Nearly 3 months ago we announced a preview of the Google Apps Marketplace billing feature. Based on feedback we’ve received over this time from trusted testers and other early adopters, we are closing the preview for new developers and will launch a significant update later this year.

For the next version, we’re working on making the billing features both easier to integrate with and easier for customers to use. Additional changes will enable us to innovate faster with expanded country support, payment options, and other exciting features due later on. Version 2 of the licensing API will continue to be supported throughout these changes.

Developers using the preview implementation can continue to do so until the new version is available and customers are transitioned. Those just getting started with the Marketplace are encouraged to use their own payment solution until the new version is available.

Please let us know if you have any questions by posting in the Google Apps Marketplace API forum.

Posted by Steven Bazyl, Google Apps Marketplace Team

We’re pleased to announce that yesterday we’ve released a preview of the billing APIs for the Google Apps Marketplace. These APIs are designed to make it easy for web apps to collect subscription payments and manage user licenses and give customers a simple and consistent way to purchase and manage applications for their domains.

Thanks to a group of Marketplace vendors who have made their applications live with the API. As a result, apps like SlideRocket, GQueues, Cohuman, and WikiFYD are now accepting customer transactions using Google Checkout.

Stay tuned for more more news and details about the billing API. In the mean time, we encourage you to read the API documentation and payment policy and consult our FAQ for more information. We’d appreciate your feedback, and you can discuss this and other topics in our Google Apps Marketplace Developer Community group.

Posted by Rui Jiang, Google Apps Marketplace Team

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Great developers are everywhere, and with today’s App Tuesday we’re happy to welcome a new round of apps from around the world. Brightpearl joins us from the United Kingdom, SprinxCRM from the Czech Republic, Producteev's founders hail from France, and Clio calls Canada home. With the addition of these apps to the Google Apps Marketplace, Google Apps customers now have access to over 90 apps from 25 countries outside the United States, including Australia, Germany, India, Russia, Singapore and more.

With our billing API planned for release later this quarter, we get a lot of questions from international developers wondering how the Marketplace payment policy will apply and whether or not their country will be supported. Our policy includes a revenue sharing exemption period which lasts until 3 months after the release of the Marketplace Billing APIs for a country where you are located. At launch, the number of supported countries will be limited, but like the Android Market the set of supported countries will expand in the following months.

Please see our FAQ for more information, and watch this blog or sign up to our email announcement list to be notified of changes.

If you’re an international developer and would like to build an app for the Google Apps Marketplace, Get Started now. Our team will also be traveling the world to the Google Developer Days and DevFests in São Paulo, Buenos Aries, Munich, Prague, and Moscow. If you’re attending those events, please stop by, introduce yourself and tell us about the exciting apps you’re building!

Posted by Steve Bazyl, Google Apps Marketplace Team

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Since launching the Apps Marketplace back in March, we’ve been heads down working on our Marketplace billing API, which is based on Google Checkout. The goal of the API is to make it easy for Marketplace vendors to sell their installable applications to Google Apps customers, using either a subscription model or one-time payment, and accommodating both free trial and freemium pricing plans. We are excited to get it in to developers’ hands.

Our current plan is to release it in Q4 for US sellers, and then expand to other seller countries in the following months. Please see our FAQ for more information on supported countries, and watch this blog or sign up to our email announcement list to be notified of changes.

Marketplace Payment Policy Updated

As a reminder, our Marketplace payment policy launched with a revenue sharing exemption period, which lasts until 3 months after the release of these billing APIs. Upon expiration, all installable apps sold through the Marketplace are required to integrate with these billing APIs and bill new customers acquired through the Marketplace exclusively through these APIs.

However since our seller country list is may be smaller than the list of countries where our vendors are located, we have updated our payment policy to extend the revenue sharing exemption period until 3 months after it is released in a country where you are located.

Put more concretely, if you are a Google Apps Marketplace vendor located in Australia or India or any other country not currently on our seller list, your revenue sharing exemption period remains in effect until 3 months after the billing API supports your country.

We encourage you to read the payment policy in full to make sure you understand it, and consult our FAQ for more information. Note that the availability of the revenue exemption, including the determination of where a developer is located for purposes of the exemption, is entirely at our discretion.

Posted by Tim Grow, Google Apps Marketplace Product Manager

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