Payments Dive
E-commerce giant Amazon appears to be leaving its options open when it comes to buy now, pay later services, letting an exclusivity commitment with Affirm expire Tuesday.
Although the two companies have a commercial agreement that runs through Jan. 31, 2025 – and can be extended for successive one-year terms at that point – Jan. 31 marked the end of BNPL provider Affirm having a claim as the sole installment loan provider for Amazon’s customers.
“Until January 31, 2023 (unless otherwise extended pursuant to the terms of the Commercial Agreement), Amazon has agreed not to make available on Amazon.com other closed-end installment loan products and services by certain competitors of Affirm,” a November 2021 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission stated.
Not covered by that restriction: “Installment products and services offered to customers as a feature of a credit card,” the filing noted.
Affirm Spokesperson Matt Gross declined to comment. An Amazon spokesperson didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment on the issue.
Losing that exclusivity with Amazon comes as San Francisco-based Affirm faces intense competition from the likes of Klarna and Afterpay in the BNPL market.