Facebook first began testing a “Buy” button within the News Feed in July, and payments startup Stripe has been tasked with powering the technology, Re/code has learned.
Facebook Is Partnering With Stripe to Power “Buy” Button
Stripe adds Facebook to its list of impressive partnership deals.
Kurt Wagner/ Re/code
Jason Del Rey has been a business journalist for 15 years and has covered Amazon, Walmart, and the e-commerce industry for the last decade. He was a senior correspondent at Vox.
The “Buy” button, which allows Facebook users to purchase goods that are featured in ads or posts on the social network, is still in its test phase, but multiple sources said Stripe’s technology was supporting the button. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed Thursday that Stripe is the sole Facebook payments partner behind the test.
A spokesperson for Stripe declined to comment.
Update 5:08 pm ET: The Stripe spokesperson has now confirmed the company’s partnership with Facebook.
This is noteworthy given that Facebook has other payments partners on different features, including PayPal’s mobile payments unit Braintree. It’s also not the first time Facebook and Stripe have worked together. Facebook partnered with Stripe last year on a separate project that enables Facebook users to autofill their payment information from Facebook when using third-party apps (Braintree was also a partner).
For Stripe, the Facebook partnership is the latest in a string of deals it has cut with some of the biggest names in technology. The San Francisco-based, 150-person startup has now established serious payments partnerships with Apple, Twitter, Facebook and Chinese digital payments service Alipay — all in the last year.
With Twitter, Stripe is also powering the network’s in-feed commerce initiative. This means users can make purchases without leaving their Twitter stream. Stripe is also a “highly recommended” payments partner for Apple Pay, the company’s new mobile payments system unveiled earlier this month that lets people buy physical goods sold in apps with the payment card they have on file with Apple.
It’s possible Facebook could seek help from other payments partners in the future — the company did just hire former PayPal President David Marcus, although he is heading up messaging at Facebook, not payments. For now, Stripe is flying solo with Facebook’s “Buy” button, and it’s likely the test will heat up as the holidays approach.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
