Selling physical goods in an app: store rules, payments and returns

A florist's ordering app, a furniture shop, a bike repair booking service and a grocery delivery app share a commercial fact that surprises some founders: none of them pays the app store's commission on what they sell. When people buy physical goods, or services they use away from the screen, the stores don't merely allow you to take payment yourself. They require it.

That moves the money question off the store's platform and onto yours: a payment provider, customer authentication, receipts, tracking and returns. This guide covers the business and rules side of selling physical goods in an app, as it stands at the time of writing. The screens themselves have their own guide on mobile checkout design.

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The rule: physical goods don't use in-app purchase

Apple's App Store Review Guidelines say in guideline 3.1.3(e) that if your app lets people buy physical goods or services consumed outside the app, you must use purchase methods other than in-app purchase, such as Apple Pay or traditional card entry. Google's Payments policy makes the same point from the other side: Google Play's billing system must not be used when payment is primarily for physical goods, such as groceries, clothing, housewares or electronics, or for physical services, such as transportation, cleaning, airfare, gym memberships, food delivery and tickets for live events.

The trouble starts when an app sells both kinds of thing. This table sorts the common cases.

If your shop app also sells a digital extra, such as a recipe collection in a grocery app, that extra falls under the store's billing rules and commission while the groceries don't. Keep the two in clearly separate parts of the app so a reviewer can see which is which. Store commissions on digital sales, and how they change your proceeds, are covered in our comparison of app monetization models.

Choosing a payment provider

The provider you choose shapes the checkout, the back office and your margins for years. Compare candidates on these points rather than on the headline fee alone.

• Local payment methods. Cards are not universal, and Dutch shoppers expect bank payments through iDEAL, which at the time of writing is moving to the Wero brand in phases.
• Native SDKs with a prebuilt payment sheet for iOS and Android. It sends card details from the device to the provider without touching your servers, which keeps your PCI DSS scope small.
• Strong customer authentication. Under PSD2 in the EU, most electronic payments must be confirmed with two of three elements: something the customer knows, has or is. Ask how the provider's SDK shows the bank's challenge screen inside your app.
• Refunds through an API, so support staff can refund one item from an order without asking a developer.
• Payouts and reports that your bookkeeper can reconcile without a spreadsheet of manual fixes.
• Marketplace features, if other sellers or couriers get paid through your app. Holding money for others can require a payment license, which is why providers sell dedicated products for it.

Ask for a written quote at your expected volume, including chargeback fees, currency conversion and payout timing, then run the sums yourself. Our app cost breakdown helps when you budget the integration work.

Apple Pay and Google Pay

Wallet payments run through your payment provider rather than replacing it. Apple names physical goods such as groceries, clothing and appliances, services such as club memberships, hotel reservations and event tickets, and donations as uses for Apple Pay. The provider handles the card token and you charge it as usual.

Each wallet brings obligations. Apple's guideline 4.9 requires apps to show all material purchase information before the sale and to use Apple Pay branding and interface elements correctly. Recurring payments through Apple Pay must state the renewal term, what each period provides, the actual charges and how to cancel. Google requires its PayButton API for the Google Pay button in apps and forbids altering it. Both need setup in your developer and provider accounts, so schedule it early rather than in launch week.

After the sale: confirmations and tracking

An order is a promise with a date attached, and many support messages ask about that date. Send a confirmation straight away with the order number, items, total and expected delivery, then report each change of state.

Both platforms now offer prominent places for this. On iOS, Live Activities show live updates on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, which suits a delivery that unfolds over a few hours. Wallet Orders let you add an order to Apple Wallet through Apple Pay after payment authorization and update it as it moves. On Android, Live Updates are promoted notifications at the top of the notification drawer, on the lock screen and as a status bar chip; Google lists active food delivery and rideshare tracking among the fitting uses. Save these for the active stretch of a delivery. A parcel arriving in four days is better served by a few well-timed notifications and an email.

Returns, refunds and the law

Customers in the EU have a 14-day right to withdraw from online purchases without giving a reason. For goods, the period starts when the customer receives them. You must refund all payments, including standard delivery costs, within 14 days of being told, though you may wait until the goods are back or the customer shows proof of sending them. The customer pays the direct cost of returning the goods unless you offered to cover it. If you fail to tell customers about the right, the period runs 12 months longer. Some purchases are excluded, such as personalized goods and tickets or bookings for a specific date.

In the United States, return terms for online orders are mostly set by the seller's own policy rather than a general federal cooling-off right, so publish yours clearly. Then build returns into the app instead of offering an email address: pick the order, choose items and a reason, get a label or drop-off code, and follow the refund. Fixed reason options also show which products are described badly.

One more rule reaches into the product. Since June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act has required e-commerce services in the EU to be accessible, apps included. Microenterprises providing services, meaning fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than 2 million euros, are exempt, but disabled customers shop everywhere, so build accessibility in from the start.

Before you open the shop

1. Classify every product and service as physical or digital, and route digital items through store billing.
2. Confirm the provider supports your customers' local payment methods and native SDKs.
3. Test strong customer authentication inside the app, including the bank's challenge screen.
4. Configure Apple Pay and Google Pay with your provider and test both in its test mode.
5. Write confirmation, shipping and delivery messages, triggered by real order states.
6. Make sure support staff can issue full and partial refunds on their own.
7. Show the return policy before payment and again on the order screen.

Questions

Can an app sell physical products through in-app purchase anyway?

No. Apple requires purchase methods other than in-app purchase for physical goods and services consumed outside the app, and Google Play's billing system must not be used for them. Routing a physical order through store billing breaks both stores' rules.

Does the store take a commission on physical goods sold in an app?

Not from Apple or Google, because the payment never goes through their billing. Your payment provider charges its own fees, which vary by method and volume.

Do we need Apple Pay and Google Pay at launch?

Neither store requires them. Most providers support both within the same integration, so the extra work is mostly setup and testing, and customers skip typing card and address details on a small screen.

How do we handle returns from customers in other EU countries?

The 14-day right of withdrawal applies across the EU, so one policy that meets it works in every member state. Return shipping is the harder decision: settle in advance whether you pay for it or the customer does, and say so before payment.