Facebook Pay is Facebook’s payment service that allows users to make payments and money transfers across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. It provides a convenient way for people to send money, make donations, shop, and more without leaving the Facebook app. But Facebook Pay is not yet available globally.
What is Facebook Pay?
Facebook Pay is a payment service owned by Facebook that was launched in November 2019. It enables users to send money or make payments using Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp without leaving the app. Here are some key things to know about Facebook Pay:
- It allows users to send money or make donations to friends, family, organizations, or businesses.
- Users can use it to shop and pay for purchases directly in apps like Facebook Marketplace.
- It uses the payment methods users have added to their Facebook account, such as debit/credit cards, PayPal, etc.
- Payments are processed in a secure way without exposing financial information.
- There are no fees for personal Facebook Pay money transfers.
- Merchants pay a fee for transactions, similar to other payment processors.
The goal of Facebook Pay is to provide a seamless, unified payments experience across Facebook’s family of apps. Over time, Facebook plans to add more functionality and expand Facebook Pay to more countries.
Which Countries Support Facebook Pay?
As of October 2022, here are the countries where Facebook Pay is available for personal payments between users:
- United States
- United Kingdom
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Germany
- Thailand
- Australia
So Facebook Pay is currently available in 8 countries for peer-to-peer payments. The feature is relatively new and still rolling out globally. Facebook has announced plans to expand it to more countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America in the future.
Countries Where Facebook Pay is Available for Commercial Transactions
In addition to P2P payments, Facebook Pay can also be used to make purchases directly within the Facebook family of apps. This is available in the following countries currently:
| Country | Apps Supported |
|---|---|
| United States | Facebook, Messenger, Instagram |
| Thailand | Facebook, Messenger |
| Vietnam |
So commercial transactions via Facebook Pay are more limited but are being tested in a handful of countries. Over time, the ability to pay for goods directly within Facebook’s apps is expected to roll out more broadly.
Sending Money Abroad with Facebook Pay
Facebook Pay does allow users to send money abroad across country borders. However, there are a few limitations:
- Both the sender and recipient must have an account with Facebook Pay set up.
- The recipient’s country must be supported by Facebook Pay for personal transfers.
- A currency exchange rate fee may be charged if sending from one currency to another.
For example, someone in the US could send money via Facebook Pay to a friend in Thailand. But they could not send money to someone in Brazil, since Facebook Pay is not available there yet.
Facebook’s Plans to Expand Facebook Pay
Facebook has major plans to continue expanding Facebook Pay to more countries, apps, and use cases. Here’s an overview of their expansion plans:
- Rolling out peer-to-peer payments to more countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
- Enabling more types of commercial transactions directly within Facebook apps.
- Expanding Facebook Pay to more of Facebook’s family of apps such as Portal and Oculus.
- Launching Facebook Pay as a standalone app that can be used for payments, money transfers, and more.
Facebook is committed to growing Facebook Pay into a major payments platform. Its massive user base across its family of apps gives it a huge advantage for wide adoption. Expect Facebook Pay to become available in many more places in the years ahead if Facebook achieves its ambitions.
How Does Facebook Pay Make Money?
Facebook does not charge fees for personal Facebook Pay transactions. This helps attract more users and activity to the platform. Instead, Facebook earns revenue from Facebook Pay in a few key ways:
- Merchant fees – When users pay businesses directly via Facebook Pay, those businesses are charged a transaction fee much like with a payment processor.
- Foreign transaction fees – Sending cross-border payments in different currencies will incur a exchange rate fee.
- Increased advertising – More payment activity boosts Facebook ad revenue from businesses.
- User data – Transaction data provides valuable info to improve ad targeting.
So Facebook Pay provides multiple revenue streams for Facebook over time as adoption increases. The vast amounts of payments data it collects also have monetary value for boosting its advertising services.
Partnerships for Accepting Payments
Facebook is partnering with established online payment platforms and service providers to power payments infrastructure and security for Facebook Pay. Key partnerships include:
- PayPal – Processing payments made through PayPal accounts.
- Stripe – Handling payments made via credit/debit cards.
- PayU – Facebook Pay’s payment service provider in India.
Leveraging these partnerships gives Facebook Pay instant access to an established payment network instead of having to build everything from scratch. It benefits Facebook Pay users by making it simple and secure.
Regulatory Compliance for Facebook Pay
Since it deals with financial transactions and user money, Facebook Pay has to comply with relevant regulations and laws. This includes things like:
- Obtaining approval to operate as an authorized payment institution in each country.
- Adhering to data protection and privacy laws for user information.
- Complying with Know Your Customer (KYC) rules for identifying users.
- Reporting suspicious transactions related to money laundering or terrorist financing.
- Providing consumer protections against things like fraud or unauthorized transactions.
Ensuring regulatory compliance is an ongoing priority for Facebook Pay as it expands globally. The product team works to meet local laws wherever it operates.
User Adoption and Feedback
Since launching in late 2019, Facebook Pay has seen good initial adoption among Facebook users. Convenience and ease of use have been praised, especially for sending money to connections. But some drawbacks mentioned by users include:
- Slow rollout – Many users still don’t have access in their country.
- Limited functionality – More use cases beyond P2P desired.
- App fragmentation – Preference for one unified Facebook payments app.
As Facebook Pay matures, focusing on expanding availability, uses, and integration across apps will help drive higher adoption rates.
Conclusion
Facebook Pay provides the foundation for Facebook to build a major global payments platform integrated across its family of apps. While adoption is still in the early stages, Facebook Pay has seen a promising start, especially for convenient peer-to-peer payments. Looking ahead, Facebook will continue expanding the reach of Facebook Pay to additional countries, apps, use cases, and partners. Regulatory compliance and consumer protections are also critical as Facebook Pay manages users’ financial information and transactions. If successfully executed, Facebook Pay could fundamentally change how people around the world send money and make online purchases.