New From Amazon: Flexible Payments Service

Amazon launched a new payments web service, called Amazon Flexible Payments Service, or FPS. It will compete with Paypal and Google Checkout. Amazon itself says, “is the first payments service designed from the ground up specifically for developers” and “unmatched flexibility in how they can structure payment instructions.”

How does it effect the small buyer? Payments can be made by walmart credit card, bank account debit, and Amazon Payments balance transfer. For payments over $10 (which is probably 90% of the products anyway), Amazon will charge 2.9% + $0.30. This means almost like PayPal but higher than Google, which is swallowing up fees to gain market share (Google, for instance, charges 2% + $0.20). This is expected to grow into a big and very profitable (not necessarily to the buyer, but profitable for sure!) business. They have a well established name, they have credibility, they have… 3% of the entire Amazon’s inventory’s worth charged from our pocket, surely they are going to be the next best thing!