Thanks to the deepened partnership between Facebook and PayPal, U.S. users of the two services will be able to send and receive payments via PayPal on Facebook Messenger. In addition to this feature, PayPal will enable its first customer service bot on the platform to answer customer questions and provide support.
Last year, we witnessed the first results of Facebook and Paypal’s collaboration. PayPal users in the U.S. could shop online via Messenger chatbots, which would transact via PayPal on Facebook Messenger. Customers could link their PayPal account with Messenger to receive notifications from online transactions more easily, and over 2.5 million users decided to link their Messenger account with PayPal.
Messenger already has had a payments feature for the last few years. However, things are getting more convenient. Users of the messaging app can now make and receive peer-to-peer payments using PayPal, the company announced today. Some time ago, Facebook also implemented support for group payments. However, the social media network still isn’t taking a cut of the transactions.
To use the new option, tap the blue plus icon in the Messenger app, and then select the green Payments button to make peer-to-peer payments. This will enable you to choose PayPal on Facebook Messenger as your default funding source when you want to request or send money to your Facebook friend/ contact.
This feature will be used in Facebook groups focused on buying and selling goods. Last year, Facebook shared data concerning local sales groups, which are used by about 450 million people every month. This means the feature will come quite in handy for buy-and-sell groups on Facebook.
Facebook Messenger is not the first messaging service PayPal has worked with. Apple’s iMessage already utilizes peer-to-peer payments, which can be launched via Siri.
TechCrunch asked a PayPal spokesperson whether they plan to add a similar peer-to-peer method in other apps as well. However, COO Bill Ready replied that there’s no information regarding this matter yet.
“But I think this is part of a broader movement where we’re meeting the user in whatever context they’re in,” he added.
For example, he noted also that PayPal is available in services like Google Play and Android Pay.
When TechCrunch asked if PayPal will integrate Venmo into messaging services as well, Ready replied, “There’s nothing we’re announcing with Venmo right now. But we really think about Venmo and PayPal as two interfaces that should get the user two common types of experiences. Certainly, this general theme of users wanting to get p2p in new contexts – you see Venmo in iMessage and Siri – those types of things – we’re thinking [should be for] both PayPal and Venmo,”
Peer-to-peer payments via PayPal on Facebook Messenger and PayPal’s new bot will go live on Monday for users in the U.S. However, PayPal is expected to add this feature in its other global markets in the future. The feature will be available on the iOS app for now, while the Android app will receive this feature a bit later.
