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Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

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Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#71

Post by chocolatkey »

scj wrote: post #69
slimsag wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As another said, the goal to increase revenue is per team. The Edge team must likely find proof for how they will drive revenue in the future. Suddenly you've got a full browser engineering team trying to figure out how to monetize a browser - tough sell. So they can't come up with anything, that's fine because a product manager is the owner of this task anyway. They propose a myriad of different ways to monetize Edg…

"The peripheral drivers team needs to increase it's revenue."

That team doesn't need to, device manufacturers already do that by only making drivers for Windows for certain devices, increasing lock-in

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#72

Post by rescbr »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #40
metaltyphoon wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As crazy as it seems, in Brazil, payment plans are accepted everywhere. You can literally buy gas , groceries, medicines or whatever on your credit card and they will split make those installments for you. Maybe this market exist outside of the US?

How do late fees work on this product in Brazil? Does this enable usury rates when late fees occur? https://www.profgalloway.com/red-friday/

The whole purchase amount plus interest is taken from the credit card limit and every month you are charged for those installments.

If you don't pay in full your statement, you pay regular Brazilian credit card interest rates (i.e. very high) on top of the BNPL interest rates.

Some stores that have high cash flow may opt to not explicitly charge interest, opting to discount the price if you pay in full or charging the same price no matter whether paying in full or in 12 installments.

It's important to note that the Brazilian BNPL scheme is enabled by the credit card acquirers, so there's a high degree of integration.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#73

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #61
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extension manifest V3.

Care to explain why you think it's a bad thing? Seems like it's mostly deprecating old JS ways of doing things and introducing new JS features and a better security policy.

It's an underhanded way to limit blocking capabilities that they can sell as a benefit.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#74

Post by throwawayboise »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #33
AlexandrB wrote: post #15

> It allows any purchase between $35 and $1,000 made through Microsoft Edge to be split into four payments over a six-week period. > While the service is being promoted as ‘interest-free’, some were quick to point out that all transactions are subject to a “$4 flat fee”. $4 in fees on $1000 over 6 weeks is an effective APR of around 4% - pretty good. $4 in fees on $35 over 6 weeks is an outrageous APR of around 123%.…

I would applaud the convenience, but the terms are not nearly as useful as other services. If I can spread a purchase over four months, that's really useful. Affirm has been good to me this year. ...But what is even the point when you bill twice as often as most people get paychecks?

> what is even the point when you bill twice as often as most people get paychecks?

I'm seeing some employers here offering "next day pay" i.e. you get paid today for the hours you worked yesterday. IDK but could also imagine that many "gig" jobs work that way, i.e. do Uber drivers get their pay immediately with each ride provided, or two weeks later?

Wonder if that model will soon be more common?

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#75

Post by BbzzbB »

Barrin92 wrote: post #14
tempfs wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a for profit company, the reason is always profit.

I'm honestly not sure how much profit a 2 trillion dollar company is supposed to generate from an interest free pay later browser bloatware feature Even if you're Scrooge McDuck that sounds not worth it

Of all the FAAMG out there, Microsoft arguably has the most diverse revenue streams, I don't see what's surprising with them going after another market (let alone payments). It's just another layer for monetization and doesn't prevent them pursuing their other business lines (it's arguably different teams anyway). Nothing's ever worth it if you take the approach of "It's already worth/earning 100x, adding 1x isn't worth the effort".

P.s.: I don't mean to defend BNPL, IMO it is shark loaning disguised behind late fees. I forgot the exact number but when I did the (ballpark) math for Afterpay you were capping at like 30% in late fees within 3/4 months.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#76

Post by watermelon0 »

ffhhj wrote: post #24
Barrin92 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm honestly not sure how much profit a 2 trillion dollar company is supposed to generate from an interest free pay later browser bloatware feature Even if you're Scrooge McDuck that sounds not worth it

The goal is per team, Edge team must find new ways to generate profit, how much they make doesn't really matter, but the goal is to keep increasing this profit.

What profit did legacy Edge bring them? Considering all the development efforts, I'd believe it was more of a money sink than anything else.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#77

Post by smt88 »

yesplorer wrote: post #28
AlexandrB wrote: post #15

> It allows any purchase between $35 and $1,000 made through Microsoft Edge to be split into four payments over a six-week period. > While the service is being promoted as ‘interest-free’, some were quick to point out that all transactions are subject to a “$4 flat fee”. $4 in fees on $1000 over 6 weeks is an effective APR of around 4% - pretty good. $4 in fees on $35 over 6 weeks is an outrageous APR of around 123%.…

Why does anyone need a payment plan for a $35 item though?

Most people in the US live paycheck to paycheck. High-interest, short-term loans on small principals to the working class have been around for a long time.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#78

Post by ziml77 »

barbazoo wrote: post #11

At first I thought this was about Microsoft applying this payment option to purchases made through its (app) store. This applies to purchases made via Edge on any website. I wonder how they do that, will they fill the credit card details with a virtual CC generated on the fly by Zip?

That’s what it seems like it has to do. It’s part of the saved payment autofill selector.

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#79

Post by dmix »

barbazoo wrote: post #11

At first I thought this was about Microsoft applying this payment option to purchases made through its (app) store. This applies to purchases made via Edge on any website. I wonder how they do that, will they fill the credit card details with a virtual CC generated on the fly by Zip?

From my brief research it looks it can generate single-use cards. But they also have retail partners with a more direct option.

> As Zip Money has surged in popularity over the years, hundreds of retailers have signed up to join the fun. You can use this BNPL at a range of stores, like Amazon, Target, Harvey Norman, Just Jeans and more.

> Zip Money also has a Shop Everywhere^ feature within their app. This allows you to shop at just about any retailer through a single-use card that is created at the time of purchase. All you need to do is add items to your cart and hit 'Pay with Zip' at the checkout!

https://mozo.com.au/fintech/how-does-zipmoney-work-read-this...

Re: Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge

#80

Post by adventured »

prima-facie wrote: post #46
FredPret wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The winning play for them is to make genuinely the best browser, gain market share, and then start their shenanigans. Like Google did

Today's Google is a saint compared to the nineties Microsoft.

> Today's Google is a saint compared to the nineties Microsoft.

Definitely not the case.

See: rigging the advertising market in cahoots with Facebook (Jedi Blue).

See: conspiring with other large tech companies to artificially limit salaries for tech workers.

See: leveraging its search monopoly to gain additional monopoly or near-monopoly positions (YouTube, Chrome, Android), as well as using it to harm competitors (eg Yelp and many others).

See: huge, repeat fines out of Europe for various abuses.

What we already know is that they're at least as evil as 1990s Microsoft. What we don't yet know, is likely to yet put them over the top. The Feds have hardly even looked under Google's corporate hood as they did with Microsoft in the 1990s. This is merely the second or third inning of discovery of all the evil shit Google has likely done over the past two decades. Google's founders simultaneously ran away as fast as they could to get out in front of what was coming, because they know where the bodies are buried.

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