Season pass refund rate versus standard IAP refund rate
Analysis
By UA Ledger staff — 1 min read
Labelled synthetic lab comparing pass versus standard IAP refund rates as reader inputs, anchored to Apple refund-notification and consumption-request documentation.
Season-pass refunds and standard IAP refunds are often collapsed into one MMP “refund rate”. That hides whether passes are driving the haircut that distorts SKAN/MMP revenue bridges. This lab keeps both rates as labelled synthetic inputs and shows the bridge math. It does not invent an industry pass-refund average.
Refund definition (body-read)
Apple’s Handling refund notifications states customers may request refunds via Apple Support, reportaproblem.apple.com, or their payment issuer, and that the App Store sends a REFUND notification for consumable, non-consumable and non-renewing subscription products. The App Store Server API overview documents Send Consumption Information after CONSUMPTION_REQUEST and Get Refund History. Exact approval rates are not published as a genre benchmark on these pages.
Synthetic worked example (labelled)
| Input | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pass gross (period) | 8,000 | Synthetic |
| Pass refund rate | 0.08 | Reader input — not a benchmark |
| Standard IAP gross | 12,000 | Synthetic |
| Standard IAP refund rate | 0.03 | Reader input — not a benchmark |
| Output | Worked-example result |
|---|---|
| Pass net after refunds | 7360.0000 |
| IAP net after refunds | 11640.0000 |
| Blended refund rate | 0.0500 |
| Pass share of refund dollars | 0.6400 |
Blended refund rate = (8000×0.08 + 12000×0.03) / 20000 = 0.05. Pass accounts for 640 of 1000 refund dollars (64%) despite being 40% of gross.
Facts versus limits
| Field | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Apple refund notification types | Handling refund notifications / Server API |
| Published pass-vs-IAP refund benchmark | Not on cited pages |
| Google Play refund automation | Out of scope for this Apple-anchored lab |
| SKAN null interaction | Not modelled here |
Draft prepared 20 September 2026. Synthetic teaching example; human editorial review pending. No CMS write.
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