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When we launched the Google Apps Marketplace in March last year, one of our goals was to make it easy for developers to build, integrate, and sell their apps to Google Apps users. Since then, each vendor in the Google Apps Marketplace has handled their own billing and keeps the revenue they generate. Today, we are making that the official Marketplace policy moving forward: Google will not require vendors to adopt a Google billing API or share any portion of their revenue with us. This will keep more revenue in developers’ pockets, and brings the Google Apps Marketplace policy in line with the Chrome Web Store.

So it’s business as usual -- developers can continue to “bring their own billing” to the Marketplace. Developers retain full control over application pricing and billing, and continue to keep all revenue from Google Apps Marketplace customers.

If you’re in need of a billing solution, we encourage you to try Google Checkout and In-App Payments. Or use one of the many other commercial billing and subscription services available online.

Please join us at our next Google Apps Developer Office Hours on Google+ Hangouts on December 19th at 12 PM PST time to discuss the Google Apps Marketplace and any questions you may have about these changes.

Scott McMullan   profile | twitter Scott is a Product Manager at Google, where he runs the Apps Marketplace and is extremely lucky to be able to work with amazing developers and companies revolutionizing the way businesses use the web.

When evaluating web apps, customers often ask for information about the vendor’s privacy policy and how their data is handled. To make it easier for customers to discover and understand this information, we’ve teamed up with TRUSTe to offer TRUSTed Apps Data Privacy Certification for Marketplace Apps. This new program is designed specifically to help vendors of installable apps better communicate their data privacy and handling practices to potential customers.

Certified apps will have the TRUSTe logo displayed on their listing page, as well as in search and category results pages, similar to the screenshot below.


When a customers wants to see more details, they click on the TRUSTe logo to view a customized privacy policy report, hosted on TRUSTe.com:



All installable Marketplace apps are eligible to apply for free certification for the first year, and can choose to renew at $300 per year per app thereafter.

To learn more about the program, please see TRUSTe’s certification FAQ and program FAQ. We encourage all installable app vendors to apply today!

Posted by Steven Bazyl, Google Apps Marketplace Team

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