from Hacker News

Zapier integration process more severe than big-techs.

by fruiapps on 8/7/20, 4:23 AM with 11 comments

Apple attempted to levy a 30% App Store fee on Hey subscriptions, despite the fact that Hey doesn’t actually allow in-app purchases (payments happen on the web). While Apple’s actions were not necessarily in response to the competition, they do call out Apple’s incredible power over app developers.

Last January, the entrepreneur took his Twitter rants directly to Congress, testifying in front of the House Antitrust Committee:

“A small company like ours simply has no real agency to reject or resist the rules set by big tech. And neither do consumers. The promise that the internet was going to cut out the middleman has been broken”

This dictatorial nature is not limited to big-tech, but in my recent experience, while submitting an integration to Zapier, here is what I discovered.

1. Do the API integrations as per them - which is fair and expected.

2. Create a blog-post and documentation about your submission.

3. Send this to your subscribers.

4. It does not stop here. Create Zap templates on Zapier and then embed it on your website.

5. As if this was not enough, now they want you to bring them 50 customers. Unless you do that, your app is in beta.

If not dictatorial, what is this? If you want to submit your app

1. Give me free backlink 2. Give me a blog post 3. Give me a website embed. 4. Give me an email shout-out to your subscribers. 5. Well that is not enough, I want 50 of your customers to sign up with us.

What do you think about it?

  • by dhruvkar on 8/7/20, 1:24 PM

    I don't think so.

    Playing in someone's arena is playing by their rules.

    They built that arena with their blood, sweat and tears.

    Why should the their reward be decided/judged by people on the sidelines?

    You want to play? Pay up.

    Dictatorial would be if you could ONLY make a living by selling through Zapier and they made that process unreasonable. They are not the only arena in town.

  • by kevinsimper on 8/7/20, 3:41 PM

    I think there is a lot of people that want the integration just for the free promotion from Zapier and a seal of approval if your app supports Zapier. I think they have define these rules to weed out all the non-serious partners.

    Like a lot of the integrations would work fine with the default Webhook integration they have and then your app's webhook.

  • by will-mortar on 8/7/20, 10:43 PM

    Nothing is for free - especially around no code platforms. We aren’t far from zapier, bubble and webflow getting a % of equity on whatever you build on/with their platforms!

  • by gamebit07 on 8/7/20, 4:27 AM

    Well it is asking a lot TBH. Get 50 customers to sign up with us. It is almost like free affiliate partner. Are they asking for app integrations or free sales people for them?

  • by cdnsteve on 8/7/20, 1:18 PM

    Are there any set standards for these types of integrations between systems/SaaS services to make them interoperable?

    EG: Specific subset of REST or GraphQL, etc?

  • by test_999 on 8/7/20, 4:36 AM

    how about somebody started an MIT licensed alternative to it?