Instagram Launches In-App Payments

Today, Instagram soft-launched a feature that allows in-app payments for commerce. In short, this feature will let a user add a payment method and pay for goods and services without leaving the app.

Instagram payments could change the way artists interact with their audience.

Picture this — you’re scrolling through your Insta feed, and one of the artists you support drops a new single on iTunes and has some merch. Now you can purchase that t-shirt through the app itself.

For the artist, that’s magic. For the fan, that’s easy.

Here’s how it works.

Tap your avatar and go to your settings.

Once there, scroll all the way through the settings and find “Payments.”

Once you select “Payments” you’ll see three tabs:

Activity

The Activity tab will show you order details once you’ve made purchases. No need to keep up with your fan’s purchases from the app, they’ll be here for them to see.

Profile

Currently, it looks like this is limited to adding a credit or debit card, though one would think options such as Paypal may come with a broader release. If you poke through to the “Payment Terms” page, you’ll notice that they’re using the Facebook Payment terms which are pretty standard and if you already have an account there, they’ll sync if you have them linked up.

Security

Here you can set a PIN and make sure that no one but you can make a purchase via the app. Or, give yourself that extra couple of seconds to rethink your decision to buy that teenager Groot Funko Pop.

This could become a huge deal for Christian Hip-Hop artists. By allowing users to make purchases without leaving the Instagram app, Facebook is creating an environment in which users can buy merch, albums, singles, or tickets to show much easier than before.

Take a look at your app and see if you’re one of the lucky few that has the feature enabled and play around with it. As of now, it looks like only a few select salon and restaurant partners have been invited on the seller side, but we expect a wide release to come very soon.

Bill Segroves
Bill Segroves
My words are not unique but I still try to make stuff in the name of Jesus, borocitychurch, rapzilla, & podstudioone
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