Amazon Introduces Two New Payment Services

Amazon.com has introduced two new online payment services that other retailers can use on their Web sites.

The new payment services, Checkout By Amazon and Amazon Simple Pay offer businesses another payment option besides PayPal and Google Checkout.

Amazon said Checkout By Amazon is a "complete checkout solution" similar to the one the retailer offers on its Web site. It features Amazon’s 1-Click functionality along with tools for managing shipping charges, sales tax, promotions, refunds, cancellations and chargebacks.

Online retailers can allow customers to access their Amazon.com account information to complete transactions and offer them the security of Amazon’s "A to Z" transaction guarantee.

Amazon Simple Pay is a more basic payment service that allows customers to access Amazon account information on other retailers Web sites. Simple Pay does not include the wide variety of transaction features offered by Checkout By Amazon.

Both services have the same fee structure. Transactions of $10 or more, retailers pay 2.9% of the amount along with a 30-cent fee. Amazon will lower the commission percentage if a retailer meets certain payment volume levels on a monthly basis. For transactions less than $10 the retailer pays 5 percent of the amount along with a 5-cent fee.

"Customers will be coming through an experience that is really similar to Amazon’s,"  Mark Stabingas, vice president of Amazon Payments told The New York Times. "People will like the familiarity and the comfort associated with that."