17/03/2026
Hey, it’s Talal Khawaja!
I want to share a small Google Play Console issue I faced while publishing my app, because I could not find a clear solution for it online.
I built the application using Laravel and Flutter. After that, I created my Google Play Developer account, paid the $25 fee, and uploaded the app. Everything looked fine at first, but when I tried to move forward with publishing, Google Play kept asking me to create a merchant account.
The confusing part was that my app was free.
So obviously I was thinking, why do I need a merchant account if I am not selling anything?
I searched online, checked community discussions, and tried to understand what was going on, but the answers were not clear. So I contacted Google support directly and went back and forth with them until I found the actual fix.
The solution was inside Play Console.
You need to open your app, then go to:
Monetize with Play → Products → App pricing
From there, set the app to Free.
Once I changed the app pricing to free, I was able to continue without creating a merchant account.
So if your free app is asking for a merchant account in Google Play Console, check the App pricing section first. That setting can be the real reason you are getting blocked.
I also recorded a full video showing the issue and the fix step by step:
YouTube video: https://youtu.be/W9KtfUsXFq4
Hope this saves someone a lot of time.
Google Play was asking for a merchant account even though my app was free.In this video, I show the exact fix inside Play Console.Go to:Monetize with Play → ...