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Facebook Payments Alpha Test Now Live in 3 Apps
June 1st, 2009
| By Justin Smith | 21 Comments » |
Nearly 18 months after Facebook first discussed its Platform payments system, the first live integration of Facebook’s “Pay with Facebook” payment service is now live as of this weekend. Now, users in 3 applications – GroupCard, Birthday Calendar, and MouseHunt – can buy virtual goods with Facebook credits, marking a first step toward what could become a major new source of revenue for the company.
Unlike earlier guesses about what a Facebook payments service could look like, Facebook’s “Pay with Facebook” is entirely based on Facebook’s intermediary virtual currency. Before being able to pay with the Facebook payments option, users must first buy Facebook “credits” directly from Facebook. Once they have credits in their account, users can then spend them however they like in Facebook applications that have integrated Facebook’s payment solution or in Facebook’s gift shop.
The idea behind this approach is that Facebook acts as the merchant of record in all cash transactions with users, thus owning the direct billing relationships themselves. However, it will be interesting to see how involved Facebook gets in disputed transactions with Platform merchants – its new payment terms of service says:
If you do not like something that you bought, you should talk to the merchant—just like you would in the real world. In some cases, we will be the merchant, and we will work to address your concerns. In other cases, if we are not the merchant, we encourage you to try to work things through with the merchant. However, if you are not able to work things through with the merchant, we want you to tell us so that we can evaluate the situation as well.
Although the alpha test is only live with 3 applications now, developers interested in participating in the test can let Facebook know through this form. The speed with which Facebook rolls out the test to more developers likely depends on how well this initial batch of tests go. Based on how long it’s taken for the initial test to get rolled out, we’re guessing the tests will be pretty limited for at least a couple months while Facebook works out all of the operational kinks associated with operating and managing a universal virtual currency.
The fees associated with the service are also yet to be finalized. Facebook will likely take a much lower percentage fee than Apple takes from iPhone app sales and soon transactions (30%), but Facebook will likely be trying to find the optimal fee rules in the upcoming weeks and months as well.
For now, it’s clear that Facebook is starting to take (at least baby) steps toward building direct monetization programs on its application Platform. Earlier this year, it started running an alpha test of its own in-house ad network. The Facebook payments system marks the second leg of that monetization effort. However, the true value of payments may not be realized until Facebook rolls it out across Facebook Connect – enabling Facebook to power transactions across a broader swath of the web.
The financial community would like Facebook to speed up its Platform monetization efforts. Maybe Yuri Milner will be encouarging Facebook to accelerate its virtual currency monetization plans now that his investment firm DST, which has invested in numerous social networks monetizing through virtual currency, owns a $200 million chunk of the company.
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June 1st, 2009 at 8:30 am
[...] has just launched the first live integration of its payment service for applications this weekend, a first step toward what could become a major new source of revenue for the [...]
June 1st, 2009 at 2:24 pm
[...] Screenshot by Silicon Alley Insider [...]
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:00 am
[...] wurde über Facebooks Bezahlplattform spekuliert. Mittlerweile ist sie Realität und befindet sich in drei Applikation im Testeinsatz. Wer z.B. über die Anwendung GroupCard digitale Grußkarten bestellt, kann jetzt [...]
June 4th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
[...] transfer money, etc. without leaving Facebook. It currently has only a few active users, but as Facebook continues to roll out its payment system, demand for similar applications could increase. Just when you’re about to purchase those [...]
June 6th, 2009 at 3:07 am
[...] Einnahme-Boost für Facebook-Apps dürfte das vor einigen Wochen von Facebook eingeführte Bezahlsystem “Pay with Facebook” [...]
June 8th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
[...] Facebook is in the process of alpha testing a payments system built on top of Facebook identity. In the future, it could spread its payment platform across all [...]
June 29th, 2009 at 10:37 am
[...] this year, and recently, Facebook has been giving more involved. A few weeks ago, Facebook started testing integration its own virtual currency with application developers, and last week Facebook enabled payment support in 14 new [...]
July 7th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
[...] While it’s not clear if all Verified Apps receive “more feedback from Facebook,” early testers of Facebook’s new Platform payments service are indeed Verified Apps. Developers of Verified Apps have also been telling us they’ve seen [...]
July 7th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
[...] Facebook.” While it’s not clear if all Verified Apps receive “more feedback from Facebook,” early testers of Facebook’s new Platform payments service are indeed Verified Apps. Developers of Verified Apps have also been telling us they’ve seen [...]
July 14th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
[...] Facebook started alpha-testing its “pay with Facebook” platform on a few selected applications (3 to be exact). The service offers a virtual-credit-to-real-money value, currently values at 0.1 in USD [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
[...] all monetization and advertising services. Only recently has Facebook started testing its own in-house Platform payments system (May) and Platform ad network (back in [...]
July 28th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
[...] Geld in “Credits” tauschen müssen, danach kann man mit diesen Credits einkaufen. Als Marktplatz fungieren in erster Linie die Applikationen auf Facebook selbst, auf längere Sicht könnten aber [...]
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:28 am
[...] has launched alpha tests of a payment system and ad network for developers. Is Facebook likely to get more involved with the game monetization [...]
August 11th, 2009 at 11:28 am
[...] the race to scale as quickly as possible. And while Facebook itself continues limited tests of its Facebook Credits-based application monetization program, Offerpal Media, one of the largest virtual currency monetization platforms for Facebook, MySpace, [...]
August 17th, 2009 at 9:43 am
[...] the middle of most virtual currency transactions today (its Facebook Payments program is still in very limited alpha testing with only a few applications), it is deriving substantial revenues from developers paying to [...]
August 27th, 2009 at 6:50 am
[...] Facebook has a virtual currency and checkout system in place. They are currently testing Facebook Payments allowing users to purchase virtual gifts and hired Prashant Fuloria, the former Director of Product [...]
August 27th, 2009 at 6:50 am
[...] Facebook has a virtual currency and checkout system in place. They are currently testing Facebook Payments allowing users to purchase virtual gifts and hired Prashant Fuloria, the former Director of Product [...]
October 21st, 2009 at 4:31 pm
[...] and through more payment methods recently, and we expect those tests – as well as tests of Facebook’s platform payment system – to expand in the months [...]
November 4th, 2009 at 7:01 am
[...] itself is testing its own “Pay with Facebook” API for app developers, enabling Facebook users to purchase Facebook Credits (Facebook’s [...]
December 9th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
[...] here: Facebook Payments Alpha Test Now Live in 3 Apps Share and Enjoy: Diese Icons verlinken auf Bookmark Dienste bei denen Nutzer neue Inhalte finden [...]
January 1st, 2010 at 2:27 pm
[...] Facebook Payments Alpha Test Now Live in 3 Apps, Inside Facebook [...]