MAC app store has no record of a purchase

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Level 1

14 points

MAC app store has no record of a purchase

On 14 Feb 2012 I purchased an application, 'Gemini: The Duplicate Finder' from the Canadian Mac app store.

On 25 Aug 2013 I moved from Canada to Ireland.

I tried to use this utility today for file maintenance, but received a message to the effect that it was a corrupt file. It should be deleted and redownloaded from the app store.

Before doing anything I checked the App store and confirmed that Gemini was among my purchased apps.

I then deleted Gemini, using a sister product, CleanMyMac 3.

I returned to the app store to download a fresh version of the application only to find absolutely no trace of it anywhere, apart from its availability as a fresh purchase at the full price.

I then tried to log into the Apple Canada app store only to be told my credentials are only valid in the Apple Ireland App Store.

At the moment very frustrated.

I suspect I should not have used CleanMyMac to delete the corrupted app file. My Very Big Very Stupid Bad, but hardly the point. But oddly they also 'disappeared' my purchased Season 1 of 'Homeland' following relocation to Ireland.

How to fix. That is the question.

Suggestions appreciated.

BTW sorry to bother you all, but Apple Support is not interested in matters administrative. Anything to do with 3rd party apps, the only help is 'don't bother us, contact the vendor.'

Slainté

Dominic

Mac App Store Administration-OTHER, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Nov 21, 2015 5:40 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Dah•veed

Level 9

64,651 points

Nov 22, 2015 3:21 PM in response to domorris

I hope that you will get rid of CleanMyMac, it's a destructive app that has caused nightmares for others!

The Mac App Store is functioning as it supposed to. If you change your account from one country to another, your Purchases list is unpopulated because you have not bought any content in that store. You will no longer be alerted to updates for content that you bought in the previous store. However, folks report that if an app that you previously purchased is sold in the new store, if you go through the motions of buying it from the new store, in the final steps the system will recognize that you have previously bought the content and download it for free. This is only true however if it it the same version or an updated version. It is not true for a major paid upgraded version.

Late 2012 Mac mini, OS X El Capitan 10.11.1; Apple Watch, 38 mm silver AL, Watch OS 2.0.1; iPad Air 2 & iPhone 6+, iOS 9.1

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Answer 2

domorris Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 22, 2015 3:51 PM in response to Dah•veed

Thanks Dah*veed!

Agree re CleanMyMac! It is officially toast!

My other lesson learned: bypassthe Mac App store completely. Buy direct from the vendors. They don't lose track of their customers.

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Answer 3

domorris Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 22, 2015 4:22 PM in response to domorris

Thanks Dah*veed.

Agree re CleanMyMac! It is powerful, but unforgiving. My first problem though in several years of use.

My other lesson learned: bypass the Mac App store completely. Buy direct from the vendors. They need us customers and are more inclined to make an effort to not lose track of us.

CANNOT agree that the app store is 'functioning as it should'. That would mean it was designed to not provide itself with half-decent CRM service in the event of a change of address. No change in the Apple ID. Just address and phone number.

Think about it: this is a customer-facing unit of a $600,000,000,000 (that takes over 19 years to count at the rate of $1,000 per second!) business that cannot or will not track a customer's purchases from one country to another. This is a pitiful recommendation for a leading edge INFORMATION tech company.

I am not about to restrict my potential future addresses to Ireland because Apple is too lazy to keep proper track of me and the products I've paid them bloody good money for on the premise that it will always be easily downloadable.

I understand that not all apps will be available in all countries. That is NOT the case here.

Sorry for ranting.

Dominic

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Answer 4

Dah•veed

Level 9

64,651 points

Nov 22, 2015 7:19 PM in response to domorris

It isn't about changing addresses or phone numbers. It's about content licensing from one country to another. The content owners, which aside from OS X and a few apps Apple actually develops is 99.9% of the content in the Mac App Store, only issue a license to use their content from the store in which you have your account. Your content licensed to you from the Canadian Mac App Store isn't licensed to your use from the Irish Mac App Store. When you change your legal residence to another country, you must then purchase content licenses from the store for that country. Fortunately, if the content owner from whom you bought a license to use from the Canadian Mac App Store also sells their content in the Irish Mac App Store, they respect that previous purchase of their content in Canada, don't require you to pay for an Irish license to use and freely gives you an updated Irish licensed copy.

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Answer 5

domorris Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 22, 2015 8:27 PM in response to Dah•veed

Lucid explanation. Thanks.

So much simpler to deal directly with developers, though.

Dominic

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