Checkout by Amazon Means Never Entering Your Credit Card Information Again
Love shopping online but hate having to enter your name, billing address, and credit card every time? You could checkout via PayPal, or you could opt to use the new payment system from Amazon: Checkout by Amazon. The recently released checkout system works a lot like PayPal, but Checkout by Amazon doesn't redirect users to a new webpage, and instead offers immediate access to users' Amazon address book and payment methods directly on merchant checkout pages.
How Checkout by Amazon Works
Checkout by Amazon works much like other third-party payment systems: a "Pay with Amazon" button will appear on participating merchants' checkout pages alongside "Pay by Credit Card" and "Checkout with PayPal." By choosing "Pay with Amazon," shoppers will only have to enter their Amazon credentials to access any stored payment methods and contact information linked to their account. Opting to pay with Amazon eliminates the need to enter any further credit card or payment information on a merchant's checkout page.
Another advantage of Checkout by Amazon is its elimination of payment redirection; PayPal (and Amazon's former system "Checkout with Amazon") redirects users to a separate payment website where an additional login is required to finalize payment. After the payment is processed, the user is again redirected back to the merchant site for confirmation.
"In the past when using alternative payments solutions, consumers would leave a merchant's site right after clicking the checkout button, a confusing process known as redirection. These enhancements to Checkout by Amazon reflect the feedback we've received from merchants who want to offer Amazon.com customers the convenience of using their account information with a more streamlined buying experience," says Baris Cetinok, General Manager of Amazon Payments.
Who Will Use Checkout by Amazon?
At the moment the services offered by Checkout by Amazon are limited to paying for goods and services and making donations through participating merchant sites. Some of PayPal's features, like sending money to a friend or gifting someone cash are not supported by Checkout by Amazon. However, Amazon is still banking on its "tens of millions" of registered users to make the payment system as popular as the mega retailer itself.
The proliferation of Checkout by Amazon is also dependent upon merchant participation. Presently, more than 30 merchants offer customers the option to pay with Amazon, including Ace Hardware, J&R, PetCo, Wet Seal, and more. More recently, GoGo Inflight Internet, which provides daily and monthly access WiFi on aircrafts, announced its participation with Checkout by Amazon. While its subscriber base is growing, Amazon will be playing catchup to PayPal in the foreseeable future namely because, while PayPal only sells financial services, Amazon itself is also a provider of goods and may be seen instead as competition. However, niche sites and smaller vendors with exclusive merchandise likely won't see a conflict with offering its customers the ability to pay with Amazon.
So DealNews readers, do you plan on using Checkout by Amazon for some of your holiday shopping, or will you be sticking to PayPal? Or, perhaps you don't really mind entering your credit card info and paying a merchant directly? Tell us in the comments below.
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>More recently, GoGo Inflight Internet, which provides daily and monthly
>access WiFi on aircrafts, announced its participation with Amazon Payments.
Amazon Payments? It left a lasting impression on BWRye below, but everywhere else in this piece it's called Checkout by Amazon.
Speaking of whom...
@BWRye
You can charge a purchase to a credit card with PayPal.