Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook Launches Simple Mobile Payments

readwriteweb.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–58 of 58 posts

Re: Facebook Launches Simple Mobile Payments

#51

Post by JonnieCache »

TomGullen wrote: post #2

Can someone explain to me why FB chose to use credits over just actual money balances? Is it psychologically designed to get people more willing to fritter them in the same way it's easier to blow chips in a casino than real cash? Is it a way to funnel multiple currencies into one global currency? It just seems like an extra unnecessary convoluted layer to me. Having a credit balance over real money balance is unnerv…

>Can someone explain to me why FB chose to use credits over just actual money balances?

Think of it like the anti-bitcoin.

Re: Facebook Launches Simple Mobile Payments

#52

Post by sparknlaunch »

> Re: virtual FB credits

I remember reading that their are some online games or communities in China that have billion of dollars worth of their own currency in the market. It is so large that they fix the fluctuations to the local exchange rate.

Unsure if this is the same story, but (Online) Gold Farming is estimated to be worth $3billion. (1)

Maybe FB are looking to mimic this growth. Add in the psychological and control aspects and you have your very own economy.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/virtual-gold-farming-compared...

Re: Facebook Launches Simple Mobile Payments

#53

Post by zerostar07 »

badclient wrote: post #44
uptown wrote: post #13

My biggest barrier to ever using something like this is trust. Facebook has screwed with privacy policies, and over-complicated application data-sharing settings so many times that I can't imagine funneling money through their platform. While I trust them with some of my personal information which has value, there's just no trust there for me when it comes to actual money. Psychologically, they rank below Paypal in m…

Psychologically, they rank below Paypal in my mind ... and that's pretty low. You're certainly far, far from the norm because PayPal has tens of millions of active accounts and even people who hate it use it. So, the biggest barrier for fb for me has nothing to do with trust and more to do with acceptance by merchants.

Maybe it's because i am in Europe, where paypal is regulated as a bank and has a ton more due diligence to do, but i use paypal extensively for business and i just don't see those problems. My account was restricted a few times always asking for further documentation after which it was restored (it does take quite a long time, but not more than a bank would). That actually makes them more trustworthy to me, because i know they are actively fighting fraud.

Contrast that with facebook: When i received my facebook credits payments, their support team was quite clueless when i asked them what is their billing address and VAT no (required here in Urop). they even gave me the wrong info that the payments came from the US, which resulted in me being fined for misreport.

Trust facebook? Maybe in 10 years.

Re: Facebook Launches Simple Mobile Payments

#54

Post by jonknee »

andrewpi wrote: post #43
jonknee wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple got Amazon, Netflix, NY Times and a whole bunch of other big names to givein to their in app rules. The DOJ will have a field day if they special case Facebook.

Do we actually know if any of those sites pay the full retail-rate of 30%?

Amazon doesn't, they had to remove the ability to purchase anything from the app. And that includes linking out to Safari for the purchase. Ditto for the Dropbox API. The NY Times definitely pays the 30%.

Re: Facebook Launches Simple Mobile Payments

#55

Post by flyinRyan »

taligent wrote: post #37
TomGullen wrote: post #2

Can someone explain to me why FB chose to use credits over just actual money balances? Is it psychologically designed to get people more willing to fritter them in the same way it's easier to blow chips in a casino than real cash? Is it a way to funnel multiple currencies into one global currency? It just seems like an extra unnecessary convoluted layer to me. Having a credit balance over real money balance is unnerv…

Kids. They don't have credit cards but are now able to make in app purchases.

I thought kids weren't allowed on facebook?

Re: Facebook Launches Simple Mobile Payments

#57

Post by kmfrk »

flyinRyan wrote: post #55
taligent wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids. They don't have credit cards but are now able to make in app purchases.

I thought kids weren't allowed on facebook?

Soon that won't be the case: http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB1000142405270230350640....

Re: Facebook Launches Simple Mobile Payments

#58

Post by uptown »

taligent wrote: post #33
uptown wrote: post #13

My biggest barrier to ever using something like this is trust. Facebook has screwed with privacy policies, and over-complicated application data-sharing settings so many times that I can't imagine funneling money through their platform. While I trust them with some of my personal information which has value, there's just no trust there for me when it comes to actual money. Psychologically, they rank below Paypal in m…

What do you think they are going to do with your money exactly ?

For me, it's just adding an unnecessary company in the middle of a transaction.

When I buy something, I accept that there's somebody selling something, and frequently a credit card company facilitating that transaction. Why do I need Facebook to know what I'm buying when purchasing things has already been made easy-enough for most cases? With Facebook inserting themselves into the checkout process, I'd be giving them something of value without really getting anything for it - so why would I do it?

Post reply on HN