Amazon.com has invested in Bill Me Later, an alternative payment system used by many e-commerce sites, including Amazon. As the name suggests, Bill Me Later allows you to purchase items without entering your credit card at the time of purchase and pay later.
Instead of entering card information, the service allows you to enter your date of birth and last four digits of your social security number and will send you a bill in the mail. The company also works with merchants to provide special promotions such as “no payments for six months” or “no-interest financing.” Like other payment processors, e-commerce sites simply add Bill Me Later as an option in their checkout processes.
Clearly, the investment is a pretty smart strategic move for Amazon. As the number one e-commerce site and a company that helps many small businesses sell online, they can do a great deal to drive further adoption of Bill Me Later’s services. Payment services appear to be an emerging focus for Amazon, as just yesterday they rolled out new payment widgets for their partners to use.
Terms of the investment were not disclosed.