Understanding Associated Developer Accounts
Partners can register for Shopify's reduced revenue share plan. Part of the registration process is reporting all Associated Developer Accounts.
Here are some terms to help guide you when you're reporting your Associated Developer Accounts.
An Associated Developer Account is any Partner Account that an App Developer or Associated Developer has registered through the Shopify Developer program page. This includes all accounts, whether there is app activity or not, such as staff accounts, test accounts, or accounts with unpublished, custom, or draft apps.
An Associated Developer is an individual or company that meets any of the following conditions:
- controls an App Developer
- is controlled by an App Developer
- is under another individual or entity's common Control with an App Developer
- is otherwise designated by Shopify as an Associated Developer
Control is when an individual or company owns 50% or more of another individual or company account.
Common types of Associated Developer Accounts include the Partner Accounts of parent companies, subsidiaries, and companies that are owned or Controlled by the same individual or entity even if that individual or entity is not an App Developer, like a holding or venture capital company. In addition, if an App Developer has multiple apps tied to multiple Partner Accounts, those Partner accounts are Associated Developer Accounts.
Some examples of scenarios that might lead to partners having Associated Developer Accounts include:
- an App Developer company acquires another App Developer company
- a holding company owns an existing App Developer company and acquires another App Developer company
- a venture capital firm has a majority stake in multiple app developer companies
Reporting Associated Developer Accounts
You can report your Associated Developer Accounts by going to the registration page on your Partner Dashboard. On the registration page, you'll be asked to provide the following information to access the reduced revenue share plan:
- whether your account is owned by an individual or is part of an entity
- whether you have any Associated Developer Accounts
- payment information for the $19 USD Shopify App Store registration fee, if applicable
If you have Associated Developer Accounts that you need to report, then verify that you have the following information before you start:
- a Partner ID for each Associated Developer Account, which you can find in the Partner Dashboard on the Settings page in the Account information section
- the business email address for each associated account
- the business name for each associated account
- a brief description of how the accounts are related
The Shopify App Store Registration Fee is waived for all Partner Accounts created before August 1, 2021 at 10:00 am PST (1:00 pm EST).