30% commission on Facebook Credits cashout - is this normal?

    Now Facebook, together with hundreds of selected partners, is testing the new Facebook Credits (FC) currency, which will be sold at a fixed rate of $ 0.1 = 1 FC. By exchanging their dollars for FC, the user gets the opportunity to buy virtual goods and games on the Facebook platform. After launch, this payment system will completely replace all existing payment methods for games.

    Everything is fine, and Facebook does not even take any commission for transferring funds between users, but the catch is a high commission for cashing out: as much as 30%, that is, selling goods for $ 100, you get only $ 70 on hand, and the rest goes to Facebook. This is a lot of money, given that the virtual goods market in the United States alone is estimated at $ 1.6 billion a year, it is growing very fast, and social networks account for about half of the total turnover.

    The leadership of the social network at the same time refers to certain "industry standards." Obviously, they focused on Apple, which holds the exact same commission of 30% when selling programs through the App Store. However, game developers strongly disagree with such “industry standards,” writes WSJ .

    They can be understood, because today the commission on payments through the same payment cards is only 3%. Previously, companies themselves could sell game currency for their games directly to users and pay only 3% for processing, so an increase of up to 30% immediately causes a serious blow to the business.

    The competitive MySpace network is also working on the issue of introducing its own currency, and they say in advance that the commission there will definitely be less than 30%.

    On the other hand, everyone unanimously supports the idea of ​​a universal currency, since it facilitates the process of impulsive purchases by an order of magnitude, which accounts for the lion's share of payments on Facebook. Now a person will be able to spend money at the touch of a button, and he will not have to go to another site for this and fill out some form.

    Also popular now: