This past week led to a series of developments in the Payments realm, characterized by an alternative form of purchasing for Facebook, as well as the introduction of Bitcoin as a viable payment method on Wikipedia.
Furthermore, Xbox One Fever has officially reached a crescendo in China with the advent of WeChat and Mobile QQ sales that are fair game given the acquisition of rights to Microsoft’s gaming console. Finally, American Express (AmEx), the recently besieged credit lender in the US has found itself in need of changing its business plan in light of mounting fees.
Facebook Is Phasing out Digital Gift Cards in Favor of Buy Button
In less than two weeks, on August 12th, Facebook will no longer offer its gift card feature for firms like Apple’s iTunes and Starbucks. Rather, the company will instead be relying on its new beta Buy feature giving users the ability to purchase goods and services directly through advertisements. Another social network, Twitter, is going down the same route, by fading out certain Ecommerce options in favor of a dedicated Buy button.
Facebook’s Buy Button is currently being tested in the US in cooperation with certain SMBs. It is currently unclear how long the testing period will last, but if the company is talking about ending previous services, the finality appears to be imminent.
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WeChat and Mobile QQ Exclusively Sell Xbox One in China
Chinese Ecommerce platform, JD, announced earlier this week that it has acquired the local right to Microsoft’s Xbox One gaming console. First sales will be taking place on Tencent’s WeChat and Mobile QQ apps.
Tencent bought out a 17.6% stake of JD earlier this year – Tencent’s WeChat platform has proven to be an Ecommerce powerhouse, helping complete over 150,000 smartphones purchases through its famous flash sales in a span of less than 10 minutes.
Users can scan or manually enter their gift cards in to the application. After being stored users can present their cards as barcodes, QR codes, texts or images.
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AmEx May Need to Reconfigure Its Business Plan Due to High Fee Structure
In a prolonged battle against forced fixed fees, American Express’ President of the U.S. Consumer Services Business, Joshua Silverman, has recently reiterated his defense of the card company’s high fee structure.
For over 4 years AmEx has been in a class action battle against the Justice Department in regards to its overly priced fees. No verdict has been made yet, but most chances point to the Justice Department creating a set of universal fees for all card firms. Such a move could not only effect AmEx, moreover its cardholders, as well as resulting in the company's need to rethink its business plan.
You can view the full article here.
Wikipedia Now Accepts Donations in Bitcoin
Wikipedia has recently partnered with Bitcoin PSP Coinbase to drive the payment processing aspect of the new donation options. Coinbase took the opportunity to announce it will be waiving all fees for non-profit organizations like Wikimedia.
The new official support comes after co-founder Jimmy Wales inadvertently started a Bitcoin fundraising campaign this last March, after opening a personal Coinbase wallet and sharing the address on social media. According to Wales, all the funds transferred to the wallet were converted to FIAT and transferred to the Wikimedia Foundation.
You can view the full article here.
