Amazon, the Seattle based e-commerce giant, recently celebrated the largest job fair in the United States, the Amazon Career Day, where over 30,000 full-time and part-time jobs were up for grabs. The firm also upgraded its music streaming service and introduced Amazon Music HD yesterday.
Now, the firm has announced that starting today, Amazon PayCode, which was previously available in 19 countries, will now be available to customers in the United States. With the introduction of this new service, customers buying from Amazon will be able to able to pay for their items in cash, with no additional fees, at one of more than 15,000 Western Union agent locations in the country.
The facility adds a second way for customers to pay in cash for their items alongside Amazon Cash. Previously, with Amazon Cash, which the Seattle giant said is now available in more than 100,000 locations worldwide, customers credited their Amazon Balance by going to a store. Subsequent purchases from the online store could then be financed directly through money in the account. With Amazon PayCode, shoppers can now proceed to checkout from the website and then visit one of the Western Union Agents to pay in cash for the items bought.
Ben Volk, the Director, Global Payment Acceptance & Customer Experience at Amazon said that the company was looking to improve the shopping experience and make it more convenient for more customers:
“We’re constantly innovating to improve the shopping experience on behalf of our customers, and are proud to expand Amazon Paycode to customers in the U.S. Customers have told us they love the convenience of paying in cash. Together with Western Union, we’re able to offer customers more shopping choices, enabling them to pay for their online purchases in a way that is convenient for them.”
While Khalid Fellahi, President, Consumer Money Transfer at Western Union envisaged that cash and credit/debit cards are likely to coexist in the future:
"We’re embracing the complexity of a world where cash and digital payments are likely to coexist far into the future. We are providing easy solutions for customers who want access to the convenience of online shopping but prefer to pay in-person."
To shop via Amazon PayCode, simply select the "Amazon PayCode" option at checkout. This will generate a QR code and a number that will be used as a reference at one of the Western Union agents. Customers will then have 24-hours after the order is placed to provide the payment. In the case of returns, the money will be wired back at a Western Union agent location and will be available for collection upon the delivery of the returnable.
For more information, visit Amazon PayCode"s webpage.