CODEWITHSUNDEEP
android-pay
Kai
Kai

Reputation: 3823

Google Wallet Instant Buy versus Inapp

I'm currently researching making online payments through Google Wallet for a website. There will not be physical goods.

I saw that there are two very different checkout API's, inapp purchases https://developers.google.com/commerce/wallet/digital/docs/ and instant buy https://developers.google.com/commerce/wallet/online/tech-overview , but I'm not really sure what exactly the differences are between the API's in terms of when you should be using one versus the other. Can anyone explain?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1248

Answers (2)

Amir Fazwan
Amir Fazwan

Reputation: 473

I would like to add some info regarding the transaction fees for in app purchase. Google should put this inside the documentation, not in support section. Like Apple, the fees is clearly stated in the documentation first page because this thing is important for implementing in app purchase. For Instant Buy, no transaction fees taken by Google as you need to handle the transaction yourself. (might get charge by other party)

"For applications and all in-app products that you choose to sell on Google Play, the transaction fee is equivalent to 30% of the price. You receive 70% of the payment and the remaining 30% goes to the distribution partner and operating fees."

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/112622?hl=en&ref_topic=6075663

Upvotes: 0

Amber
Amber

Reputation: 526713

Instant Buy

Instant Buy allows users to use their stored payment data from Google Wallet to purchase items from a merchant, with the merchant handling the transaction through a payment processor of their choice.

Basically, when the user submits an Instant Buy request, it will appear to your app as if they just filled in a normal order with a credit card number and everything. Google doesn't take a cut of the transaction, because Google doesn't process the payment. However, whatever payment processor you use will probably take a cut.

In-App Purchases

In-app Purchases allows merchants to have Google handle the transaction and process the payment for a digital good. In this case, Google does take a cut of the transaction because they handled the payment processing.

As far as your app is concerned, you never see payment details - Google takes care of all of that. Your app just gets a notification that user X bought item Y, and then later on, Google gives you the proceeds from the transaction.

The bottom line...

If you already have a system for handling purchases and processing credit card transactions, you probably want Instant Buy. It will sit on top of your existing infrastructure (so you don't have to have duplicate code paths) and won't cost you any money beyond what you're already paying your payment processor. It also lets your users purchase any kind of goods (physical or digital), since all it's really doing is providing payment info, not payment processing.

If you don't already have a system for handling transactions, and all you want to sell are digital goods, In-App Purchases may be simpler, since it handles all of the payment processing for you, and the cut Google takes is reasonably competitive.

For your particular case:

Since it sounds like you don't already have a payment processor lined up, and you're not trying to sell physical goods, I'd suggest looking at the In-App Purchases API.

[Full disclosure: I work for Google.]

Upvotes: 9

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