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 my mind ... and that's pretty low.
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.
I actually don't worry that they'd screw with the money at all. They are professional & big (think: Won't go away, can pay from their pocket if they screw up) enough in my book to trust them with transactions.
Unless you consider that you're now not only giving them data about your private life, friends and preferences, you add the 'successful conversion, bought X' data point to a data set that is already too big by my standards.
It's like combining my address book, private pictures, credit card bills and entering that data into a huge corporate database so that I can chat and plough a virtual field.
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?
I dunno. Sharks. Laser beams. The works. At least it finally might bring mobile electronic payment systems in the US up to the same standard as in Africa. Will take the US a while to catch up though.
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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 my mind ... and that's pretty low.
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.
> PayPal ... and even people who hate it use it
[imo] should read
and even people who hate it _have to_ use it
I actually don't worry that they'd screw with the money at all. They are professional & big (think: Won't go away, can pay from their pocket if they screw up) enough in my book to trust them with transactions.
Unless you consider that you're now not only giving them data about your private life, friends and preferences, you add the 'successful conversion, bought X' data point to a data set that is already too big by my standards. It's like combining my address book, private pictures, credit card bills and entering that data into a huge corporate database so that I can chat and plough a virtual field.
They have never screwed with money (eg. advertisers credit card numbers) nor with user passwords (like LinkedIn recently)
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?
Don't imply it's a silly suggestion! They can freeze your money, block a transaction, etc. etc.
Whatever PayPal does, Facebook can do too.
I dunno. Sharks. Laser beams. The works. At least it finally might bring mobile electronic payment systems in the US up to the same standard as in Africa. Will take the US a while to catch up though.