

Ask HN: Will Apple/Google/FB ever reduce the 30% fee off their payment gateways? - kunle


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Aqua_Geek
If either of the two will, my money is on Google. Apple has too much control
over the ecosystem - don't agree with the fees? What are your alternatives
(besides not releasing for iOS or not charging)?

~~~
kunle
Agreed re: fees. Probably Google will get the plot first.

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abraham
Some of Google's services are already at 5%. The Chrome Web Store for example:
<http://code.google.com/chrome/webstore/docs/money.html>

It wouldn't surprise me if at some point the Market and the Web Store merge
and everything gets 5%.

~~~
kunle
I think this has to be the way with things. The smart next step would be for
chrome to have chrome payments/googlecheckout/androidmarketlogins built in so
that payments across the web could just originate in the browser.

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mrkmcknz
I don't think any of them will even consider doing so until one or the other
has and is making noise.

~~~
kunle
agree with this in principle, but I ask because if the fees come down enough,
you massively expand what they can be used to pay for. I.E. no business that
sells real goods (with a cost of goods sold attached, as opposed to software)
will ever accept a payment gateway that takes 30% - most companies dont even
have 30% margins. But if I could walk in a store and buy a shirt using iTunes
on my phone . . . .

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seiji
It's not a payment gateway. It's distribution and hosting, an update
mechanism, one time purchase payments, in-app payments, reconciliation of all
the payments, ...

~~~
kunle
It's all those things but at scale they are all a commodity; reducing the vig
to ~Visa level means you can use your itunes like your visa/mastercard/amex,
and think about that economy relative to apps?

