Amazon announced on Monday that it’s started a service to let customers to manage subscription payments for start-ups and other businesses. This latest move comes as the company seeks to continue diversifying its portfolio and signals the continuation of a turf war with eBay’s (EBAY) PayPal, which has long been the leader in online payments.
Launched on Monday, the new feature, which is within Amazon’s “Login and Pay” service launched last fall, allows over 240 million customers to use saved credit card information to pay for monthly services, including phone bills and music streaming.
Amazon (AMZN) will make money from a fee on each transaction.
Ting, a mobile carrier and mobile product provider, was the first company to use the new feature in a test over the last few months. They “experienced pretty impressive results in the first few months,” according to Amazon, “including high conversion rates – customers choosing to use Amazon over other payment methods.”
The service is expected to allow customers to more easily track their payments as well as provide “trust and security” for customers seeking added protection.
“You should see it as one of many things that we’ll do to expand where people might think about Amazon helping them,” Tom Taylor, Amazon vice president of seller services, told Reuters.
The news comes ahead of a mystery June 18 announcement by Amazon during which the e-commerce giant is expected to unveil a smartphone. The device would widen Amazon’s role in mobile payments for customers.
