Android Market refund window apparently expands to 48 hours (update: Or not?)

Developers of complex apps are losing sales due to only 15 minutes to try the app. Some apps take at least 15 minutes to set up and test let alone find that they reliably do what the description says!

In the event that Google won't change their stance, the best solution I came across recently was a trial verson of an app that was fully functional but only licenced by the Google server for a limited period (around a week I think).

That was enough time to thoroughly test the app. I then bought the full version which is also licenced by Google on a continuing basis.

For those interested, the app was EasyProfiles by Smartdyne.

You can read their FAQ on licencing at: http://smartdyne.de/easyprofiles/faq.shtml

First it was an hour... Everybody was ok with it. Then it went to 15 mins... Everyone was upset with it. Now It has moved up to 48 hrs... Some people now thinks its too long. LOL. Don't you think Google knows what they're doing. Relax and enjoy the game Androiders. Hahaha

Though I'd welcome it increasing from 15 minutes, it's not changing based on this. The agreement has always said 48 hours, going back to when it was still 24. Developers agree that it can be up to 48 hours, but the actual window has always been shorter.

Yeah but let's not forget there are games out there that require a almost 1 gigabyte extra download just to start playing and I know on my old Internet connection that could easily be 2 days just to find the time to get it downloaded completely. An example of this is many of the Gameloft titles and Spectral Souls was also very massive. Games like this over a crap 256kbs dsl router again takes almost 2 days tell I'm home enough for the download to complete. So I don't think 2 days is too much time. Besides it isn't hard for the poeple who steal apps to just download them because they are going to if the refund is 15 minutes or 15 days. But atleast now if you buy an app and it starts force closing or whatever you have the time to find out why and see if you can fix it. Like many home launcher applications for the htc EVO 4G(specifically adwEX) they may work fine until 30 or 40 minutes later you realize that leaving auto rotation enabled causes the app to force close like crazy.

Ummm... 48 hours? That is way too long. As a dev, it was difficult enough with 24 hours, which I think was too long as well. Giving users that much time allows for two major issues to come up. Those who get buyers remorse. Believe it or not, but there are "chronic refunders" out there. A dev can easily see a high refund rate. Next, it gives hackers that much more time to download an app, hack the licensing, redistribute freely and still get a refund.

If you are buying an app, test it out right then and there. There is no need to wait a day or two before checking to see if the app works as intended, etc. I would say a max of two hours is more than enough time to test even the most feature rich apps to the point where you'll decide if you want to keep it or not. That even allows for time to download the supplemental files that some apps require as well.

Honestly, Android users got a little spoiled with the original 24 hour refund window. To make a comparison, Apple users don't get a refund window and most don't seem to mind paying a dev a buck or two for a good app. Android users seem to want and expect something for nothing a lot of the time. They tend to complain that they have to pay a buck or two for an app and then they go further by complaining that a dev doesn't also have a free version. As great as that would be, to a dev that amounts to doing twice the work for half the return. Does that seem fair? Obviously there are a lot of crap apps out there done by devs who don't really care. But there are some devs out there who turn out some great apps. Why not reward them for their hard work with a buck or two? Take into consideration that Google takes a hefty chuck of all sales, a whopping 30%.

So... 24 or 48 hours is far too long. 15 minutes is too short. So why not something more reasonable for both devs and users and set it to something like 2 hours. That is more than fair.

I think the uninstall/refund window should be based on the price of the app.

For the $2 and $3 apps (I think this covers most games), it should be a few hours. As you get up to apps over $10 you should get up to 24 hours. That is presuming that a more expensive app would have to be tested more by the user to see if it does what it needs to do.

I just compared the current version with the version available in May (thanks to the WayBack Machine - archive.org) and this update is a simple language update to account for music and books being published on the Market. The refund language has not changed.

I see the poorly worded point. They will refund within 48 hours, after the purchase, if requested within the 15 minute window.

As many pointed out when the 15 minute window was introduced, why not just let the developers choose the return period? Different apps need different amounts of time to evaluate.

Ideally the developer could set the time between 15min and 48hours. Some apps only take 15 to try. Others like launchers can take a couple hours to set up before you can even test it out to make sure your device can handle the app without lag or other issues. It definitely needs to be extended though not for all apps

Is the wording quoted above (from Section 3.4) new, or has it always been phrased that way?

So, according to the update, although you have to return it within 15 minutes, Google has up to 48 hours to refund the money.

I'm not sure how many apps are paid for and then returned, but I'm guessing it's a pretty significant amount. So now Google can earn interest for 48 hours on your money.

I think I've just stopped buying apps I may want to return. If there's no free one to try, I just won't try it.

Good on Google to change the ridiculous 15 minute window. I would have been happy going back to 24hrs for refunds, 48 does seem like overkill.

Having the 15 minute window drastically reduced my inclination to buy an app that I was on the fence w/ purchasing. Now I am much more likely to buy an app that I may or may not like, because I will actually have some time to play around w/ it and not rush judgement of the app just to get in under the 15 minutes.

+ 1 to the response of this thread. I think 6 hours would have been perfect for me though.

I'm really glad they increased it from the ridiculous 15 minute restriction, but I had thought even 24 hours was fine, if not a little long. Even 2 or 3 hours would be enough time to really 'test' an app. Even ones that collect some graphic historical data like battery/CPU graphers.

Why overdo it to 48 hours? I agree 15 minutes is way too short and some things take longer than that to even get up and running over 3G. 24 hours was more than fair. A couple of hours is enough to evaluate an app in my opinion. 48 hours is long enough for a lot of people to play through an entire game. Maybe exclude games from this and it would be ok. Then again maybe having a free version of an app does exclude your paid apps from this since a customer would be able to preview them.

i kind of stopped trying apps i wasn't sure i wanted or not because of some bug on my bionic. i'd buy an app, it'd try to start downloading, fail (i guess), and then i'd be at the app's screen with the price box still there. at the same time, i'd get an email confirming the purchase. this wouldn't clear itself up and give me an install box until a while after the 15 minute window.

but yeah, 15 minutes was ridiculous, even for apps that immediately downloaded. and now that games are getting bigger, it's even moreso. but 48 hours? that's just ludicrous. an hour would have been perfect.. no one abusing, and no one getting gypped.

Awesome. I was just looking in the market for a couple of service apps that I kinda wanted to try out, but didn't bother because it would take longer than 15 minutes to fully figure out if they would work the way I want them to. Now I'm just waiting to get the new tryout.

Honestly though, 2 hours would have been fine.

-Suntan

15 minutes was way too little, 48 hours is way too much people are gonna take advantage of this. Sucks for devs.

Even an hour would be fine. 15 minutes was just silly and annoying. About 20 apps I thought looked worthwhile that I never tried due to that rule.

Going all the way to 48 seems like it'll invite a lot of developer backlash. After all, wasn't the return window originally shrunk from 24 hours because too many games were being beaten and returned? Personally I wish they'd just give us maybe 4-6 hours of a return window. That'll allow even the largest apps that need some extra download time to be installed and tried out.

While I'm happy for this change, I think 48hours is too long. 15minutes was a joke and 24 hours I think was perfect. We'll see how it goes though.

Wow! 48 hours seems a little long. I think I might be annoyed if I was a developer as you could really abuse the system this way.