Define Paid Skill Purchase Details

To offer your skill as a paid skill, you define the purchase details, such as the payment model and pricing information. You can use the Alexa developer console to define these details. For an overview of paid skills, see Understand Paid Skills.

You can also define the purchase details for a paid skill by using the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) Command Line Interface (CLI). Include the paid skill schema in your skill manifest file. For details about creating skills with the ASK CLI, see the ASK CLI Overview.

Prerequisites

To offer your skill for purchase, you create a custom skill in a language that supports paid skills. For available languages, see Where can I offer paid skills?

Configure the payment model

When you want to offer your skill as a paid skill, you choose and configure your payment model and define the purchase details. You can select a one-time purchase or a subscription model.

To set up a paid skill and configure the payment model

  1. Sign in to the Alexa developer console.
  2. From the skill list, locate your custom skill, and then, in the dropdown under ACTIONS, select Edit.
  3. On the Build page, under Skill builder checklist, click Monetize Your Skill.
    Or, in the left pane, click TOOLS, and then click Monetize Your Skill.
  4. For Choose how you want to monetize your skill page, select Set Up Paid Skill, and then click Next.
  5. For Choose your Paid Skill payment model, to charge a one-time fee to unlock access to your skill content, select One-Time Purchase, and then click Next.
    Or, to charge a recurring fee to unlock access to your skill content, select Subscription, and then click Next.
  6. On the Configure your Paid Skill page, enter the attributes for a one-time purchase or subscription.
    1. (Subscriptions only) Under Billing, enter the billing details.
      To bill one time a month, select Monthly, or, to bill one time a year, select Yearly.
      If you offer a trial period, toggle Trial period, and then, to enter the number of days in the trial period, click + or –.
      Valid duration: 1–31 days, inclusive.
    2. Under Pricing & Availability, enter the price for each marketplace where your skill is available.
    3. Under Tax category, to select the appropriate category for your skill, click the drop-down arrow.
    4. Under Supported Languages, select a language that your skill supports, and then define the purchase prompts for that language.
      You can enter up to 160 characters for each prompt. Repeat this step for each language your skill supports.
      You must select a language for every marketplace for which you entered a price.
    5. Under Testing, enter testing instructions.
  7. To save the configuration, in the upper-right corner, click Save.

Edit the payment model

After you publish your skill, the status of the skill changes to Live and a new development version is automatically created in the developer console. The development version has the same information as the original live version. Use the development version to update an in-skill product. After, you update a product, you must submit your skill for recertification.

Complete the following steps to edit the payment model for your paid skill.

To edit the payment model

  1. Sign in to the Alexa developer console.
  2. From the skill list, locate your paid skill, and then, in the dropdown under ACTIONS, select Edit.
  3. To add a language, on the Build page, select a language.
  4. On the Build page, under Skill builder checklist, click Monetize Your Skill.
    Or, in the left pane, click TOOLS, and then click Monetize Your Skill.
  5. For Choose how you want to monetize your skill page, select Set Up Paid Skill, and then click Next.
  6. On the Configure your Paid Skill page, edit the fields as needed.
  7. To save your changes, in the upper right corner, click Save.
  8. If your new price is less than an ongoing deal, to suppress the current deal, click Save Changes.

Purchase details configuration

After you choose your paid skill payment model, configure the paid skill purchase details on the developer console.

Billing for subscriptions

If you use the subscription payment model, define the billing frequency to show how often you bill the customer for the subscription. You can also define a trial period. Trials allow customers to preview the skill content for free for a limited time. After the trial ends, Amazon bills the customer according to the defined billing frequency.

  • Billing frequency – Shows how often you bill the customer for the subscription. Available options are Monthly and Yearly.
  • Trial period – Use the toggle to show whether this skill offers a trial period.

  • Days in trial period – Shows the duration of the trial period, in days. The duration is 1–31 days, inclusive.

Pricing and availability

Define pricing and marketplace availability for your paid skill.

  • AVAILABILITY – Describes the marketplaces where you offer the skill for sale.
    For details about the available options, see Where can I offer paid skills.
  • PRICE – List price for the skill.
    For minimum and maximum price values, see Price ranges for paid skills.

Tax category

Select the tax category that matches the content in your skill:

  • Information services – Content of an informational nature, such as stocks, weather, news, or financial data.
  • Newspapers – Newspaper content, regardless of the format (video, audio, scrolling graphics, and so on).
  • Periodicals – Periodical content (magazine or non-newspaper), regardless of the format (video, audio, scrolling graphics, and so on).
  • Software – Interactive game content and other skill content.
  • Streaming audio – Audio content that's not streaming radio.
  • Streaming radio – Audio content in the form of streaming radio, including pre-recorded and live content.
  • Video – Streaming video content, including pre-recorded and live content.

Supported languages and prompts

Based on the selected marketplaces, the console displays the languages that your skill must support. For each language, you define the following prompts.

  • Purchase Prompt Description – The description that a customer hears when they purchase a paid skill or cancel a subscription to a paid skill. Alexa plays this prompt and the price during the purchase flow.

    Follow these guidelines when you enter the description:

    • Include the skill name. Use "{PREMIUM_CONTENT_TITLE}" as a token for the display name. Don't use "{" or "}" anywhere else in the prompt.
    • Include what's unique about this skill.
    • Be as brief as possible.
    • Don't include any pricing information. Amazon automatically appends the price in the purchase flow.
    • Avoid repeating the same phrases customers might have heard in the purchase suggestion.
    • Clearly explain what the skill provides.

  • Purchase Confirmation Description – The description that displays on the post-purchase confirmation card in the Alexa app. Include the placeholder "{PREMIUM_CONTENT_TITLE}" for the skill name.

Testing

The Testing section collects details about how the Amazon certification team can test your skill.

  • Testing instructions – Enter instructions that explain how to test the purchasing and cancellation flows. Include information, such as test account credentials.

Price ranges for paid skills

Amazon sets the minimum and maximum prices that you can specify for paid skills in each country.

Minimum prices

The following table shows the minimum price that you can specify.

Payment model US (USD)
All payment models $ 0.99

Maximum prices

The following table shows the maximum price that you can specify for each payment type.

Payment model US (USD)
One-time purchase $ 99.99
Subscription $ 99.99
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Last updated: Mar 26, 2024