One of my longstanding gripes with Facebook Platform has been its lack of a unified payment platform that would offer developers a way to tie a Facebook-branded payment system into their apps. Back in March 2008, the company announced that one was coming in the “next 180 days”. That milestone came and went, and since then the company has been quiet about its current progress (we’re typically told things like “It’s not coming out any time soon”).
But now it sounds like payments are finally starting to make some headway, reports Eric Eldon of VentureBeat, who writes that Facebook is set to begin testing a payment system with developers “in a few weeks”. We’ve independently confirmed that Facebook is indeed planning to test a payment platform, and that it will be a limited to a very small number of developers.
The need for a payment platform may not be immediately obvious – after all, there are already quite a few ways for developers to accept payments through third party services like PayPal, and some companies are making quite a bit of money in the process. But for the end-user it is night and day. Users would only have to fill in their credit card information one time, and would also trust the platform more than they would a third party. The lowered barrier to entry would likely result in an increase in the number of transactions across many applications, as developers shifted their revenue models away from advertising (which has generally done poorly on Facebook) and into virtual goods and premium services. Facebook could potentially extend the platform to allow payments on other sites, too, though I suspect they’ll make sure its working on their home court before they take it elsewhere.
Jason, sorry to be so blunt about your post, but I must tell you that you are as blind as a …. (well, I dont know the expression, I am swiss). A payment platform will make all the difference between a profitable facebook and an unprofitable facebook. “No need for a payment platform given paypal”. Would you have recommended also an Apple’s application store relying on paypal? Why always so negative on facebook and so positive on twitter?
Not only have you managed to take away the entirely wrong message from the post, you also misquoted me.
Instead we developers would like to embed fb ads using tag fb:advt.
I respectfully disagree… I think FacePal (or whatever they’re going to call it) will go the same route as Bacon… err… Beacon.
I agree that this will actually help facebook make money, because users will actually have the option of using their credit cards instead of just surfing for free. The article should have focused more on this being a possible make-or break point for facebook instead of the lateness of the app. Afterall, other TC posts have been about FB needing money and running dry. This will determine whether FB stays independent or is sold off in the very near future, if this fails.
Very interesting. This can lead to a micropayment system across the web if enough sites start using facebook connect.
Maybe journalism can be saved.
Does techcrunch really have it out for facebook or what?
Yes… Yes they do. Long live Twitter.
Why would I bother signing up for another payment system? PayPal, and Google Checkout are pretty good systems by themselves.
Amazon and Apple are “okay,” but the only reason I use them is because they will not allow alternatives on their site.
"The need for a payment platform may not be immediately obvious…. But for the end-user it is night and day. Users would only have to fill in their credit card information one time, and would also trust the platform more than they would a third party."
This is going to be huge for Facebook if they do it right. Imagine being able to send people actual gifts and cards on their birthdays instead of virtual ones? There are so many possibilities.
For those of you interested in sending and receiving real, tangible gifts, instead of just virtual gifts, you should check out RealGifts: http://apps.fac...m/realgifts/?tc
We were a Facebook fbFund recipient and have been enabling people to send real gifts for a year!
i can’t wait to give my credit card number to facebook.
Yeah, seriously. Then, in a few months, you get a bill for twenty pairs of Adidas sandals and a perming iron.
Same bogus stuff, same bogus hopes,
I want to see a payment system from Facebook for everything… let me shop at Amazon with it, order stuff from Zappos, pay for my Netflix account, etc.
I hate filling out forms of information, I should be able to use my facebook login to pay for things on other sites, it would be a lot easier. Add a facebook credit card to that too…
Nothing more dangerous and open to phishing, fraud and ID theft than that! There are other online identities much more secure for that purpose, not ready yet for this type of use but coming soon…banks….
a year ago a topic like this would have got like 50 responses already. seem all the developers and hype has move so far away from facebook.
Would LOVE to be able to send an actual gift. Folks tend to think virtual gifts are a waste of money these days.
I don’t know if facebook will do this, but they can monetize links shared within their facebook world.
nice piece Jason. and the foreshadowing on virtual goods, premium subscription services, and off-platform payments is right on target.
also worth reviewing Justin Smith’s Dec ‘08 posts from Inside Facebook on Facebook Payments.
TC comment trolls aside, the impact of Facebook rolling out a payments system (either directly or indirectly) is pretty darn significant. monetization remains the one large issue for Facebook to prove, and providing a payments system could lead to making that story much, much better.
(disclaimer: altho i work for Founders Fund, a Facebook investor, the opinions stated above are my own & don’t represent any official FF perspective)
I like the idea, but will it be better than PayPal? In either case, I welcome the idea of finally having a real challenger to PayPal, Google Checkout has not really done that.
you do know what zero-sum means, right? and how online payment services are not subject to it?
Micro Payment guys… Micro Payment. Don’t you get it?
You could even fill up your account with some money (like a PrePaid account).. via a credit card or cheque or any which way. Then you can start paying for stuff ranging from 50 cents to few thousand dollars.
“Micro Payment guys… Micro Payment. Don’t you get it?”
“Then you can start paying for stuff ranging… to few thousand dollars.”
I don’t get it; are you trying to emphasize MICRO payments? I sure wish I could consider a couple thousand dollars a “micro payment”.
“Users would ONLY have to fill in their credit card information one time, and would also trust the platform more than they would a third party.”
Really??? ONLY????
all they want to do is just the playment platform or just the payment interface?
anyway, wait and see what happened there.
This could actually be a huge move—especially if they open it up for outside services in a Facebook-Connect-style fashion. However, while it could be great functionally, they don’t exactly have a shining image with people. When it comes to dealing with people’s financial details, I’d put trust, image, and user-relations pretty high on the totem pole of importance. I think they should work those facets out a bit more before they try to roll out something quite like this.
Imagine this with Facebook Connect. Whoa. Instant E-Commerce. Scary shit.
I’m confused as to why users would trust a completely new payment mechanism over others that have a long standing track record?
AlertPay.com is working on a micropayment module that will give the competition a run for its’ money. Great review!
well i have to say that “alertpay” is not a name that puts my mind at ease.
AlertPay has sustained 5 years of positive growth and has reached over 3 million users growing at a rapid rate. Try them and you will see. Their customer service team is top notch and very quick to respond!
Facebook, Twitter, Facebook Connect, OAUTH, API, Open Stream, Micropayments, Squirrels where providing our social networks too much control. What happens when location based services are introduced…
We noticed you have arrived at your destination and have prepaid for your Starbucks coffee, lunch, reorganised your schedule, notified a passer-by that they’re ideal relationship material and also ordered flowers for your mothers birthday…….
“we’re providing our social networks too much control…”
sounds like an interesting form of site credits or currency that will help merchants like myself sell digital or physical goods through facebook. would be cool if FB developed their own currency like they have in second life. time will tell but my money is on site credits or currency.
This is a very interesting development. With third party developers grossing large amounts from different services provided on facebook; this fact would def. provide facebook with enough proof that this can become one of their weapons in terms of their monetization efforts. Lets see if this theory of a unfied social currency can actually materialize though.
Follow me on twitter @ alexanderbrown!
This gets around the sticky problem of “IFrames can’t use SSL” quite nicely — unless you’re already thinking Open Stream API.
I think it is more likely that Facebook wants us to buy virtual goods with real dollars, as in WOW or SL. Instead of earning points in Mafia Wars, buy your way to the top.
How do people think they should deal with chargebacks and refunds?
I’m VP of marketing at hi5. We couldn’t agree more with the importance of a virtual currency to enable direct user payments. We were the first major social site to launch a virtual currency, hi5 Coins, back in December. And last week we announced that RockYou is live as the first third-party developer integrated to our virtual currency http://www.hi5n...rs/0513090.html We will be announcing a string of additional partnerships with new game providers in the coming weeks.