21

Slovakia has been added recently to list of supported Merchant countries for Google Play.

I have an account in Czech Republic (CZK) paired with Merchant Account with active paid and free apps and want to change the country to Slovakia (EUR) - mostly because i of the fees related to money transfers from a different currency (CZK to EUR) on my business account.

I have been searching on Google but found nothing except for transferring all my apps to new developer account. I'm afraid that this will hurt my play store search positions and i won't be able to transfer the Google Play Services data (LeaderBoards, Achievements) Also i want to keep the package names.

Had someone done this? How should i proceed?

Marek Halmo
  • 2,181
  • 2
  • 15
  • 18
  • Hm.. also .. when i tried to create a new merchant account here https://wallet.google.com/merchant - Slovakia was not there but it is stated in the supported merchant countries. Can anyone tell me why? – Marek Halmo May 05 '14 at 10:48
  • I have the same problem - I can add a Slovak store but can't add a Slovak datafeed, as it is not in the supported target countries list. – Marek Andreansky Jun 20 '14 at 20:51
  • Any luck? I still did not change to svk – Marek Halmo Jul 11 '14 at 08:15

2 Answers2

12

June 2017 update:

Apps with subscriptions can now be transferred!!!

The original answer:

This is a complete answer I got from Google:

Hi,

Thanks for contacting Google Play Developer Support.

I understand you'd like to change the country associated with your Google Payments Merchant account. Once your Google Payments Merchant account has been created, it's not possible to change the country associated with that account. Instead, I can cancel and refund your existing developer account and transfer your apps to a new developer account that has the appropriate merchant country details.

To get started with this process:

  1. Edit your current developer account name. If you'd like to continue to use your developer name with the new account, you’ll need to change your current name in order to free it up for the new account. For example, name the old account “xxx-OLD,” so you can use "xxx" in your new account. Make sure you save your settings.

  2. Create a second Google Account (with a new, different email address). After you've created the new account, you will need to configure Google Payments with a billing address corresponding to your preferred merchant country.

  3. After you've registered the newly created Google Play Developer Console account, create a new Google Payments Merchant account from the Developer Console. Pay special attention to the country listed for your legal business address. You may need to adjust your Google Payments settings if you haven't configured your billing address properly.

  4. Use this online checklist to submit your app transfer request.

Please note however at this time, an app transfer can't be completed with in-app subscriptions currently or previously configured for your app; this includes subscriptions that do not have subscribers, or those apps which have had all subscriptions canceled.

I understand this limitation can be frustrating, and I apologize that we don't currently have a more seamless way to transfer these applications across accounts. We're actively working with our teams to design a better experience for developers with apps using in-app subscriptions, though we do not currently have an ETA.

I appreciate your understanding, and your dedicated support of Google Play.

Regards,

xxxxx

Google Play Developer Support

Community
  • 1
  • 1
OferR
  • 1,634
  • 19
  • 21
  • Did you go through with it? Are there any drawbacks? – johndodo Aug 14 '16 at 11:54
  • @johndodo, No I didn't go through with it. The app had subscribers, which means that it cannot be transferred ever (or until Google start providing this option). At this point in time, for tax reasons, I had to unsubscribe all my subscribers and I now provide the service for free. Google?!?!?!?! – OferR Aug 22 '16 at 11:57
  • @OferR did you find a solution? I'm also stuck with a subscription product that doesn't allow me to transfer the app! – gidim Feb 01 '17 at 23:53
  • @gidim Nada :( I have checked again with Google 3 weeks ago. They have "no updates on this issue at this time". Basically, we are left out in the cold. – OferR Feb 11 '17 at 18:53
  • Response from Developer Support: Even after you transfer your apps to diffferent account, Google won't refund if you have at least one suspended app in your original account. [Section 8.3](https://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreement.html#8.-product-takedowns) – SpiralDev Mar 28 '20 at 03:31
  • Google has become a mere joke. They FORCE you to update data on your account, but when you want to update then because you left the country, they basically threaten your life income by going through this absolute retarded process of creating a new developer identity. This should be illegal – CaptainCrunch Nov 09 '22 at 18:13
5

The country associated with your Google Play Developer account can't be changed. However, you can create a new account that uses a different country and transfer your apps to your new account.

To transfer apps to a new account, you'll need to prepare some account information. To learn what information you need and to send your request, go to the Google's app transfer checklist.

Reference: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/139626

aygul
  • 3,227
  • 12
  • 38
  • 42
  • 1
    Does it means that I would have to pay again registration fee? In my case I registered from Serbia. During the developer account registration it wasn't mention nowhere that merchant accounts are not supported for my country?!? And after I completed registration and payed $25, when I tried to open merchant account they told me that my country is not supported?!? I can't even change country?!? – MilanG Apr 02 '16 at 07:49
  • Running into the same problem and I'm afraid the only way is to pay Google $25 again! :( – Deqing May 08 '16 at 16:05
  • One thing to note: Google does not transfer subscription-based apps to a new account. It does however transfer free, paid and in-app purchase apps. – Catalin Morosan Jun 17 '16 at 08:34
  • I found out that my country is not supported for merchant accounts after I opened developer account. Then I wrote the and they canceled my developer account and refunded me my money back. So that's an option. – MilanG Jul 23 '19 at 06:10