I'm making a desktop app for a company, and they would like to get it featured in the windows app store for Windows 10 users.
The app will likely only work on desktop computers, it's not designed for mobile. What it does is perform lookups on lists of cell phone numbers, and outputs a spreadsheet with carrier info, and it requires a credit for each cell phone number looked up. The credits are bought in bulk through the company's sales team, there is no automated method to purchase them.
Because there is no automated system, it would be difficult to set up in-app purchases, also if Microsoft takes a cut of in-app payments then it wouldn't be feasible due to the tiny profit margin of the credits. But according to this (section 10.8.1), if the app consumes anything that has to be purchased then it needs to use the in-app purchasing api.
Does anyone know if there's some way around this? Or if it only applies to regular apps and not desktop only ones, which I understand are a different type of listing?
I realise I can get a developer account and go through this with them but I don't really want to spend this company's money on the dev account if Microsoft are just going to say no.
Thanks :)
That section of the policy refers to payments taken within the application.
It doesn't sound like what your application will do though. Your application is allowing the allocation (spending) of credits bought separately.
It's a small distinction but an important one. You may have seen other applications work around such limitations by requiring the user to go to a website to buy something and then return to the app to use it.
When submitting the app there is a declaration for "This app allows users to make purchases, but does not use the Windows Store commerce system." You can read more about this declaration at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/mt148523.aspx but this shouldn't apply to your scenario.
There are potential legal implications here and if the company has any concerns about entering a legal agreement with Microsoft regarding financial matters then they should seek appropriate legal council. Having a developer ask other developers about legal matters is likely only suggest asking a lawyer.