Many e-commerce platforms have by now added the buy-now-pay-later option on their sites. Now the e-commerce major Amazon is also bringing the feature to it. Amazon is partnering with Affirm for rolling out this feature. Affirm is one of the major players in the BNPL space. From now, Amazon customers will receive an option to pay in installments when they reach the checkout page. This feature is added to a minimum purchase of $50 or more. The company has confirmed that it had begun experimenting with this feature with select customers. The company has not given any details on how these customers are selected or how many of the customers will get this feature early. It has also not been notified when the wide rollout will take place.
The companies stick to their promise of not charging any additional or hidden fees when customers choose to pay through Affirm. Amazon officials have confirmed that when this feature is availed, customers will be requested to agree on a soft credit check at checkout. The financial terms will depend on the customers’ earlier credit details and also on the price of the purchase. The plans will vary from three months to 48 months payment plans that depend on the customer, and the value of their order. The interest rate will be between 0% to 30% APR. Affirm officials stated that the customers will have to agree to the interest to be paid first and that the interest rates will not compound.
Amazon is considerably late to roll out this feature. Almost all its competitors are now offering this option on a large scale. Affirm is already helping more than 12,000 retailers with this feature including Walmart. Square has acquired Afterpay recently for providing the BNPL option.
