Twitter extends ‘buy’ button functionality to all users
Micro-blogging service Twitter is seeking to transform itself into an online marketplace by massively expanding the scope of its ‘buy’ button functionality to allow anyone with an account to sell items via their tweets.
The functionality arrives courtesy of a new tool called Relay, designed to make it easier for retailers to sell goods via Twitter and other third party apps which use online and mobile payments app Stripe.
In practice this allows people to buy products directly from within the app rather than being rerouted through a third party website but this has been restricted to commercial retailers only – until now.
In a statement Stripe wrote: “For stores, you can use Relay to enable instant purchases in third-party mobile app. For app developers, Relay is a set of APIs for building great in-app buying experiences. People can buy products directly within your app rather than getting pushed to third-party websites."