Comment on Starbucks accused of manipulating app payments for $900 million profit
OttoVonGoon@beehaw.org 8 months ago
I have resolved to never again buy “points” of any kind, whether on an app or a game or a themepark or anything else. Either let me spend real money or I am going to assume it is a scam.
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 8 months ago
It’s only really a problem when you can’t buy the exact amount of points you need to make a purchase (which granted is most of the time). There’s legitimate reasons for using a “points” middle-man, though - for example, in a game where you can earn premium currency while playing, but also buy it; if you were making purchases directly, rather than buying the points you need, you wouldn’t be able to buy something using both earned and purchased currency; it’d be all or nothing.
This is definitely a very small minority, though, and 99 times out of 100, I agree with you, it’s a scam.
Leshoyadut@fedia.io 8 months ago
Except even then, they could just list both the real money cost and the in-game points cost. There’s no need for the points to be tied to the real money at all.
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 8 months ago
What if I want to buy something that costs 1000 points, which equates to $10, and I have 300 points in-game? I want to use those 300 points, but I want to cover the rest with $7 of real money. If they only list two costs - $10 or 1000 points - I can’t do that, but if they let me buy 700 points for $7, I can do it.
UnhingedStopa@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
They could just list both the full price and the price - the ammount of points you have in dollars.