selling paid applications

Hi Guys,

my problem is the following:

I am located in Hungary, and I can't upload paid application to GOOGLE PLAY since our country is not yet supported, see.
http://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/bin/answer.py?hl=...

My questions are:
1. Can I upload to SLIDEME from hungary without any problems and SELL my stuff?

2. If yes, how and whom am I paying taxes? I am willing to pay taxes for my income, no problem, but how does it work? I don't want to get into trouble with the NAV (this is "our IRS" here).

3. If point 2 is possible too, then I upload my app here for say 1-2$, but is it correct that if I make a search for my app (uploaded into SLIDEME) in GOOGLE PLAY, then I won't find it, right?

4. Workarounding the problematic of point 3., WHAT IF:
a ) I create a FREE app in GOOGLE Play (this one I am allowed to do without any issues I assume)
b) In my free game (which you downloaded from google play store) if you come to a certain stage, you can click on "Buy full version" which would route the user to SLIDEME so they could download my app for money from Slideme and this way I could get paid, and this way more users would have a chance to even find my app.
Am I allowed to do this?

Thank you for your time and Best Regards,
szabii

RE: selling paid applications

Hello szabii,

1. Yes, you may upload to SlideME from Hungary, paid and/or free apps.

2. An important part of our offering, is that we handle the sales tax issues on behalf of you (the developer) and there will be no further sales tax declarations required from your side in the US & EU, since we handle the submissions including WA state sales tax & VAT in all EU member states. We do not handle your income taxes that you may need to declare, as that is a separate issue related to your self-employment or additional income.
Refer to this link on tax deductions made for every sale you procure on SlideME: http://slideme.org/faq/developers/why-are-taxes-deducted-my-applications...

Also, as a non-US tax resident, you will need to e-sign a W-8BEN form. More info here: http://slideme.org/faq/payout-non-us-developers/what-w-8ben-form
This will become available to you to e-sign once you've set your payout banking information in your developer account here on SlideME.

3. Correct. Google Play is a competing and separate marketplace. In much the same way that you would submit a physical product to more than one store owned by more than one company, you also need to submit your product to each company's individual application store you wish to distribute and/or sell.

4. You could do that since Google Play is non-exclusive. Be aware that though SlideME is also non-exclusive, we require applications to link to SlideME if they link to other markets as well within their applications. We do not permit links to other markets in the application descriptions, but you may link to other markets alongside SlideME within the apps themselves. So ideally, you should have your free version also available on SlideME in addition to Google Play (since many SlideME users cannot download from Google Play).

Hope that makes sense.
Patrick
SlideME Team

point 2) and 4)

Hey Patrick,

all that sounds great, thank you!

Perhaps one last question to point 2.) to be on the safe side:
That I have my "normal" income from my job (my salary), and that I have to declare it on my own, that was kinda obvious for me, but this is how yout meant, right? So you meant to say that I don't even need declare my android game related income additionally, since slideme handles it completely, right?
W8BEN is required to prove that I am not a US citizen and so I don't need to pay tax in the US, correct?

and another one related to point 4.):
So if I understand right, I need to do 3 uploads:
- 1 free version to googleplay (which has an in-game link to the paid one in slideme),
- 1 free version in slideme (which again, links to the paid one resides in slideme),
- 1 paid version in slideme.

I guess all this is only because from slideme anyone can download, but from googleplay not even download is possible for certain countries, right?

Anyway, if I understood it well, then I can start with the finalization of my project, and upload. :D

Cheers,
szabii

RE: point 2) and 4)

Hi szabii,

When I referred to declared income, I'm referring to the extra income you may generate from your applications (not from your regular job). You'll have to consult the tax laws for Hungary to determine if you need to add this as additional income or not when you file your taxes. From a business perspective, as a small business or self-employed, the business sales tax is something we handle. So you only have to be concerned with you how you are paying yourself from this revenue, your own income tax, and if you generate enough income through applications to warrant including it (based on Hungary tax laws). Unfortunately, I am not familiar enough with Hungary's laws to be able to tell you specifically if you can just add a secondary minor source of income to your tax report or not. But whatever profit you are paid from SlideME would normally be considered a part of your personal income since you are an independent developer.

For your question about the W8BEN, this is correct in-so-far that you will not directly file taxes to the US, but with Hungary. If a purchase is made in the US, then a sales tax may be deducted from that sales purchase based on the buyer's local sales tax. This is where SlideME handles the tax for you, so you only need worry about your personal tax.

In regards to point 4, three uploads sounds about right. Not only can some countries not download from Google Play, but also many devices cannot. Google Play will only normally work on devices that it comes pre-installed with. So a variety of Android devices that can run many applications (such as eBook readers and many international smartphones), will not be able to download applications from Google Play but can freely download from other markets such as SlideME.

Hope this answers your questions.
Patrick
SlideME Team

an example

Hey Patrick,

first of all thank you very much for your prompt and detailed response, it helps me a lot and I really appreciate it.

I hope you don't mind another 2 questions related to payouts.

1. I walked thru the descriptions, but could you please help me out a bit? If I specify say 1$ for my app, how much money will I get per download? It was not clear for me.
2. Also, I would like to simply use bank wire transfer. Or do I need to go for that slideme bank card option I saw in one of the FAQs? I don't prefer any additional plastic cards (I have too many even now :) ). Is it a must for me, or is it just fine to maintain my bank account details when registering an app in SlideME store -- so people can transfer money to my bank account directly? The fact that I get payouts per 100$ is fine by me, no problem.

Thank you for your time and Best Regards,
szabii

Re: an example

Hey szabii,

1. This can vary a lot as this depends on who is buying the application. When a user purchases your app, a processing fee (based on the payment processor such as PayPal) and sales tax (based on their location) is deducted from this transaction and the remainder placed in your earnings account.

An example we give in the FAQ is this:
An applications is published by the developer at a fee of $1.00
The consumer uses Amazon Payments as a payment method (fees: 5% + $0.05). The developer will receive $0.90
If the same application purchased via Amazon Payments and is sold to the UK since the UK has a Sales Tax rate of 20% VAT, the developer will receive $1.00 / 1.20 - ($1.00x0.05+0.05) = $0.73

2. You can use a bank wire transfer by setting your bank information in your profile's payout info. In your account, visit My Profile -> Edit-> Payout Info. People do not transfer money to your bank account each time they purchase your app. This balance is placed in a SlideME earnings account (visible on the right side of your profile). We process the payments and transfer funds to you when requested via bank wire transfer. The reason for the $100 recommended minimum is that there is a processing fee for bank wire transfers, so to make this more profitable, we recommend the minimum number of wire transfers that you can manage. This fee is deducted from your earnings payout requested.

Patrick
SlideME Team

Cant find payout section

Hello SlidMe Team,

I have just setup a paid application which is under review.
However, i can't find My Profile -> Edit-> Payout Info
Is it because my app has not been approved yet ?

Thank you

Florent

Re: Cant find payout section

Hi Florent,

No, it's not based on the type of apps you have, just on whether you have a developer account or regular user account. It should be visible to you: My profile on the righthand My Actions menu, then the Edit button near the top middle of the page, then Payout info is a little ways down from that.

Patrick
SlideME Team

Hungry Beagles

Hi Patrick,

well I decided to go for a free version first, so I have just uploaded my app called Hungry Beagles to SLIDEME(which is already also available as free app in GOOGLE PLAY https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airwin.android.hbl)

I hope I specified everything well at upload and I hope soon my app gets approved. Can you give me an estimate when it will be approved ?

Thank you for your time, Patrick,
Best Regards,
szabii

RE: Hungry Beagles

Hi szabii,

We don't normally give any estimates for when an application will be approved (or denied or Forbidden). But if you don't receive an email regarding your application's status after 4 days after you have set it to "Published", then please send us an email using the contact form (and include your application URL on SlideME).

Patrick
SlideME Team

Hungry Beagles

Hi,

Thank you Patrick for the rapid and prompt response.
I appreciate it.

Regards,
szabii

app on the homepage of slideme

Hi Patrick,

is there a prerequisite for my app to show up on the homepage of SlideME ? Is it showing up automatically if there were certain amount of downloads, or is it added there manually by SlideME (like editors choice) or I have to request advertisement somehow?

Thanks and Regards,
szabii

RE: app on the homepage of slideme

Hello szabii,

If you mean the banners at the top of the SlideME.org page, those are featured apps chosen by our editors.

We do provide advertisement options for applications (for example see Texas Poker Pokerist.com ad banner that appears in upper right of various webpages). If you would like to discuss advertisement options and costs, please use the contact form to open a ticket.

Patrick
SlideME Team

banners

Hi Patrick,

Yeah I meant the banners at the top of the SlideMe homepage.
So this means I can only hope my app will be chosen by the SlideME editors. ;-)

Thank you and Regards,
Ervin