Facebook lets you share and discover ideas, photos, videos, and connect with other people. Did you know that it also lets you make and receive payments?
A lot of businesses do advertising on Facebook but, with Facebook Pay, you can actually send and receive money over the platform. This article will explain how to set up payments and look at some common uses for Facebook Pay.
What Is Facebook Pay?
Facebook Pay is Facebook’s platform for sending money over social media and connected devices.
Facebook Pay works on the Facebook social media site as well as Messenger, Instagram, and through Portal. Right now the site doesn’t have any resources relating to Facebook Reality Labs (better known by its former name, Oculus), but the day is probably not far off.
The platform shouldn’t be confused with the global digital currency Libra, proposed by a number of media and financial companies including Facebook. Facebook Pay doesn’t store Zuck-bucks or anything like that. It works by linking PayPal or credit/debit accounts to your Facebook profile.
How to Get Started on Facebook Pay
To set up Facebook Pay, start from any Facebook page when your account is signed in. Select the arrow icon in the top right corner of the screen. This produces the dropdown menu that gives you access to most Facebook tools and settings.
From this menu, select Settings & privacy. When this opens a new menu, select Settings. This brings you to the settings page for your whole account. Scroll down to the bottom and select Payments near the bottom of the banner on the left side of the window.
This opens a whole new settings page. Select Account Settings from the options at the top of the pane below your notifications banner. Remember how to get to this page because once Facebook Pay is set up on your account, this is also the page where you will view your transaction history.
If you plan on using Facebook Pay regularly to buy and sell goods, this is also the page for filling in your delivery address and contact information. However, if you only plan on using Facebook Pay to send and receive money like you might do with PayPal or Venmo, everything that you need is under Payment methods.
Selecting Add Credit or Debit Card creates a new pane. From there, just punch in your information just like you do every time that you make an online purchase or payment.
Selecting Connect PayPal opens a new window for you to log into your PayPal account and link it to your Facebook account. Again, if you’re familiar with online purchases and payments, this is probably something that you’ve done before.
Where Can You Use Facebook Pay?
Facebook Pay can be used with participating businesses and individuals over Facebook Marketplace. Some charitable organizations that use Facebook Pay also take donations over the platform.
The company is also rolling out Facebook Pay functionality to Instagram Shops in some territories. This allows users to make purchases on Instagram without leaving the app.
Probably the handiest use case is sending and receiving money in Messenger in the same way that you might use an app like Venmo.
To access this feature through Messenger on a desktop, have the chat window open and select the + icon in the lower left. Then, select the $ icon in the resulting menu bar.
To access this feature through Messenger on mobile, have a chat open and select the stacked dots menu in the lower left. Then select Pay Friend from the menu bar.
If you’re in a Messenger group, a menu appears prompting you to select one or more friends. Once your friend or friends are selected, a window appears for entering the amount, similar to using PayPal.
Why to Use (or Not Use) Facebook Pay
Facebook Pay might sound scary but it’s a pretty convenient tool for people who spend a lot of time (and money) on Facebook. You can also find more information directly from Facebook if you want to use Facebook Pay through one of their other apps and services.
If you like Facebook, it’s a good way to centralize your online activity. And, if you don’t like Facebook, Facebook Pay isn’t your only option for online cost-sharing.