enpitsulin

Background#

Because I wanted to develop a Chrome extension, I registered for a developer account. However, I remember that Google developers require a $25 registration fee.

At the beginning, I didn't know that you could register directly in China, so I used a virtual credit card. Unexpectedly, starting from 2021, developer accounts require identity verification. However, the virtual credit card has a random U.S. address, which is unfortunate because I spent money but can't use it. I can only think of ways to apply for a refund.

PS: Developing a Chrome extension doesn't require this $25 developer account, you only need to spend $5 to register as a Chrome Web Store developer 😪

Contacting the Developer Support Team#

After some searching, I found that you can directly use this form to contact them.

Please select from common questions or applications and choose "I want to cancel my account and apply for a refund."

I entered some detailed questions, and within 1-2 working days, I received a reply like this:

It's obvious that because I didn't verify my developer account and couldn't do so, the email provided a form link to contact the verification team.

I filled in the relevant information, described my situation in detail, and submitted it after translating it with chatGPT because it had to be in English.

Receiving Refund Information Email#

Communicating with the verification team is generally simple; you just need to confirm that you want to delete and refund. However, in the middle of it, because my Gmail is linked to two other Gmail accounts, I accidentally responded from the default email, which was not the one used during registration.

So, the support team pointed out that I needed to add a cc to the email used during registration in subsequent emails. Then, I sent the confirmation information from this email, and basically received the refund information email the next day.

After a few days, the refund will be credited back to the card.