This thread is interesting in that some people are arguing they wouldn't trust Facebook with their cc. To me this makes no sense as the likelihood of fb doing anything funky with your cc details once obtained seems highly unlikely. If something does go wrong cc have very good insurance on them. The problem does seem to be a general resentment and paranoia of large companies. I dont think fb are going to cook up a hal…
It's not about FB deliberately doing something funky with it - it's about one of the million and one apps that have requested access to your FB account at some point doing something funky with it. You may trust them to do it as securely as the next person, but at least partly based on their past reputation around privacy, I don't.
It's a possible but hardly compelling: Facebook: ~ 1 billion customers Visa: ~2 billion cards out there. Facebook: ? merchants. Visa: > 10 million merchants. Facebook: potentially disruptive to the existing market Visa: 50+ years experience with electronics payments processing, fraud detection, government relations and consumer credit marketing Facebooks main competitive advantage is(was?) relatively cheap capital. h…
Are online payments such a big unsolved problem? It takes me all of 10 seconds to type my CC number and associated security codes. Sites that I use a lot tend to allow subsequent purchases without re-entering them anyway. If everyone's facebook account has CC details attached and a 1 click "pay now" button you are only 1 XSS vulnerability from fraud on an unprecedented scale.
Credit cards suck for many reasons other than just convenience of use. Credit card companies are big cartels with hefty fees to retailers, slow and unpredictable turnaround between when a payment is made, and when it gets to retailers bank, and infrastructure that's not well suited for micro payments, or peer to peer payments. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_futureofmoney/all/1
It depends if we are talking about FB simply providing a service for taking payments similar to google checkout (using existing Cards) or whether you suggest that they try to replace card altogether.
In order to do that FB would be looking at setting up massive infrastructure and essentially having a "banking division" that would get bogged down in regulations and bureaucracy.
Why not, it worked out so well for Google with their deep search history, world-beating teams of big data specialists, deep pockets and massive Gmail/Gapps userbase... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-21/google-said-to-reth...
Google failed at implementing Facebook too.
Why not "Coca Cola Buy" NFC payment chip in every bottle too to be used in restaurants/bars? My mother knows the brand Coca Cola, and if Coca Cola hires 1000 engineers to provide an NFC chip in every bottle; they may get 1% from global.....
I've been on FB since the beginning. And I've never clicked on an ad. What makes you think I will to actually buy something? I barely trust Paypal, you think I'm gonna trust FB with my CC details. You gotta be kidding. There are a few steps FB must do before I'll trust them with anything other than bs about what games I'm playing now: 1. Convince me they take my security and privacy seriously. 2. Convince me they are…
FB allows you to buy gift cards from stores for credits, so for an outlier that doesn't trust Facebook with cc details, there's another option. Through buying Karma, they can bring gift giving into Facebook credits, so for someone's birthday you can buy a gift card through Facebook, and you can take your phone to the store and use your gift. This has tons of potential and you can for even more through Facebook. Think of buying tickets for events, or going to a small business' store and buying an item (Etsy style). Or Etsy, Amazon, eBay, etc setting up apps where you can use Facebook credits to buy (long term). I have two cousins visiting from India, and it's amazing watching them use Facebook. They're constantly on. Using it to connect with friends, play games, etc. This is a whole market the most people don't think of. These markets are huge. And as another user pointed out, all these kids using Facebook these days are growing up with it and will continue to use it, and trust it. It's a whole different experience that we don't really see.
I've been on FB since the beginning. And I've never clicked on an ad. What makes you think I will to actually buy something? I barely trust Paypal, you think I'm gonna trust FB with my CC details. You gotta be kidding. There are a few steps FB must do before I'll trust them with anything other than bs about what games I'm playing now: 1. Convince me they take my security and privacy seriously. 2. Convince me they are…
> I've been on FB since the beginning. And I've never clicked on an ad. What makes you think I will to actually buy something? FB has several billions of revenue from ads. What makes you think you are not an insignificant outlier and that this move or any other doesn't concern you? Just think people, if everybody did what I do on FB, would FB still exist? If the answer is no, then what you might or might not do, does…
Most people don't click on ads, but the minority that do can generate billions of dollars of revenue. The minority that do follow the ones that don't.
Are online payments such a big unsolved problem? It takes me all of 10 seconds to type my CC number and associated security codes. Sites that I use a lot tend to allow subsequent purchases without re-entering them anyway. If everyone's facebook account has CC details attached and a 1 click "pay now" button you are only 1 XSS vulnerability from fraud on an unprecedented scale.
Almost every time I use my ccard I get redirected to my bank's website where I have to login. This involves entering two fixed digits (long and tough to remember) and a third token using using a little calculator like device which they supplied me, for which I also need my bank card and its pincode. Once I've passed this step I have to generate another one time token using this little device.
If I want to use my ccard online, away from home I need to have all kinds of codes remembered or written down, my normal bank card and this little device.
Using my ccard online has become quite the pain in the ass.
Why not, it worked out so well for Google with their deep search history, world-beating teams of big data specialists, deep pockets and massive Gmail/Gapps userbase... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-21/google-said-to-reth...
that's what happens when you don't fight for what you want. they let others rule the nfc area, what the hell did they think was going to happen.
These articles make me wonder why everyone with a blog thinks they know better than the massive teams of engineers running these companies...
Do you really think Facebook doesn't have reams of data and analysis on this exact idea? I bet they've been analyzing the crap out of it for years and for whatever very good reason they have they haven't done it yet.
Now, I predict the company who will make a trillion on payments is Apple. They're set up quite nicely to tell the credit card companies to take a hike.
I think that "be a payment provider" is a much easier thing to think than it is to do. While it may be easy to build the customer side of the equation you've got to build a vast network of merchants willing to accept payment and that's hard work. Especially if you're trying to convince them to re-price in Facebook Credits? Sure, you could charge 1% but people have added credits to their Facebook account at some point…
Well there's interesting ways to do that with Facebook though. A la you can't start selling large amounts of goods unless you have x number of likes on your page. Same thing, on the user side. You can only buy $10 worth of credits if you have a new account, accounts can be flagged, etc. I agree it's a pain in the ass to do, and much easier said than done. But it's definitely doable and hugely profitable. They can easily take more than $1 in merchant fees, and credit card companies will beg them for their business and give them great rates. Shoot, they can do a Visa or Mastercard exclusive and get even better rates at the beginning.