This is a follow-up to my blog post Apple started cheating me out of App Store bundle purchases. The good news is that Apple appears to have resolved most of the issues. Let me give a timeline:
May 9: By closely analyzing my App Store Connect financial reports, I discovered that Apple appeared to be underpaying me for StopTheMadness Pro upgrade bundle purchases, starting in February and continuing through April, due to a double subtraction error. That night, I sent a message to Apple Media Services Finance Support, informing them of the issue. I received an automated email reply from Apple with a case number (7345705).
May 10: I published the aforementioned blog post.
May 15: The blog post is linked by Daring Fireball and Apple Insider. Later that day, an Apple representative called me on the phone. I described the call in an update to my blog post:
I was told that there was indeed a software bug in the bundle pricing calculation, which was fixed yesterday. I was also told that affected developers such as myself would be compensated for our lost revenue, and I'll receive a follow-up email later.
The Phone app indicates that the call lasted only two minutes. It felt longer, but I suppose I can't dispute my own iPhone.
May 22: Having heard nothing since May 15, I called the Apple representative, who said I could call back if I needed anything. I left a voicemail message asking for an update by phone or email.
May 31: I received a generic-looking email from developer@email.apple.com (Reply-To: noreply-appledev@email.apple.com) with the title "Upcoming Proceeds Adjustment":
Hello Jeff,
We’re reaching out to let you know of a bug that resulted in an underpayment to your account.
This bug has been resolved and no action is needed on your part. Apple will calculate your underpaid proceeds and issue a one-time adjustment soon, which will appear in your Payments and Financial Reports in App Store Connect.
If you have any questions, please contact us.
The Apple Developer Relations Team
I assume that this was a form letter sent to all affected developers who sell App Store app bundles, although I haven't yet heard of anyone else receiving the same email. If you also got it, please let me know! The email did not include my case number with Apple Media Services Finance Support. To date, I've never received a follow-up on my case number. It was clear from my one phone conversation with the Apple representative (who never responded personally to my subsequent voicemail) that they learned of my situation from the news media rather than from my case with Apple Media Services Finance Support.
I checked my financial reports for April, and I found a new, large, lump sum addition. It's listed on the Americas (USD) line under Taxes and Adjustments. (In most cases, Taxes and Adjustments are $0.00, except for Brazil (BRL), which by Brazilian law has some kind of tax subtraction every month.) The lump sum addition is scheduled to be paid along with my other April proceeds on June 6.
Is the lump sum amount correct? Well, it's a suspiciously round number, ending in 300.00. Otherwise, though, it seems roughly correct, at least compared with my proceeds listed in App Store Connect Trends. Comparing the financial statements with the "trends" was how I discovered the discrepancy in the first place. But it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to perform a precise comparison. The trends never seem to match exactly with the financial statements in the amount of proceeds—or even in the number of unit sales—for reasons that I don't fully understand. One difference I came to notice just yesterday is that the unit sales in trends seem to include both promo code redemptions and $0.00 free app downloads, whereas the unit sales in the financial statements seem to include promo code redemptions but completely ignore free apps. This makes it difficult to keep the numbers in sync. I know exactly how many promo codes I've distributed (almost exclusively to members of the news media), but App Store Connect doesn't have a specific category for listing the number of redeemed promo codes.
Another problem is that the lump sum adjustment to my April financial statement is entirely in US dollars, whereas the financial statements themselves are always broken down into different countries and currencies. All of the purchases in the financial statements are listed by country in its native currency and prices. The amounts are only seen in US dollars at the end, when the total proceeds for each country's App Store are transformed into the developer's currency using the current exchange rate. To perform a useful comparison, I would have to go through three months of financial statements country by country, line by line, figuring out what the correct price should have been in the country's currency, taking into account value added tax, as well as Apple's cut of my revenue, and then apply the exchange rates current in each month. It would be a nightmare, and I'm not sure that it would even be worth my time. By the way, there are 175 App Store countries or regions, though I don't have sales in all 175 every month. I'm satisfied that the lump sum payment is "close enough", and that's probably the best I can do, given the limited information provided to me by Apple. It's their store(s), not mine.
I consider the matter resolved, at least for me. I hope that other developers will also receive what's due to them. For any extra proceeds that you get paid this month, perhaps I should get a "Finder's fee" of 30%. Or 15% if you're a small developer! Anyway, if you sell app bundles in the App Store, check your financial reports.
As usual, Apple's communication with developers has been substandard. I recall the old chestnut from the App Store Review Guidelines: "If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps." In reality, it always helps, and that's why we do it. Maybe someday, Apple will assign me (and every App Store seller) a developer relations contact. Until that day, the media beatings will continue until my morale improves, and my income increases.