You make a really fair point. In fact, its why most really successful apps (and software companies in general) all have a free-to-paid model or some sort of trial basis.
With Apptopia, we build in a "Code Review" layer. So if you are concerned about the quality of the code you are buying we can dive as deep as you would like before the acquisition is final.
Also, all apps listed on Apptopia are currently on an app store (so all buyers can and should be testing the apps as a consumer, before acquiring it).
Either way, appreciate you getting involved in the conversation. Hope the code is of some value to you =)
I can only hope you will be improving the said 'Code Review' layer in the future. The 'app' in question is nothing more than a thin layer of badly written code wrapped around a 3rd party library (PhoneGap). It can be made into (and sold as) an indeterminate number of "<insert subject here> video player" "apps" just by changing the hardcoded search terms (affirmation also enforced by the fact that the /bin directory in the zip contains a 'motorsport video player.apk' "app")
Actually this is up to a buyer to ask review code or not, and there are different levels of code review, so, as Jonathan said you can dive as deep as you would like. The buyer in question did not ask for any.
With Apptopia, we build in a "Code Review" layer. So if you are concerned about the quality of the code you are buying we can dive as deep as you would like before the acquisition is final.
Also, all apps listed on Apptopia are currently on an app store (so all buyers can and should be testing the apps as a consumer, before acquiring it).
Either way, appreciate you getting involved in the conversation. Hope the code is of some value to you =)
Jonathan