An Instagram spokesperson confirms to TechCrunch, “We will introduce a selling fee to help fund programs and products that help make checkout possible, as well as offset transaction-related expenses.” When we asked how much the “selling fee” would charge merchants, the spokesperson told us, “We aren’t sharing the specific number right now. We are testing a selling fee with businesses during the closed beta. It will not change the price of the items for consumers.” That indicates Instagram wants merchants to cough up the fee in exchange for higher purchase conversion rates rather than forcing users to pay a convenience fee for buying through the app.
Instagram’s ad business could also get a boost as Checkout could convince brands that the social network produces better return on investment because there are fewer steps before purchase. For now, only organic posts from the launch partner merchants will feature Checkout buttons, and ads aren’t eligible. But Checkout-equipped ads could be a gold mine for Instagram, just as Facebook’s News Feed ad business looks shaky and CEO Mark Zuckerberg declares commerce as a fixture of the 2019 roadmap.
Read More.. Source Tech Crunch