Transfer Your App to Another Developer
If a situation arises (such as a company merger or spin-off) where you need to transfer one of your published apps to another developer account, you can do so with the help of Amazon support. Note that unless absolutely necessary, Amazon strongly discourages developers from transferring apps to different developer accounts. Most all Amazon API’s will permanently cease to function after the transfer. The better course of action is to simply request the suppression of the Live app, then Submit the app as a new app submission in the new developer account.
What happens when you transfer your app
The following transfers take place when the current app owner transfers app ownership to another developer:
- The current app owner will accrue earnings up to and including the date and time of the transfer. After that, the new app owner will accrue earnings from the date and time of transfer onward.
- The current app owner will receive and maintain earnings reports on all months up to the date and time of the transfer. After that, the new app owner will receive and maintain these ports on all months from the date and time of the transfer onward.
- The current app owner will lose access to all Sales Reporting data on the transferred ASIN. After the transfer, the new app owner will gain access to all sales reporting data on the transferred ASIN from the date and time of the transfer onward (no historical data prior to that point).
Also note the following:
- Security Profiles are not associated — GC, ADM, etc., may no longer function for new app with existing Security Profiles. Mobile Ads reporting will no longer function for the new developer account.
- If the new app owner chooses to update the app, the updates will fail if users of the app published by the original developer attempt to update to the new app/developer version. This is due to signature mismatch. If the original app was Amazon signed, that signature cannot be transferred or used by the new app owner. The only case where the signature can avoid a mismatch is if the original app publisher self-signed the app and gives that certificate to the new app publisher.
- If the original developer name is part of the Package Name of the app, the International Appstores will pick up this metadata and display the app in searches for app stores other than the US.
Process for transferring your app
If you would still like to transfer your apps, submit a formal notice of assignment of ownership from [Current Owner’s Company Name] to [New Owner’s Company Name] via email to both apps-notices@amazon.com and contracts-legal@amazon.com. This notice must be signed by both parties represented in the notice (documents must be signed, scanned, and sent via email). Additionally, in your email, please include a statement that both parties understand that the update cycle of the app will be broken and all existing users will need to re-download the app from the new developer to receive new updates to the app.
Regardless of a formal notice of assignment of ownership, if the statement of broken update acknowledgment is not included in the email, the app(s) will not be transferred. Also, if the app(s) being transferred are premium or contain In-app Purchasing items, we will not transfer the app(s) until the new developer account has payment information on file. Payment Information can be entered via the Settings menu in the Developer Portal. After this request is received, reviewed, and accepted by our Legal team, transfer of applications from the current owner to the new owner will be initiated.