Microsoft Adds Buy Now, Pay Later Financing Option To Edge -- And Everyone Hates It

Microsoft has decided to add 'Buy Now, Pay Later' financing options to its Edge browser in the U.S. -- and the overwhelming response has been negative. The Register reports: The Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) option pops up at the browser level (rather than on checkout at an ecommerce site) and permits users to split any purchase between $35 and $1,000 made via Edge into four instalments spread over six weeks. The system is powered by Zip, previously Quadpay, and offers a Chrome extension for users who want to split their payments (interest-free if you make the payments on time, although Zip charges $1 per installment). Microsoft has now bundled the platform into Edge.

Feedback could charitably be described as negative so far, as demonstrated by the tags assigned to the post on Microsoft's Tech Community site. Comments (numbering 119 at time of writing) posted by visitors to the site can be pretty much summed up thusly: 'This [is] a cheap and disgusting move from Microsoft and edge team to the browser users. You should be ashamed for pushing such crap to users. Listening to the users checkout flows, suggesting third party services. Bloating the browser. Seriously, be better and more responsible.' 'It's deeply shocking this is built into the base Windows OS on billions of devices,' writes cybersecurity expert Kevin Beaumont in a tweet. 'I feel like I should start a GoFundMe for Microsoft, or teach them how to beg bounty, as clearly they need the money.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.