FAQ

The name was derived from the English words for these sounds:
Ka-ching! — the sound of an old cash register ringing up a sale
Jingle — the sound made by shaking a purse full of coins

A subscriber to one or more Kachingle bundles.

These made-up verbs describe the activity of a subscriber using an app such that revenue flows to that app based on that subscriber’s usage. See? That’s why we made up these words – the description is too long!

The nickname for the Kachingle widget. Originally, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, it was round. Now it is rectangular. But the nickname stuck.

The Medallion, a distinct one for each app, is the mechanism that pays attention to a Kachingler’s status (e.g. subscribed to a bundle, or not). The Medallion is also the tool by which a prospective user can subscribe to a Kachingle bundle, or an existing subscriber can use to navigate to Kachingle and/or update their status. The Medallion is embedded in an app, and present on the Kachingle profile page for an app.

Kachingle is a platform for application vendors to cooperatively bundle their apps, co-market to their combined user bases, accept micropayments, and offload subscription billing.

Additionally, apps within a bundle are easier for users to find, and effortless for them to start using. The glow of a popular bundle and the combined marketing power of all the apps in the bundle helps guide users to these "best of breed" apps.

Bundles are a proven marketing tool for offering users a total package of services and/or products. Bundles are used in the offline and online worlds. An example of online bundles are the communication carriers offering customers build-your-own-bundles of services such as wireless phone and data services, internet connection, etc. An example of offline bundles is cable TV channels. An example of physical product bundles are mini-cereal packets packaged together in one box.

Previously, because of limited technology, bundles in the past have not necessarily been subscriber-centric; for example users could not swap in and out components in the bundle. With Kachingle, users have total control over which apps they use and can easily swap apps in and out of a bundle, and even "build their own" bundle.

Apps that are purchased together using a flat periodic subscription fee (usually monthly).

Kachingle has turned bundling upside down and put the subscriber at the center – thus making Kachingle bundles particularly attractive and able to entice more subscribers over the “penny gap”. For more general information about bundles and bundling, please see the “Bundling the Kachingle Way - Is This the Holy Grail for App Developers?”.

Because bundling is a general marketing tool, all apps are appropriate. Initially the Kachingle APIs are available for PC and web/cloud apps; soon they will be available for Android apps. Freemium, premium, and f2p apps can all benefit from offering a Kachingle bundle, which includes that app, as an optional purchase path. Enterprise, SaaS, SMB, consumer, game, music, video, and all genres can be accommodated because of the overall benefit that bundling brings to subscriber and vendor alike.

Apps that use subscriptions (of any cycle period) are most appropriate – but even one-time 99 cent fee apps can easily be converted into a subscription app (since Kachingle enables micropayments).

Kachingle has a deep knowledge of Freemium app monetization issues in particular and run the Freemium SF Bay Area Meetup the second Thursday evening of each month, swapping locations between Silicon Valley and San Francisco. All events are recorded and event highlights can be found on the Kachingle blog and the FreemiumSFBay blog. This video is a short summary of freemium and penny gap issues.

Because Kachingle is a flexible, general bundling platform, apps valued at any price can be accommodated.

Type | Structure | Ownership

There are two types of bundles – point-based and set-based (details below).

Each bundle also has a structure – white-label, anchor-tenant, co-op, and partnership (details below).

A bundle owner can be an app vendor (for white label and anchor tenant bundles), a group of app vendors (for co-op bundles), or Kachingle (for partnership bundles).

There are two types of bundles – point-based and set-based. Point-based bundles have a fixed number of points that can be allocated to the apps in the bundle in order for the subscriber to turn the app on. For example, a bundle could have 100 points and an app in the bundle could cost 10 points. The subscriber then needs to allocate 10 of the 100 points for that app to be turned on.

Set-based bundles are essentially a subset of a point-based bundle in that there are enough (invisible) points to that all apps can be on simultaneously. Point based bundles allow subscribers to swap in and out apps as needed (with some timing limitations). The best way to see how this works, and how easy it is for subscribers, is to sign up for the demo bundles and apps.

Each bundle has an owner. The owner decides what type of bundle to create and also makes related revenue-related decisions. For white-label bundles the owner is the company that is hosting the bundle. For anchor-tenant bundles the lead app is the owner. For co-op bundles the group determines their own decision process. For partnership bundles Kachingle is the owner.

No, if your app is in a point-based bundle you can set the number of points to be exactly the price of your app. You will accrue revenue at that price, based on the usage (e.g. if a subscriber uses your app one day a month you will make less than if the subscriber uses your app every day). You can also choose to discount your app so that it is more “affordable” in terms of points required. Pricing in point-based bundles is typically the app vendor’s decision. Pricing in set-based bundles is determined by the owner of the bundle.

A set-based bundle is essentially a point-based bundle where the number of points is exactly what is needed to have all apps turned on concurrently. Points are not shown in set-based bundles since there is no need for subscribers to manage their points.

Bundle type is determined by the bundle owner based on their market knowledge.

Yes. Additionally, the app can be “priced” differently in each bundle for flexibility in maximizing bundle attractiveness to subscribers, and revenue to vendors.

Try out the demo bundles – they use fake money and are free and fun to play with.

Please see this question answered below in the Subscriber FAQ.

See the developer documentation for information about the API calls. The APIs are currently available in PHP and Ruby, more languages coming soon including Android/mobile.

For simple apps, it takes less than a day. More complex apps, with multiple places where users are encouraged to sign up for premium features, will take longer. There are also marketing pages for the app itself, and the bundle, that need to be configured.

Micropayments enable app vendors to gain revenue from even the most infrequent user. Even someone that uses an app just once a year can now be paying something, rather than nothing. More importantly, bundling reduces churn, since the subscriber can typically find enough value in a bundle to keep paying for it. Then even infrequently used apps are easily available and can become favorites again. Kachingle divides a subscriber’s pay-in down to the penny level (per cycle). Payouts to vendors also occur down to the penny level (per month).

The Kachingle micropayment system has been in production since Dec 14, 2009 starting with the initial service, a voluntary contribution system (which is now called “Kachingle Anything” and is a bundle in the current offering). This system has operated robustly and continues to be the underlying revenue distribution engine.

PayPal. Credit cards through both PayPal and Adyen. Direct debit through Adyen.

All PayPal compatible currencies.

Adyen information: Headquartered in Amsterdam, with offices in Boston, San Francisco, London, Paris, Sao Paolo and Singapore, Adyen is the leading provider of global Internet payment solutions for large international merchants. Adyen’s innovative Internet Payment Solution, built on over 15 years of industry experience, enables merchants to significantly increase online conversion by optimizing the payment process, while mitigating fraud and risk. It currently supports more than 100 payment methods, 187 transaction currencies and 14 settlement currencies used on six continents. Since its launch in 2006, the company has enjoyed triple-digit year-over-year growth and achieved profitability in 36 months. Adyen works with many global customers including but not limited to including Getty Images, KLM, PopCap Games, Greenpeace, Vodafone, and Kachingle. For more information, please visit www.adyen.com.

Each bundle has its own pay-in cycle for subscribers (day, week, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, 1 year – more can be added as needed). The typical cycle is monthly. A subscriber can have multiple bundles at different pay-in cycles. The bundle owner determines the pay-in cycle.

How? Via PayPal.

Often? Vendor payouts are currently done once/month. There is no fee assessed to vendors for payout.

Each app has its own Medallion which is attached to the vendor’s user account. In the Medallion dashboard is a complete report of money accumulated/paid which always available to the app vendor and updated every day.

Kachingle invented and implemented “crowd-based auditing”. All financial transactions are visible (although subscribers can choose their display names to be “anonymous”). App vendors can easily discover where their revenue is coming from and if desired, run their own audit analysis. (See blog post: Kachingle is transparent and fair)

There is no fee to Kachingle for integration (unless the structure is pure white-label, thus requiring special customization). Kachingle’s vendor support team will assist app vendors in determining the appropriate bundle type and structure. Transaction fees are assessed on actual revenue generation.

75% is divided amongst the app vendors in the bundle, based on the usage algorithm. 10% is assigned to the app vendor or partner who acquired the subscriber. Kachingle retains 15% of the subscriber revenue which covers all financial fees (including those to PayPal, Adyen and credit card companies) and Kachingle’s own fee.

It depends on who is the owner of the bundle. Kachingle will always promote bundles on our home page if desired by the bundle owner.

Thru the APIs, apps can in real-time promote other apps that are in their bundle, thus making a compelling offer to potential subscribers and leveraging the total base of visitors that stream thru all the apps; not just a single one. Try out the demo apps to see how this works.

Kachingle is integrated with Facebook and Twitter, and planning to integrate with App.net. The Facebook integration allows subscribers to sign up with their Facebook account, and post key activity, if desired. App vendors can also post key activity to their Facebook pages. The Kachingle Facebook page also posts interesting activity. The Twitter integration is very similar, except without the signup capability. All Facebook posts and Twitter tweets can be tested in the sandbox. App.net integration is coming soon -- we strongly believe in indie app sustainability.

The only contract is in the Terms of Service which becomes effective once you request a Medallion for your app on the www.kachingle.com website. This contract also covers partnering with developers of other apps in bundles that contain your app -- so you do not need to do any separate contracts with other vendors. By partnering with Kachingle you immediately have partnered with every other app in the bundles in which your app resides. This saves app vendors the hassle of having to do one on one partnering and the time and delay in working through two legal departments (your own and that of the other vendor’s). Vendors have told us that this efficiency alone is the biggest benefit of Kachingle-enabled bundling. The time commitment is for one subscription cycle once app removal from a bundle is requested. Allowing a bundle cycle to complete ensures that all monies to you will be properly distributed.

Many answers can be found by trying out the demo apps and reading the API documentation. You can also fill out the contact form on the developer homepage. Or if you just can’t wait, go to the team page, figure out who you want to talk to, and give them a phone call, email or tweet. Please don’t be shy – we want to hear from you!

We've got some ideas, but it really depends on what you, the app developers, requests and needs. Some features we think will be helpful are the ability of a "super-subscriber" to manage other subscribers accounts. This would be applicable in a company setting. Another set of possible future features is integration with App.net, both for our subscribers and for App.net partner apps. Still another capability we are contemplating is for subscribers to be able to upgrade bundle points on the fly.

• Developer Homepage
• Developer Documentation
• Marketing Homepage
• Subscriber Homepage
• Kachingle blog
• Nancy Lin Interview
• Bundling the Kachingle Way - Is This the Holy Grail for App Developers?
• Freemium Meetup Group
• Freemium Blog

An affiliate is a site, app store, etc. that does not create or own apps*, but makes recommendations to users for apps or bundles. Thus, an affiliate drives traffic to Kachingle and the app bundles. Affiliates have co-branded pages, same as for the apps. *Or does create or own apps, but also promotes other vendor’s apps.

Whoever brings in a new subscriber then earns the finder’s fee for that subscriber for a good period of time. An affiliate that brings in a subscriber therefore earns that finder’s fee. An app vendor can also earn the finder’s fee if they send the subscriber directly to Kachingle. Kachingle can earn the finder’s fee if the subscriber comes first through the Kachingle site to sign up for bundle(s). The subscriber fee is 10% of the monthly revenue.

Implementation for affiliates is easy. First determine which apps and bundles are to be promoted (you can build your own bundle and be the owner – see the developer FAQ for bundle information).

• If the desired bundle is already part of the Kachingle system use a subset of the APIs to promote the bundle on your site and connect users to the promoted bundles. Promotion can also be done for a single app that is part of a bundle.
• If the apps are already part of the Kachingle system but a new bundle is desired, contact Kachingle to have the bundle created (app vendor approval may be required).
• If the apps are not already part of the Kachingle system, get agreement from the app vendors to integrate with Kachingle and be part of the promoted bundle.

Yes, in that all subscribers sent to Kachingle by the affiliate will see join flow pages branded with the affiliate's logo. The affiliate also has a profile page, but as the Medallion is not part of a bundle it is not visible to subscribers.

Through their user account on Kachingle, where their Medallion resides. This is the same as for an app vendor.

Most of the information for app vendors also applies to Affiliates. Many answers can be found by trying out the demo apps and reading the API documentation. Or please fill out the contact form on the developer homepage. Or if you just can’t wait, go to the team page, figure out who you want to talk to, and give them a call, email or tweet. Please don’t be shy – we want to hear from you!

No. When you as Kachingler visit an app that is in a Kachingle Bundle, our system does recognize you, but only makes note of this to properly serve the premium features and fairly pay the app vendor.

The Kachingle Medallion relies on cookies to remember you and count your visits to the sites you kachingle. If you ever need to delete your browser cookies, to resume counting your visits to the sites you support, just click "Already a Kachingler?" on any Kachingle Medallion to turn back on all Medallions' ability to remember you.

(Please note: Some browsers have separate settings for allowing "third-party cookies." Third-party cookies must be enabled for Kachingle Medallions to remember you. If you need more help, see "How do I set my browser to accept third-party cookies?" below.)

Yes, it's easy to kachingle under a different name (or anonymously) for any site/app using the Kachingle widget (a.k.a. Medallion) on the site/app itself (found in the settings page, the site page, or the Kachingle Anything browser extension), the site/app profile page at kachingle.com, or the subscriptions page.

Yes, if your mobile web browser is the method by which you access the app.

If a Medallion doesn't recognize you, click "Already a Kachingler?" in the Overlay and sign in.

If after doing so, the Medallion still doesn't recognize you, the problem may be that your browser is set to reject "third-party cookies." The Kachingle Medallion's cookie, used to recognize you, is a third-party cookie -- meaning it comes from Kachingle.com, not from the site you're visiting when you see the Medallion.

Here's how to accept the Kachingle Medallion cookie while still rejecting other third-party cookies:

In Firefox for Windows: Tools > Options > Privacy
Under "Use custom settings for history," click the "Exceptions..." button, enter kachingle.com and click "Allow."

In Internet Explorer for Windows: Tools > Internet Options > Privacy
Click the "Sites" button, enter kachingle.com and click "Allow."

In Firefox for Mac: Firefox > Preferences > Privacy
Under "Use custom settings for history," click the "Exceptions..." button, enter kachingle.com and click "Allow."

If you need help, contact Customer Care.

You bet! To turn your kachingling on from any browser, just click "Already a Kachingler?" on any Kachingle Medallion and sign in to activate the Medallions' ability to remember you on that browser.

For fixed set bundles, you, the subscriber, have just enough "points" to kachingle all apps in the bundle simultaneously. Therefore there is no need to display or manage points. However the subscriber can still choose to turn on and off kachingling. The only reason to turn it off is if the subscriber does not want to use the premium features of an app. This is definitely an usual situation, but if the app is freemium the subscriber may feel the premium features aren't enough to be deserving of being paid, and that the free features are enough.

For point based bundles, you, the subscriber buy a certain number of points. Each app in the bundle has points assigned, and the subscriber can have as many apps turned on as s/he has points to distribute. If extra points are needed to turn on an additional app in the bundle, the subscriber can turn off one or more of the apps that is currently on to free up points. This enables subscribers to tailor their bundle to their changing needs and desires. For revenue fairness to app developers, some apps may require a waiting period to be turned off. If this becomes inconvenient for the subscriber, they can upgrade to a higher number of points. In the beta release this requires a cancelling of the current subscription and a re-subscription to the desired higher point bundle. In a future release points will be able to be added to an existing bundle.

Each app you use each month gets a share of your subscription fee. The algorithm for distribution of money depends on a number of factors including app list price, the amount you use the app, and our secret “fairness sauce”.

PayPal and credit cards. To use a credit card through the PayPal system just look for the link "Don't have a PayPal account? Use your credit card or bank account." (Note: we will soon enable credit card payments directly through Adyen.)

Every major currency is accepted.

Yes! We believe that no matter how small, Kachinglers' contributions should be delivered to the sites as soon as possible, and not be subject to a monetary threshold, once a recipient site provides us with a PayPal address for their payments. We also think it is fantastically cool to be the first internet micropayment service to deliver itsy bitsy micropayments efficiently.

The monetary distribution is done fairly based on our secret sauce usage algorithm and includes commissions to Kachingle, our payment provider(s), and marketing partners (if any).

If you have no kachingling activity on your bundle in a given month, your Pay-In will be distributed based on the previous month's activity. If you have not yet kachingled any apps at all, any accumulated Pay-In will be distributed based on your first month of kachingle activity.