[UK/Germany] ClickandBuy, the ‘European PayPal’, has launched a Facebook app – Buxter – that enables users of the social network to send and receive real money through the site rather than virtual currency, which the company claims as first.
In fact, it’s a little more ambitious than that.
The London and Cologne-based company also wants to become the platform that turns Facebook into an e-commerce marketplace thanks to an associated Facebook-API, meaning that third party developers can create apps that accept payments from users, powered by Buxter.
For individual use (peer-to-peer transactions), users can integrate the app into their own profile and then begin accepting money from other users – although to do so they’ll also need to sign up on ClickandBuy’s website. They can also load up their own “Buxter” E-wallet in Euro or US dollars, currently limited to a maxim of of €50, to begin transferring money to other Facebook users or through apps that support Buxter.
P2P use cases suggested by the company include paying a friend a share of the previous evening’s restaurant bill, giving someone money for their birthday or making a donation in support of a charity.
While users aren’t charged upfront to transfer, receive and request money from other Facebook users via Buxter, ClickandBuy takes a fee of 1.9% (or a hefty min. 2 EUR or 3 USD) when they go to withdraw money from their account. Which is, of course – PayPal-style – how ClickandBuy makes its money on top of any interest gained too.
Oh how I hate money transfer services.
ClickandBuy, founded in 1999, is one of the leading online payment services. The ClickandBuy Group claims to have crossed the billion euro threshold in revenue in 2009. Over 16,000 online traders use ClickandBuy’s e-payment system for their e-commerce, retail, online entertainment, and paid content & services billing, including Apple iTunes, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, Orange, msn, AOL, Meetic, Parship, Electronic Arts (EA), Codemasters, Napster, McAfee, Panda, AutoScout24, RTL, Playboy, Financial Times Deutschland, Foto.com, Deutsche Boerse Group, KPMG, Yamaha, Digital River, Redcoon, bonprix.