Is Apple STEALING Your Money? | New Surcharge on Small Business Owners

[00:00:00] This episode needs like a do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-important-news.

[00:00:06] Or what is it? Is it important news or incoming news? What is it?

[00:00:11] No, it's Newsflash.

[00:00:13] Yes, Newsflash. And we're bringing you the news.

[00:00:18] Everyone, welcome to the S.O.B. Marketing Podcast, where we celebrate the S.O.B. that you are.

[00:00:24] And if you haven't figured it out yet, we mean Small Owned Business. We don't mean S.O.B.

[00:00:30] Listen, we know that as a small business owner, you are working hard on the daily to keep your business fully operational while trying to promote it.

[00:00:39] And while some days it may feel like the business is owning you, if we're being honest with each other, I bet you would admit that you wouldn't give up the insanity for anything.

[00:00:49] Our commitment here at the S.O.B. Marketing Podcast is to give you the real talk, what works when it comes to advertising, marketing, promoting your business, and then what doesn't really work.

[00:01:00] And Chelsea and I promise to always keep the conversation real.

[00:01:04] Hey everybody and welcome back to the S.O.B. Marketing Podcast.

[00:01:07] S.O.B. as in Small Owned Business, not the other S.O.B.

[00:01:11] Before we get started, I just want to say thank you for listening.

[00:01:14] If you haven't followed or subscribed, make sure that you do that so you don't know what you're doing.

[00:01:19] Don't miss an episode.

[00:01:20] And if you know a small business owner that would really benefit from hearing this conversation and listening to this podcast, send them this podcast.

[00:01:29] Vivian, what are we talking about today?

[00:01:32] All right.

[00:01:33] So this episode is going to be a little different, y'all.

[00:01:35] It's probably going to be a lot shorter than our regular episodes.

[00:01:38] But we wanted to bring you some urgent news.

[00:01:41] Okay.

[00:01:42] And this is something that is irking me, but it's just the way of the world.

[00:01:48] So if you are a small business owner and you are running Facebook ads or Instagram ads, and you are doing this through your iPhone, you are going to start getting a surcharge or a service fee of 30% tacked on to your investment.

[00:02:12] Okay.

[00:02:13] So if you're spending, let's say $100, they're going to add a 30% service fee onto that $100 ad spend and you're going to have to pay it.

[00:02:24] And so I don't think enough people know about this.

[00:02:27] And so we wanted to just come on here and educate you guys about it so that you don't, I don't know, that you could do something about it.

[00:02:34] Yeah.

[00:02:35] Well, I just want to say, I know very little about this.

[00:02:39] I just know like the bare minimum, which is Apple is now charging people a fee.

[00:02:44] And when Vivian told me about this, I was like, what the f***?

[00:02:49] Like that's crazy.

[00:02:51] But Vivian, you know a lot more about this than I do.

[00:02:54] So I'm going to ask you some questions.

[00:02:56] For one, I have Apple products.

[00:03:01] I have an iPhone.

[00:03:02] I also have a Mac.

[00:03:04] Is that going to be a problem?

[00:03:05] Are they going to charge me on a Mac?

[00:03:08] Yeah.

[00:03:08] So in order to answer that, let me back up a little bit and just state this.

[00:03:13] All right.

[00:03:14] So the 30% service fee that's going to be added on is actually being added on by Apple.

[00:03:21] Okay.

[00:03:21] It's not being added on by Meta.

[00:03:24] Meta who owns Instagram or Facebook.

[00:03:26] So Facebook and Instagram have nothing to do with this.

[00:03:29] This is strictly something that Apple is doing, which is why it only affects Apple users.

[00:03:35] To your point, if you are an Apple user, it's only going to affect you if you are going to run ads.

[00:03:44] So let's say I'm ready to run an ad and I open up on my iPhone, I open up the Facebook app.

[00:03:53] That's when it will charge me that 30% service fee if I'm doing it through that.

[00:03:57] If you have an iPad and you're on the iPad, you go to the Facebook app and you open it up.

[00:04:05] Because anything that's using the Apple app store is going to be where that charge is being incurred.

[00:04:13] So if you use your Mac, but you're going to the website, facebook.com and running your ad through there, it's not going to charge it.

[00:04:25] Okay.

[00:04:26] So that makes sense.

[00:04:27] I get it.

[00:04:30] What's their idea process behind this?

[00:04:33] Like why was this thought of?

[00:04:36] Yeah, their thought process.

[00:04:38] I don't understand.

[00:04:40] Well, so I guess they didn't really have an explanation for it.

[00:04:46] They basically, to be honest, all the reports that I read and I did do some deep digging into it,

[00:04:52] but they basically just said because they were Apple and they could, they would.

[00:04:59] I'm not lying.

[00:05:00] That's exactly what it was.

[00:05:01] There is no rhyme or reason to it really.

[00:05:04] The only thing is now I will tell you that I feel like Meta that owns Facebook and Instagram is perturbed by it

[00:05:12] because obviously that may affect their ad spend.

[00:05:17] People may be like, oh, well, I'm just not going to spend as much.

[00:05:21] Like if my budget's $100, well, now I have to account for 30% of that going to this fee, right?

[00:05:29] Yeah.

[00:05:29] So that's less to spend on the actual ad.

[00:05:32] So what they are doing is they've actually done a really good job of putting all the news and information out there to tell people that the way to circumvent this

[00:05:42] and the way to avoid this 30% service fee is to actually just go to a desktop or a laptop and to go through facebook.com or instagram.com or use Meta Business Suite.

[00:05:56] Okay.

[00:05:57] Okay.

[00:05:57] So my other question is this is only with Meta, so they're not going to add a service fee for TikTok ads or Pinterest or stuff like that?

[00:06:08] No.

[00:06:08] Apparently this is only with Facebook and Instagram.

[00:06:12] So anything through Meta, yeah.

[00:06:15] Okay.

[00:06:15] I don't like that, but I'm glad that we're talking about it.

[00:06:19] I'm glad we're bringing it up.

[00:06:21] So guys, just get on your laptop then instead of doing it through your phone.

[00:06:27] I do find it very interesting that they're bothering to do this because, again, it's very easy to circumvent.

[00:06:37] I mean, it is and it isn't though.

[00:06:40] Like think about, I think sometimes if you're used to doing something on your phone, you know, and this is a very big caveat.

[00:06:50] So asterisks here, you guys, I want you to pay attention.

[00:06:54] This also includes whenever you go to boost a post.

[00:06:59] So if you are on your Facebook app, you know, you're on your iPhone, you're on Facebook, you're scrolling, you have a business account and you're boosting your post.

[00:07:11] That's considered to them a quote unquote ad.

[00:07:14] And so therefore they're going to charge that 30% service fee.

[00:07:16] So just be aware if you like boosting your post every once in a while and then when you go to boost it, you see that there is a service fee attached to it and it's a lot more than what you had ever, you know, paid.

[00:07:32] That's where it's coming in.

[00:07:33] It's coming from Apple.

[00:07:35] Okay.

[00:07:36] So Vivian, do you think that Apple is going to like keep this?

[00:07:42] Like, do you think they're going to keep this around forever?

[00:07:44] Do you think they'll?

[00:07:46] No.

[00:07:46] Kind of crash and burn?

[00:07:48] Yeah.

[00:07:49] I think what's going to end up happening is legislation is probably going to step in.

[00:07:54] So they've already caught heat from some, I think some senators have already kind of raised concerns about this.

[00:08:01] And then on top of that, I know that the EU has actually filed something or is investigating into whether or not this is something that legally they can do.

[00:08:11] Okay.

[00:08:12] So I think that, I don't know for certain if this is something that's going to happen indefinitely.

[00:08:18] What I will say is if I were a betting woman, I would probably bet that it's not just because they're already being investigated for it.

[00:08:26] Yeah.

[00:08:26] Well, and my second question was going to be, do you think other businesses would follow suit like Google for Google Play, the Google Play Store?

[00:08:35] Do you think they'd try to add on a service fee?

[00:08:37] I don't think so.

[00:08:39] I mean, I'll be honest with you.

[00:08:41] And I'm not a Apple girl.

[00:08:42] I do have an iPhone.

[00:08:44] Okay.

[00:08:45] I do own an iPhone and I used to use a Mac and all of that.

[00:08:48] I think that Apple is the only company that in their right mind would be like, you know what would be a great idea?

[00:08:57] We should tack on 30% service fee just because we can.

[00:09:01] I feel like they're the only ones that would audaciously do that.

[00:09:04] Anyone else?

[00:09:05] There is no speculation or there has not been any confirmation that there's any other business that is looking to do this as well.

[00:09:14] Okay.

[00:09:15] Well, that's really interesting.

[00:09:17] I'm glad we're talking about this because if you guys are thinking about doing Facebook ads or Instagram meta ads, if you're thinking about running a meta ad, you know, something to consider, something to think about.

[00:09:33] Maybe you want to continue to do it on your phone and you're willing to pay that 30% service fee.

[00:09:42] That's up to you.

[00:09:43] Like, we're not telling you you can't do it.

[00:09:44] We're just letting you know that, hey, this is a thing that you're going to have to pay attention to.

[00:09:49] And if you are going to want to do that, then you're going to have to add that to your budget like you were talking about earlier.

[00:09:57] Yeah.

[00:09:58] And my take is why would you spend that extra 30% though when you can easily just go on to your laptop and do it, right?

[00:10:06] Just log into facebook.com, y'all, or instagram.com.

[00:10:10] And that way you can avoid that fee.

[00:10:13] But I do think, Chelsea…

[00:10:15] Well, hey, you know what?

[00:10:16] I'm going to play devil's advocate.

[00:10:17] Some people might not have a laptop or a desktop.

[00:10:22] They might only have like an iPad because I know a bunch of people who use their iPad for almost everything.

[00:10:29] It's called La Biblioteca.

[00:10:32] The library, y'all.

[00:10:33] The library.

[00:10:35] You can easily go to the library.

[00:10:37] So what we're telling you really is don't fall for this.

[00:10:41] Don't do it.

[00:10:41] No, it's to your point, to each their own.

[00:10:44] If it's something that unfortunately you don't have a laptop or something, just know that that's where you're going to start to see an increase.

[00:10:51] And that's where that fee is coming from.

[00:10:52] But I will say and urge everybody, if you're listening, and this was the first time that you heard about this, please send this podcast episode to a small business friend.

[00:11:04] Yeah.

[00:11:04] Because I don't think I like I'm sitting here thinking I'm like, I would be screaming this from the rooftops, right?

[00:11:11] But Apple obviously isn't going to be saying anything.

[00:11:15] Meta is doing their best, but I still don't think they're making a big enough deal about it.

[00:11:21] Well, I, you know, part of what we do is we try to stay on top of all the marketing news.

[00:11:27] I hadn't heard about this until you told me about it.

[00:11:30] Yeah.

[00:11:30] And it's it's going on.

[00:11:31] Like, here's the thing is they they had kind of talked about it and they were going to start doing it.

[00:11:37] Well, it effectively started at the end of July.

[00:11:39] So like they turned that switch on at the end of July.

[00:11:42] So that means as of the as of today, when you're listening to this podcast episode, that is what's going to be happening.

[00:11:51] And so I think it just infuriates me because I'll be honest, Chelsea, I feel like small business owners don't catch a break as it is.

[00:11:58] OK, you're you're taxed over everything.

[00:12:01] You know, we're paying more for stuff nowadays.

[00:12:05] A lot of people are paying a lot more for their inventory, X, Y and Z.

[00:12:10] Nothing is cheap, which, you know, I get it.

[00:12:12] Whatever.

[00:12:13] Everyone's in business.

[00:12:14] But for them to just kind of come in and be like, oh, OK, for no reason at all, we're just going to start charging you 30 percent on top of what you're spending.

[00:12:22] Like that's highway robbery.

[00:12:24] Yeah, I'm saying it.

[00:12:26] OK, Vivian's going to start the revolution.

[00:12:30] Yeah.

[00:12:31] Over Apple's 30 percent service fee charge.

[00:12:35] Which I mean, honestly, super reasonable, reasonable reason to start the revolution because that's crazy.

[00:12:41] All right.

[00:12:42] So today's episode was a down and dirty quick episode, but we hope that it was something that was informational.

[00:12:48] And if you didn't know about it and you are an Apple user, we hope that this helps you just kind of run your business a little better and make a decision as to whether or not you want to continue running ads via your iPhone, your iPad, whatever.

[00:13:01] OK, if you guys have any questions, we're here for you.

[00:13:04] You can send us an email at help at the seasoned marketer.

[00:13:07] Also, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so that you get notified every single time a new podcast episode drops.

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