Microsoft has opted to provide “Buy Now, Pay Later” finance options to its Edge browser, at least in the United States, as the holiday season approaches.
The feature first appeared in beta and canary versions in recent weeks before being made available “by default” to all users of Microsoft Edge version 96.
When you reach a checkout page on an e-commerce site, the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) option appears at the browser level, allowing users to split any purchase between $35 and $1,000 into four payments spread out over six weeks. This system is provided by Zip, formerly Quadpay, which provides a Chrome extension for customers who want to split payments; it is interest-free if payments are made on time, although Zip costs $1 every installment. This platform is now included in Microsoft Edge.
So far, the feedback has been mostly negative, as evidenced by the tags attached to the post on Microsoft’s Tech Community site. Despite a few favorable responses, most of the responses were negative.
It’s unfortunate, with the Chromium-based Edge browser is quite nice. The Internet Explorer compatibility mode provides a way out for businesses, and the lack of Google appealed to many. The inclusion of BNPL, though, took away some of the lusters. When you reach a checkout page on an e-commerce site, the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) option appears at the browser level, allowing users to split any purchase between $35 and $1,000 into four payments spread out over six weeks.
