Google Chrome extension developers have been left high and dry for weeks as the company struggles to cope with a spike in fraud on the Chrome Web Store.
In an announcement posted to the Chromium extensions Google Group on 24 January, an Extensions Developer Advocate said:
Earlier this month the Chrome Web Store team detected a significant increase in the number of fraudulent transactions involving paid Chrome extensions that aim to exploit users. Due to the scale of this abuse, we have temporarily disabled publishing paid items. This is a temporary measure meant to stem this influx as we look for long-term solutions to address the broader pattern of abuse.
Disabling the publishing feature has caused problems for developers with extensions that take one-off payments or subscriptions, or which sell in-app purchases, she added in the post. They might receive rejections from the Chrome store, citing ‘Spam and Payment in the Store’ as the cause. They could fix the problem by replying to the rejection email and asking for an appeal. Google might then invite them to republish the item at its discretion. Developers would have to go through this rigmarole with each new version they published while the company sorted out the problem.