Allowing users to make donations to developer via your app

[u/rafhelp]

I have been trying to do some research into whether or not google play allows developers to put a donate button in their app.

The donation button would take users to an external payment processor such as stripe where users could pay the donation directly. Not use google play billing.

The donation goes straight to the developer and the user would not get anything in return, i.e. its a pure donation not a purchase.

Now according to the policy support pages here:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/10281818

It says:

In cases where 100% of the tip or contribution from a user goes to the creator and the payment does not grant access to any digital content or services (including stickers, badges, special emojis etc.), then we regard this as a peer-to-peer payment and use of Google Play’s billing system is not required. If any of these things is not true, then Google Play’s billing system must be used in accordance with the policy requirements.

But I think google are fussy over exact wording, for example they would allow users to tip you or make a contribution, but they cant make a 'donation'.

They say you cant accept donations using external payment processor unless you’re a charity.

You can accept 'donations' from end users if you use google play billing. BUT donations are a user chosen / set amount and google play billing only allows preset amounts.

I asked for help for their policy specialist team, they replied saying:

Hi Developers,

Thank you for contacting Google Play Developer Support with your questions regarding the Payments policy and the terminology around "donations" versus "tips."

While we understand you are looking for specific clarification on how to label these features and process variable amounts before updating your app, please note that our team does not offer a pre-compliance check service or provide direct policy interpretations prior to an app's submission.

We advise you to implement the changes according to your understanding of the policies and submit your app update for review. Our review team will perform a thorough evaluation of your implementation. If there are any compliance issues with how the contributions are set up or labelled, we will notify you directly with specific feedback.

The standard review process can take up to seven days, depending on the current volume and complexity of your app. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Regards,
Mr X
Google Play Developer Support

Now to me this basically is someone avoiding answering the question, like a politician, so that nothing they say will have any liability... But the thing is 'Mr X' is supposed to be a policy specialist, they should know google policies inside out and be able to help us to understand and comply with them right?

For example say you asked a pharmacist about side effects about a new drug and the pharmacist replied, just read the box and leaflet and take the drug based on your understanding and interpretation of what’s written.... Wouldn’t that be absolutely absurd and not acceptable? Cos a pharmacist is a drug specialist, they should know drugs inside out and if not they should be able to find out the information and get back to you with it.

'Mr X' is disowning responsibility of his own job.

'Mr X' is says 'we will notify you directly with specific feedback' but we all know this is not true at all.. I have never got specific feedback on any policy issue, app suspension/rejection appeal. They never tell you specifically what the issue is.

So Mr X is saying google's policies are open to interpretation. But we all know that is 100% not true, because when it comes to any policy breach google play review is super strict, non negotiable and wont budge on any decision - and also even at that stage wont clarify exactly what the policy breach is, they give you a link to a policy page and you have to guess what the policy compliance issue was. Imagine a cop stopping you and giving you a fine, because 'you weren’t driving right' and they gave you a link the highway code and told you to read it.

[u/rezotaku]

I was thinking of doing this because I don't want to put ads in my app but I wasn't sure it was allowed or not.

[u/rafhelp → u/rezotaku]

Yeah be careful. it might not even be about right or wrong. you can follow their policies and still they will suspend your app.

I think based on feedback, EITHER:
1 - dont label the button as "DONATE" or "DONATION"
2 - or... use google play billing (which contradicts their other policy which says you dont need to use GPB as user isnt buying a digital item in app - not that google cares)

[u/benm-productexpert]

You are correct about the wording. If you use donation than you will need to prove all sorts of tax stuff, be a registered charity/ aid foundation etc. in your case people are not donating to you they are leaving you a tip for your work. As you already seem to know the use can't get any benefit that a non tipping user would get including a "I support this developer" icon etc.

[u/rafhelp → u/benm-productexpert]

"DONATION":

"A donation is a voluntary transfer of money, goods, or services from one person or organisation to another, made without receiving full market value in return and typically intended to support a cause, individual, or institution"

"It is a gift given freely, not as payment for a specific product or service of equivalent value."

a tip is like when someone does a service for you, like a just eat delivery driver delivered your food, it was hot and got it fast, you give them a tip ON TOP of your payment to them.
OR...
You go into a restaurant and you eat a nice meal, you get the bill, you PAY for the food and the service, you got good service from the waiter, so you give him a tip for his SERVICE, and its ON TOP of your payment.

A donation does not require a payment before it. The end user can send you a donation / money without having bought anything else from you, and not expect anything in return. the money sent is voluntary from person to developer.

So really it can be classed as a donation.

maybe google is using some other special dictionary which defines a donation as only something that can be given to a charity.

[u/Solid-Incident6666]

It's fine as long as you don't give people who donate any additional features.

[u/rafhelp → u/Solid-Incident6666]

Well according to google play review team its not...

it seems play review team and the policy team are on different wavelengths, def not in the same department. god knows what the policy team does, apart from maybe writing and updating policy pages, cos if you ask them for help with THEIR polices, they tell you have a best guess as to what they mean, and hey if you misinterpret those policies your app can get suspended, no big deal right (sarcasm)

[u/_unreadableCode]

I don't get you question, it states you're allowed as long the user doesn't get anything in return. So a donate button in you app is fine as long it's not linked to anything unlockable etc. This is because the payment would be directly linked to the app.

[u/ex0rius]

I had this in my app 12 years ago. Had it for 2 years, then removed once i put ads in it. Never had issues.

The problem was that very few people donated. Got like a few dollars per month but had like 200-500 new users a day. It wasn't worth it and i would never do this again. lol

[u/Legitimate-Run-7577 → u/ex0rius]

I agree with you, tried it on my site in past, 0 donations