I downloaded Lion from the Mac App Store on Sept 3. My Visa credit card, which forms part of my Apple account, has not been charged as of now. I just checked.

I find that surprising -- for I had no pre-existing credits with Apple and would assume that the charging would always occur within (about) 24 hours after the downloading. (The credit card is up to date and otherwise unproblematic.)

An undeserved freebie would be unwelcome. I'd have to spend time to report it to Apple.

Has anybody experienced a delay from the Mac App Store in charging an unproblematic credit card?

Being impatient is bad habit of mine. Sigh! Just checked my email now. Apple has just notified me of the charge to my credit card.

But it should be quicker!!!

My experience with the App Store as well as iTunes is that it takes anywhere from 24 to 72 hours for the charge to hit my credit card — sometimes longer if the charge was on a weekend. Often two or more separate transactions/purchases will appear on the same charge. For example today I received a charge notice from Apple containing two separate App Store purchases and an iTunes store music purchase that took place over a three day period. Those hit my credit card as a single transaction.

Apparently Apple bundles their charges and submits them in a batch rather than submitting each charge individually. Given the way banks charge merchants for credit card purchases this makes a lot of sense financially.

yup. imagine getting on the music store and buying 10 different tracks and getting 10 separate charges, that would be bordering on annoying. Especially if you had one click buying enabled.


- Nathan