Amazon extends 'Pay with Amazon' service to India; what's on offer?

After launching the same in October last year, Amazon has extended its 'Pay with Amazon' service to India. According to the company, the service streamlines how customers transact with online merchants, and allows participating companies to enable customers to go from browsing to buying in just a few clicks- using their Amazon account information.

"Companies encourage their customers to create an online account in order to offer a personalised buying experience, while buyers want the advantage of creating an account to save purchase preferences when shopping online. But the majority are bothered by the hassle of registering on a website. That is why Amazon is introducing a solution where buyers can both login and pay on any participating site using their Amazon credentials," read a statement from Amazon.

What's on offer?

Apart from the regular payment options, a 'Pay with Amazon' button will also appear on Amazon's partner sites, allowing their customers to make purchases through the same. Last we checked e-commerce site for new parents Babyoye.com has already integrated the payment option on its site.

We tried buying a product from the site, and were provided the option of checkout with Pay with Amazon after adding products to our cart (see picture below). However, doing the same meant we could not use Babyoye.com store credits or its gift cards on the purchase. Once we clicked on the payment option, we were redirected to the Amazon.in site to complete the purchase.

According to the company, the service works seamlessly on tablet, mobile, and desktop devices.

For customers

Customers can use the information already stored in their Amazon account to checkout and pay on partner e-commerce sites. Their shipping and payment information is stored with Amazon and accessible on sites where they like to shop.

The service also eliminates the hassle of multiple accounts, since they can use their Amazon account to checkout and pay on websites. Note that if you have an existing Amazon account, you will automatically register for Pay with Amazon the first time you use it to pay. Buyers are also covered by the company's 100 per cent 'Buyer Protection' plan against defects or delays.

For merchants

According to the company, using the service will help merchants increase conversion, reduce fraud, acquire new customers and build loyalty. And customer clicks while checking out are minimal due to the stored payment and shipping details of customers. Merchants can also offer protection against defects, delays and customer support to buyers on their website through Amazon's 100 per cent Buyer Protection Guarantee.

While there are no monthly, setup, fraud protection or cancellation fees for the merchants, the company will charge a standard fee of 3 per cent for transactions done via credit cards and net banking. However, as part of a promotional offer, the company will charge only 1.95 per cent on transactions done till September 30, 2015. In the case of debit card transactions, Amazon will charge a standard fee of 0.75 per cent on transactions of up to Rs 2,000 and 1 per cent on transaction valued greater than Rs 2,000.

Here is an introductory video of the service.

World's largest e-tailer Amazon Inc. runs an e-commerce marketplace in India through Amazon.in. Products on the online marketplace range from eBooks & tablets; movies & TV shows; Kindle devices; mobiles & accessories; consumer electronics; music; sports, fitness & outdoors; shoes; men, women & kids wear; pet supplies and more.

In related news, last month, India's largest e-commerce company Flipkart invested an undisclosed amount in ngpay, a mobile payment gateway platform owned by Bangalore-based JiGrahak Mobility Solutions Pvt Ltd.

Flipkart is also shutting down its one-year-old payment gateway service PayZippy.