All applications come with the responsibility of improving the experience for merchants and for their customers. Let's make sure users can pay for your app simply and easily and reward your hard work.
To make sure you track all installs/uninstalls, we recommend you use a webhook endpoint subscribed to events about your app. More about it here.
Taking payments
Paying for an application needs to be a simple and automated process: pay for everything in one place, and know exactly what you pay in total. This allows merchants to keep up with all their spendings and subscriptions easily. Luckily, Ecwid billing allows merchants to pay for their Ecwid-related services in a single place saving them time and effort. We recommend using Ecwid billing for your app. If it is not possible, make sure that your application works inside of the Control Panel, so the user can access its interface and see their payments easily and quickly.
When the app is uninstalled
When working with a large audience, there is always a chance there will be some users who don’t like the application or how it works after they use it. In that case, they will uninstall the app and will want to stop getting charged for its services. Make sure to handle that situation based on the type of services you provide.
If you use the Ecwid billing model, then it’s all set: user uninstalls an app and Ecwid will immediately stop their subscription for the application – simple and easy. However, it gets tricky when you have your own billing model: your app could provide the services not only for the connected Ecwid store but for other services, like ShipStation. For this situation, we advise stopping charges for any Ecwid-related services for that merchant.
Ecwid billing
In general, applications for Ecwid can be divided into two groups: Free or Paid.
Free applications for Ecwid
Free applications will usually change some basic components of a store, such as in the examples from Import Customers and Bulk Gallery Upload. The developers of such applications usually just want to give something back to the Ecwid community and perhaps generate interest in other (paid) apps they may have developed already or will in the future.
Paid applications for Ecwid
Paid applications will usually perform a more complex task. This may include connections to marketing platforms, tax automation tools, accounting systems, and much more. The most popular form of payment for such applications is subscriptions.
How does Ecwid billing works?
When your application uses Ecwid billing system, we have you covered in all possible areas:
Workflow
- While the app is paid, the user has access to it. If there is no payment, the app is suspended in their account. We notify merchants about any issues with payments for your app.
- You can make single charges using Ecwid billing, for example, for additional features in your app.
- Ecwid billing supports free trial period that helps the merchant to check the app before committing to payments. When the free trial is over, the Ecwid store will be billed a pro-rated charge till the next payday of the account automatically.
- The merchant uses one card for both store plan and app subscriptions, no additional actions are required from their side.
How to set up Ecwid billing
There is no additional development time required from your side; Ecwid will charge users on your behalf and the process is integrated right into the Control Panel. Let us know during app development if you'd like to opt in. You'll need to provide the app's monthly price.
Ecwid billing FAQ
Why use Ecwid billing?
There are several reasons Ecwid billing will help make your app successful:
- No additional requests for payment details from users
All paid Ecwid users have their payment method connected to their accounts. We will use those (encrypted) payment details to charge for your app, greatly improving conversions to paid. - Ecwid will charge users for you
We will take care of the technical and UI aspects of charging the users, so you can concentrate on creating an app, not creating a billing system. - Higher preference for promotional activities
Apps that use Ecwid billing are integrated more deeply than other apps and have a better customer experience, so they will be more preferable during promotions. - Installations and revenue reports are done for you
When your app uses Ecwid billing, we will provide you with monthly stats of your application to keep you updated, so no reports are required from you and you can stay focused on building an awesome app.
Should I make my app paid?
We recommend you review the flow of your application and the approximate time it will take you to develop it. If the application is simple enough and you wish to create something useful for Ecwid merchants, we encourage you to start with a free or inexpensive app and gauge its adoption. If you plan to create a complex solution or integration, such as analytics, marketing, or accounting, we recommend you make your app paid (and encourage using Ecwid billing).
How to get paid?
We will report monthly numbers of installs and revenues to your team at a specified email address. Revenue share payments are delivered quarterly to a PayPal account based on the Ecwid fiscal year (January-December). If you are receiving the payments in another currency, i.e. Canadian Dollars, we will use conversion rates for the date when the payment is sent.
Can I provide refunds with Ecwid billing?
Ecwid subscriptions, including subscriptions for applications, are non-refundable. However, if a user has deleted an app prior to their subscription end date, the Ecwid team can restore that subscription. Contact our Support team on behalf of the user to restore the subscription.
How to receive reports?
If you are using Ecwid billing, you don't need to provide any regular reports to us about your application. We will have the installation statistics and the revenue amounts generated by your application. We will provide you with monthly updates with these stats so you can be informed of its performance in our App Market.
Any application has access to the Application endpoint, which provides application status in a specific store. Also, your app can subscribe to receive notifications about the app status changes using webhooks.