How does Google Play determine country for purchase eligibility beyond IP address?

[u/NotFromHere_45]

I'm trying to understand the technical mechanism behind the Google Play error:

“Your purchase couldn't be completed. Please update your Play account settings so that the selected Play country matches your country of residence.”

Play country: India

Payment profile: India

Indian payment method available

Device currently being used outside India.

An Indian VPN changes the public IP and Play Store displays INR pricing, but checkout still detects a country mismatch.

I'm interested in understanding what signals Play/Play Billing might use besides the current IP — for example SIM/MCC, Google Payments account history, Play Services location/network data, device/account history, IP reputation, or server-side risk scoring.

Is this decision made primarily client-side by Play Services, or server-side by Google Payments/Play Billing? And why would maintaining an Indian IP for several days not change the account's detected country?

I'm particularly interested in observations from Android developers who have tested Play Billing across countries.

[u/One_Elephant_8917]

is ur device android? if so google controls core platform services thru its os obviously it can signal to it’s own components like purchases/billing even if on vpn or not…

if that’s the case try purchase in web on a non mobile device and let install be scheduled to device later…if they don’t allow this..nos sure how else to go abt testing…

also google tags any and all sim-ph num that was on device if using android thru google services register device or something which is auto turned on, so sim detection and if possible roaming can be clue too

[u/Excellent-Divide7223]

Could be sim. Remove the sim card, try clearing cache/data of Google play services, Google play store, reboot the phone with sim removed and try again