Facebook Inc. confirmed Thursday that it is testing a new "Buy" button that allows users to purchase products right from their news feeds.
The button is currently being tested on ads and page post with only a few small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S., according to PC Magazine. Users will be able to make purchases from businesses without having to leave Facebook.
"We've built this feature with privacy in mind, and have taken steps to help make the payment experience safe and secure," the social networking giant said. "None of the credit or debit card information people share with Facebook when completing a transaction will be shared with other advertisers, and people can select whether or not they'd like to save payment information for future purchases."
The company was asked in an interview if it would eventually charge businesses for the feature, to which it responded "it was not disqualifying that option" in the future, TechCrunch reported.
Users can make payments with credit cards they have on file with Facebook, as well as enter new payment details and save them to use in the future. The option to check out and not store payment information is also available.
Facebook's announcement of the button's testing comes one month after the hire of former PayPal president David Marcus, who is now in charge of the company's projects in mobile messaging, PCWorld reported. The goal of these projects is to develop new features for the social network.
The feature is being tested by other social networks as well, such as Twitter, which has been trying out a new "Buy now" button that allows users to purchase products shown in tweets without leaving the website. The button was being tested by Re/code, but wasn't working at the time. Re/code found the buttons in tweets from Fancy, an app for shopping, but the buttons could only be seen on Twitter's mobile app.
