

Amazon expands middleman role in latest online payments push - nayefc
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/09/us-amazon-com-payment-idUSKBN0EK0HW20140609

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jusben1369
This is a confusing headline. What it really means, I think, is simply that
you can now do a recurring transaction against Amazon as a payment type. So
they're not really helping "merchants do subscriptions" like other services in
that space do. Merchants would already need to know how to handle a
recurring/subscription transaction. They could now just add an Amazon payment
method next to CC's and PayPal where before they couldn't.

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skrish
Very interesting and much anticipated move. The title is slightly misleading.
What they offer is an alternative to PayPal with recurring.

If you are running an eCommerce site that is built on an independent platform,
it really does add more value to accept payments via Amazon just like PayPal
as an alternate payment method.

Will be interesting to watch if they expand the service to a global market or
keep it restricted to US only approach. PayPal's strength is in making it a
global play, especially in markets where trust factor / dispute resolution is
important.

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cpwright
My first thought was that it would be nifty to pay with Amazon, but my second
thought is that I would rather give a less trusted party my credit card number
than have to sign in with Amazon to do it (and have to be wary of phishing).
Getting a new credit card is easy, and I am fairly confident that nothing
overly bad will happen when I use my credit card on a website.

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jes5199
You haven't used Kickstarter? They've been using Amazon for payments for quite
a while now.

The experience is okay. Comparable to PayPal, but maybe a little simpler.

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jstalin
It looks like Amazon has the exact same rate (lowest tier) as Paypal: 2.9% +
$0.30.

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Nate630
What they charge as a 'fee' for each CC transaction will determine what
competition in the online payment space will look like over the next few
years...

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jayfuerstenberg
Being in Canada, I wish amazon didn't require an American address and CC to
use this.

