Facebook to Streamline Mobile Sales for PayPal, Braintree and Stripe

Facebook is rolling out its “Autofill with Facebook” function with PayPal, Braintree and Stripe, eliminating the need for consumers to type their billing information on smartphone screens, according to reports.

Facebook is also launching the function with ecommerce merchants, Mosaic and JackThreads, the latter of which tested autofill last month.

The feature is available to some users of the Mosaic and JackThreads mobile iOS apps immediately reports TechCrunch. Facebook users that have payment information stored will be able to use the pre-fill feature by the end of the week.

Because Facebook doesn’t process the payments, Autofill with Facebook isn’t competition for the payments companies. Facebook has a separate in-app payment system focused on digital content instead of mail-order sales.

Facebook’s autofill button takes users to its iOS app to authorize a purchase and select a shipping address. The consumer then goes back to the mobile shopping page to complete the transaction, the article says.

Typing billing information into a small smartphone screen is a pain point many companies have been trying to solve to eliminate shopping cart abandonment. By saving customer information when they sign up, companies such as PayPal, Google, ZooZ and others simplify the process for future purchases.

Braintree and Stripe have already built out integrations, reports TechCrunch, while PayPal has not, but has committed to supporting the feature.

Braintree is looking for digital wallet players to acquire its business currently, with PayPal reportedly near a deal to buy it.

Facebook has been fueling emerging payments over the past several years. Facebook is working on a mobile checkout product and in August started redesigning its gifting service, adding more merchants to accept its plastic gift card and eliminating physical gifts. At the time of its IPO, Facebook reported 15% of its revenue comes from payments.