Facebook will offer PayPal for buying ads and virtual goods, part of a strategy to make it easier for some international companies to pay on the top social media site.
PayPal will also be an option for Facebook Credits, which is being tested in some games and applications. Facebook Credits gives users a convenient way to buy virtual goods from the Facebook Gift Shop.
Currently, Facebook users can buy credits with major credit cards or through purchases on their mobile phones using the mobile-payment company Zong. Facebook advertisers now must link a credit card to their accounts to pay for ads.
PayPal is also expected to help grow Facebook’s developer systems. Last year, PayPal opened up its online payments system to third-party developers for use in their applications. It claims to be working with 15,000 developers.
The partnership could also help Facebook generate more revenue as it continues to attract more visitors, mostly unrivaled. The leading social media blog Mashable.com today reported that Facebook overtook Yahoo as the second most visited site in the United States based on January analytics. Facebook registered 133.62 million visitors last month, now second to Google.
The PayPal service will be available on Facebook in coming weeks
For businesses in places where the payment process can be “difficult and expensive,” the option to pay with PayPal makes it even easier for advertisers, particularly small international companies, Facebook said.
“As our business has grown, offering local methods of payment has become increasingly important for advertisers … Teaming with PayPal, a global leader in online payments, makes this possible,” said Dan Levy, director of payment operations at Facebook.
PayPal, the dominant online payments service with 81 million accounts worldwide, is owned by eBay. It allows members to send money without sharing financial information through the use of account balances, bank accounts, credit cards or promotional financing.
[...] (via Mashable; photo via eCredit Daily) [...]