). In this case, It benefits other company as it can give 5–10% off on your product subscription. And the addition benifits may drive people you use other company service and vice-versa.
3. Migrating high paying customer: 80% of revenue comes from 20% of customer. Only by moving top 5% of high paying customer can help increase bottom line. In one of the gaming company I worked, I CEO himself use to communicate with them to pay via card and get additional benefits. Just by having around 500 high paying customer onboard, we were able to get 2–3% raise in our total revenue.
4. Increase In-app purchase price and advertise benefits to purchase from web: In This method, you can simply pass 30% to customer but at the same time put advertisement to go to web to unlock deals etc.
