Bought app from App Store, didn't take $ from iTunes

I bought an app from the App Store using the App Store icon on my dock. I assumed it would be paid for out of the gift card money I had in iTunes, but it took money directly from my credit card instead. I am set up with the same email/password for both the App Store and iTunes and was signed in to both when I made the purchase. I can't even find where money I have from a gift card would be in the App Store? I wanted the better (laptop) version of the app that was offered in the App Store, not just the iphone, ipad version in iTunes, hence, I didn't make the purchase from iTunes. SO...how or can I use money from iTunes to pay for purchases from the App Store? Thanks.


Hello and welcome to the forums.

The App Store accessed via the icon on your Mac and the iTunes Store are completely separate entities even though both require your Apple ID.

When someone gives you a gift card for iTunes and you register it on iTunes, then you can only use it against a purchase made there.

That is why your Apple Store credit card was debited when you made a purchase from that store.

Ian

I hate to disagree, and perhaps the reason is because I'm in Canada (and sometimes in the US) rather than in the UK, but in North America (I have accounts in both countries) it most definitely does NOT work that way. The gift card for iTunes works across all of Apple's iTunes-related stores (iBookstore, Mac App Store, iTunes, iOS App Store) and will be charged first before a credit card.

chas-m

I do apologise if I'm in the wrong. You are far more likely to be "on the ball" than I with your long experience; but I genuinely believed that the two accounts were separate entities and that if you registered your iTunes gift card via the iTunes Store, then that was where it applied.

What is important is to assist the OP and give him/her the correct advice.

I don't know where the OP resides. If in North America; case solved. You are right. If he/she is from the UK or Europe, and perhaps even if not, we should try to determine whether the rules are different here. Not quite sure how to do that.

Thanks for your assist, Charlie.

Ian

No worries, Ian -- I used to live (briefly) in England as well (long before iTunes came along, however).

The question is easily resolved by testing the UK store with a cheap iTunes gift card (say £5 if you can get one that low in denomination; $10 is the cheapest I've seen here), apply the credit to iTunes or some other store, then buy something from one of the different stores and see if the credit is applied. Financial rules are different in different countries, so the situation should be different, but even before buying one should be able to check their "credit" in, say, the Mac App Store to see if it matches the credit in iTunes.

To see your balance in the App Store, you can go to any of the categories except for Purchases and Updates (since everything there has already been paid for or is free) and look at the right side under Quick Links - Welcome Bob - next to Account will be listed any balance you may have.

chas_m said:

The question is easily resolved by testing the UK store with a cheap iTunes gift card (say £5 if you can get one that low in denomination; $10 is the cheapest I've seen here), apply the credit to iTunes or some other store, then buy something from one of the different stores and see if the credit is applied.

Click to expand...

Or you could just ask Apple

Sawday said:

Or you could just ask Apple

Click to expand...

Well, I did just that; phoned Apple (UK).

And not for the first or last time, Chas is correct (and I was wrong). In the UK, if you get an iTunes Gift Card and register it with iTunes, that credit IS applicable to both iTunes AND the Apple Store.

Apologies to the OP.

Ian

Thanks everyone. I am in the US. I'm on OSX 10.10.3. In the App Store in Quick Links next to or upon opening Account, there is no money there. In iTunes, there is $50 that was sent to me via gift card, via email. That money is NOT anywhere in the App Store. And I have no idea how to get it over to the App Store??

There is an option in the App Store to Redeem a gift card, but it requires a gift card code...there is no gift card code, that I can find, in the email saying I got a gift card. If the money is available across all Apple stores, how come I cannot access it, or how come it doesn't automatically show up in the App Store?

There was no option, when purchasing the (expensive!) app, to choose from a gift card or my bank account, and it did not take the money automatically from the $50 credit in my iTunes either............Frustrating!!

@maxsomi

I'm very well aware that we have not answered your question, not helped by my error for which I have apologised and from which we have clearly determined what SHOULD be the case. That an iTunes Gift Card is applicable across both stores.

I cannot understand how iTunes shows a credit of $50 and the Apple Store doesn't.

I wonder if it is related to the way in which you received your iTunes Gift, ie, by email. Normally the physical Gift Card has a code to be entered and it seems that that is what the Apple Store wants; yet you did not get one in your email, you say. But you were able to register the gift with iTunes nonetheless....

Sorry, not been much help.

Ian

This page is at the Apple store where you buy gift cards. It is confusing. At the top, it clearly says that "All cards work on the iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store and Mac App Store." But at the bottom it says "Valid only on iTunes Store for U.S." So, basically, in the US the card is only for iTunes, but everywhere else in the world it works at the Mac App Store.

If I were you, I'd call Apple and see what, if anything, they might do to work with you. But I don't hold out much hope, frankly.

Well Jake, this is an eye-opener. If you've read the previous contributions, which I'm sure you have, you'll appreciate the irony.

Ian

Not sure what you are getting at, Ian, but I had read the thread completely before posting. And what was previously posted is consistent with the fine print at the bottom of the page to which I linked. With the exception of the OP, bobtomay and me, everyone who has posted here is from outside the US, where the gift card does apply to all accounts.

Sorry Jake, I wasn't getting at anything really. The irony to which I referred was that I originally posted that the Gift Card would only work for the iTunes account. Which turns out to be true.

But I was basing this opinion on what I thought was the situation in the UK and, by implication, the US. I was totally wrong about the UK (and the rest of the world), but ironically correct about the US. That's all. Right for the wrong reasons. Sort of...

Ian

I get it now. I missed the irony of being right, then wrong, then right, sort of. But hey, any time you can claim a hit, take it!

Ian, thank you very much for your input! This is quite a confusing situation, isn't it?!

Jake, I think you found the answer. The cards that are bought online only work for the iTunes Store, at least here in the US. And the physical cards can be used everywhere, since they have a code that can be entered. Now I know, and what a pain!! I guess I will call Apple and see if I can get the money moved to the App Store, but like Jake said, I'm not holding out much hope. This issue should definitely be made clearer by Apple.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with this matter!

The cards that are bought online only work for the iTunes Store, at least here in the US.

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Sorry, but I have to disagree based on experience. We receive Apple gift cards quite often by email and each one has a bar code on it, a PIN number, and a gift card number.

The gift card instructions do say that it can only be redeemed in the US at any Apple Store or the Apple on line store. It may not be used in the iTunes store.

So, it would appear there are several (at least) different types of email gift cards which can be purchased and used by the recipient.

There are 2 different gift cards. There is an Apple Store gift card and an iTunes gift card.

The Apple Store gift card can only be used in an Apple Store or via Apple's online store.
The iTunes gift card can only be used in iTunes (which includes, music, movies, ebooks, iOS apps) and the Mac App Store.

If the op has a credit showing in iTunes and not in the Mac App Store - don't know why - it should be.
Would have to ask the question if both iTunes and the App Store are using the same AppleID.
Next, I would try going into your Account in iTunes - verify the balance there and then go into your account in the App Store - to see if will show the balance there.

Direct from the U.S. Apple iTunes gift card page - here

iTunes Gift Cards

All cards work on the iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, and Mac App Store.

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Hi bobtomay

The problem which Jake correctly identified is shown at the bottom of the very Link which you quoted above. The top of the article is exactly as you've quoted; but look at the bottom in what I would call "Terms & Conditions" where it says: "Valid only on iTunes Store for U.S."

So, it would appear that in the US, the iTunes Gift Card is only redeemable on the iTunes Store. This is not the case elsewhere.

Ian

In this case the op just happens to be in the U.S., so that really is what this thread is about.

I can attest to the fact that an emailed iTunes gift card works in all the locations noted, based on the fact that I currently have an emailed iTunes Gift Card that shows my balance in iTunes and the Mac App Store.

The terms and conditions are telling you the card is only valid within the store of the country it was purchased.
It is not implying that the card will work in iTunes but not the Mac App Store.

You will find the same in others:
Australia
U.K.
New Zealand
South Africa

I would suggest the op check his settings to verify the same AppleID as stated above and/or call Apple.