Author Terms

Last Updated: April 21, 2026

These Author Terms govern the relationship between AppTrovo and Authors who publish and sell products on our marketplace. By registering as an Author, you agree to these terms in addition to our Terms of Service.

1. Becoming an Author

• Existing buyers apply from their dashboard (Account → Become an Author) with verified email and profile details
• Applications are reviewed by AppTrovo. Most are decided within 1–2 business days
• Authors must agree to our quality standards and submission guidelines
• Each Author account represents one individual or business entity

2. Product Submissions

• All products must be original work or properly licensed for redistribution
• Every submission runs through AppTrovo's automated review pipeline: file integrity + size, malware + hardcoded secret scan, license compliance, dependency audit, static analysis, performance and accessibility checks, description + SEO grading, plagiarism/duplicate detection, spam/fraud signals, documentation + changelog quality, and demo-URL verification
• A human reviewer confirms the automated results before approval
• Review decisions include: Approved, Soft Rejected (fix and resubmit), or Hard Rejected (permanent)
• Hard-rejected products and their uploaded files are cleaned up after a 90-day grace period

3. Commission & Earnings

AppTrovo operates with a flat 10% platform fee. There are no tiers, volume discounts, or hidden platform charges.

Sale Price	Platform Fee (10%)	You Earn (before Stripe fees)
$29	$2.90	$26.10
$49	$4.90	$44.10
$99	$9.90	$89.10
$199	$19.90	$179.10

Stripe processing fees are separate and are handled per your preference in Payment Settings:

• Author absorbs — the Stripe fee is deducted from your payout. You keep 90% of the sale minus the Stripe fee.
• Buyer absorbs — the Stripe fee is added as a line item at checkout. You keep a clean 90% of the sale price.

Stripe fees vary by payment method and country. The exact amount is pulled from Stripe's balance_transaction after each successful charge and shown on each earning — any calculator preview is labelled as estimated. AppTrovo does not absorb Stripe fees.

Earnings enter a pending state at the time of sale and move to available after the buyer's 30-day refund window elapses. Available earnings can be withdrawn from the Payouts section of your dashboard.

4. Payouts

• Payouts are processed via Stripe Connect to your connected bank account. You must complete Stripe's KYC/onboarding before your first payout
• Minimum payout threshold: $50 USD
• Higher-value payouts may require additional verification for security
• Payout processing typically takes 2–5 business days after approval, depending on your bank and country
• If a buyer refund succeeds after you've been paid out, the reversed amount is deducted from your next payout

5. Product Support

• Authors must respond to buyer support tickets within 72 hours
• Products must include adequate documentation for installation and usage
• If your product includes a support period, you must honor it for its full duration
• Persistent lack of support may result in reduced visibility or product removal

6. Product Updates

• Authors are expected to maintain products with regular updates
• Security patches must be released promptly when vulnerabilities are discovered
• Version history is tracked — buyers are notified automatically when a new version is published
• You may also issue your own discount coupons for your Items from your Author dashboard

7. Removal & Termination

We may remove products or suspend Author accounts for violations of these terms, consistent negative reviews with unresolved issues, fraudulent activity, or prolonged inactivity. Authors may voluntarily withdraw products, but must continue to support existing buyers for the remainder of their support period.

Removal is an unlist (retire) — not a deletion. The product is pulled from the marketplace, but every license already issued remains valid and continues to verify indefinitely. Once a product has sold at least one license, it cannot be hard-deleted: the permanent sale record protects the buyer's right to keep running what they paid for. The verify API surfaces a product.retired: true flag so your installer can display a soft notice instead of blocking the buyer.