Amazon Introduces PayPhrase for Online Shoppers

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The folks out there at Amazon have always been trying to make online shopping as easy as possible. And the efforts do pay, given its wide consumer base. This week, Amazon introduced a new payment option by the name PayPhrase.

This new service aims at making the payment method much easier. It seeks to replace user names, passwords and also the number of clicks required for checking out when you shop online. All the users have to do is visit amazon.com/payphrase and create up to twenty Phrases and associate them with four digit secret pin numbers, a credit card and lastly their shipping address.

payphrase

This service would work on Amazon.com as well as other sites using the Amazon Checkout service. For instance, DKNY and Buy.com use it currently. Amazon also seeks to make this technology available to other sites in the near future.

Now, talking of the advantages. Firstly, users will no more need to share sensitive information such as credit card data with the merchant site. They enter their PayPhrase, which goes to Amazon’s servers for verification. Also, one doesn’t need to enter shipping and billing details every time, hence making the experience hassle-free. All done in two to three clicks. Downsides are that each PayPhrase is unique and only one user can have a unique phrase.

I would conclude saying that while this is a very impressive initiative by Amazon and a great building block for making online checkouts as easy as possible, it’s yet to be seen how well consumers can adapt to this service and if at all they are able to benefit. Good luck, Mr. Bezos.

We would also love to hear from Shoutmeloud readers what they feel about this new initiative.