Amazon.com is now offering developers the ability to integrate its Amazon Payments service with their websites and applications through its new Amazon FPS (Flexible Payments Service) program, still in beta. At the same time, the company changed some of the language on its pages describing Amazon Payments to account for the fact that qualified third-parties who integrate with Amazon FPS can now receive money directly from senders.
Prior to the launch of Amazon FPS, Amazon payments worked exclusively on the Amazon marketplace and on the websites it powered (such as Target). Amazon.com processes all payments on behalf of its third-party Amazon Marketplace merchants. With Amazon FPS, approved merchants can integrate the payment service directly on their own websites and receive money directly from customers in a service similar to Google Checkout. A major difference between Amazon Payments and competitive offerings is that merchants must do some technical tinkering through the Amazon FPS "web service" in order to offer Amazon Payments on their websites or applications.
Amazon.com seems to have deliberately downplayed the Amazon Payments aspect of the announcement, focusing instead on the service as a technology for developers. But the heart of Amazon FPS is Amazon Payments. AuctionBytes in fact had difficulty getting details from Amazon's public relations department on how Amazon would handle merchant disputes over chargebacks.
Amazon Payments has the lowest protection for sellers in terms of chargeback disputes. Amazon will reimburse sellers for eligible chargebacks up to a total of $2,500 per calendar year. This compares to $5,000/year for PayPal and $10,000+ for Google Checkout. While PayPal and Google Checkout are specific about what conditions sellers must meet in order to be protected, Amazon is shy on details (see accompanying chart).
The seller protection policies of all three programs exclude "intangible goods" such as services and digital content, and each excludes certain categories or items, such as alcohol and gambling. It appears that Google Checkout and Amazon Payments protection policies are exclusively for US merchants, while PayPal covers qualified US, UK and Canadian merchants.
Unlike Google's offering when it launched, Amazon Payments already has an installed base of users - 69 million Amazon shoppers. And Amazon FPS can be set up to send and receive money using bank accounts or Amazon Payments balance transfer in addition to credit cards.
Unlike PayPal, Amazon FPS charges developers less when the actual cost to process a payment is lower, rather than charging the same fixed fee for all payment methods. Amazon FPS is particularly cost-effective for merchants processing micro-payments for such things as digital content.
Amazon FPS also allows each party to a transaction to place conditions or rules around that transaction (such as "allow only five transactions or $50 per month," or "refuse payment after August 1").
Of the three programs, PayPal is the only payment service allowed on the eBay marketplace. eBay did not respond to AuctionBytes' inquiries about when it would modify its Accepted Payments policy to either accept or ban sellers from accepting Amazon Payments as a payment method in listings.
Because Amazon.com has not widely marketed the payment service to merchants - instead, focusing on developers - many online sellers appear to be unaware of changes to the Amazon Payments program.
Brian Ouellette of ShoeWallet.com (http://shoewallet.com) sells shoewallets on his own website (powered by Yahoo Stores) and through the Merchant@Amazon (Seller Central) program on Amazon. When contacted, Ouellette said he was unaware that Amazon had opened up the Amazon Payments program, but said given more information, he would likely welcome such a program with open arms because the Amazon brand is so recognized. Amazon has so many users - anything to make shoppers feel comfortable buying from him would be a good thing, he said.
Zu Ahmed of BlingAddict.com (http://www.blingaddict.com), who also sells through the Merchant@Amazon program and on eBay, said, "I don't know enough about it yet to say if I'm really for it or not. I do know that people trust Amazon Payments, and that in itself is enough to get me to consider it."
Small merchants like Ouellette and Ahmed may have to wait before giving Amazon Payments a try. The Amazon Payments home page is geared to shoppers, and the invitation to try Amazon FPS on that page is for "developers," not merchants. Many merchants' best hope to try Amazon Payments through FPS may be through third-party ecommerce-management and hosting services that integrate with the payment service. However, the Amazon FPS program is in beta, and given the company's track record, it will likely keep a tight reign on who may use the service and how they use it.
Related Links
"Amazon Launches Online Payment Service - for Developers"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m08/i03/s00
Amazon Payments User Agreement
https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/about?useragreement
Amazon Payments Acceptable Use Policy
https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/about?acceptableuse
Post comments about this story on the AuctionBytes Blog
http://tinyurl.com/22tw32
Online Payment Seller Protection Policies |
| Policy Requirements &
Exclusions |
PayPal Seller Protection
Policy (applies to Verified Business or Premier Account) |
Google Checkout Payment
Guarantee Policy |
Amazon Payments Protection
Policy (must have an Amazon Payments Business
Account - See section 5.5 of user agreement) |
| Service accepted on eBay? |
Yes |
No |
eBay has not yet responded to
inquiries, nor have they added it to their policy pages. |
| Geographic exclusions |
Transaction must be between a US,
UK or Canadian buyer and a qualified US, UK or Canadian seller. |
Google Checkout is currently
limited to US merchants only, US dollars is the only valid currency, and shipping and tax
features that use regions can only refer to US states and zip codes. |
Amazon Payments service is
currently only available in the US. (International senders can use their Amazon
Payments account on Amazon FPS powered sites but are limited to credit card payments only.) |
| Intangible goods
exclusions |
Policy does not cover intangible
goods, services or licenses of digital content. |
Policy does not cover intangible
goods such as services and digital content. |
Policy does not apply to
transactions involving intangible goods, including services and digital content. |
| Category/item exclusions
(such as alcohol, gambling) |
See PayPal's acceptable use
policy: http://digbig.com/4mejt |
See Google's content policies: http://digbig.com/4mejw |
See Amazon Payments Acceptable
Use Policy: http://tinyurl.com/37d744 |
| SNAD exclusions (items not
as described) |
Policy does not cover claims of
goods that are "not as described." |
Policy does not cover claims of
defective merchandise or "items not as described |
Policy does not apply to claims
classified as "significantly not as described," "merchandise that is
defective," or "non-receipt of merchandise." |
| Shipping requirements |
Ship to confirmed address within
7 days of receiving payment |
Ship to Google-specified shipping
address according to the shipping method and timeframe agreed upon when the order was
placed. |
unspecified on Amazon website |
| Proof of shipping/delivery |
Proof of delivery-trackable
online-for transactions less than $250; Proof of delivery with buyer's signature for
transactions greater than $250 |
Tracking number or proof of
shipping for transactions less than $250; Proof of delivery with buyer's signature for
transactions greater than $250 |
Must submit valid proof of
delivery. |
| Timely response to claims |
Respond to PayPal within 10 days |
Respond to Google within 10
business days |
You must provide the information
within the time limit specified by the email sent by Amazon. |
| Display clear return
policy on your website |
Not required |
Required |
unspecified on Amazon website |
| Amount that service
provider will reimburse seller for eligible chargebacks |
$5,000/year |
$10,000/year or more: if gross
Google Checkout sales exceed $1 million per year, Google will protect seller for 1% of
those sales. |
Up to a total of $2,500 per
calendar year |
| Indication that policy
applies |
Payment must be listed as
"Seller Protection Policy Eligble" on the Transaction Details page. |
Order must be marked
"Covered by Payment Guarantee" |
unspecified on Amazon website |
| Single-payment requirement |
Seller accepted single payment
from one PayPal account for the purchase. |
unspecified on Google website |
unspecified on Amazon website |
| Chargeback fees |
$10 |
unspecified on Google website |
unspecified on Amazon website |
| Fraud indicator warnings |
PayPal provides AVS and CVV info
only to its Website Payment Pro and Virtual Terminal customers. |
Google provides AVS and CVV info
and account age, see http://digbig.com/4mejy |
unspecified on Amazon website |
