Plimus, an ecommerce platform, has released a new API that will allow ecommerce web developers to integrate online sales solutions into website content or applications without requiring users to go to a virtual store or shopping cart.
The new "Buy Anyware API" should make it easier to develop social media shopping applications that run on sites like Facebook; monetize site content; and sell virtual goods, credits, or tokens in online games. Put another way, the Buy Anyware API allows for PCI-compliant buying without requiring customers to launch new browser windows or leave their immediate web-based environments.
According to Plimus, the Buy Anyware API uses an XML-based representational state transfer (REST) architecture. But the API will not be completely open source or available without a legal relationship with Plimus. Web developers that believe the Buy Anyware API could be a good fit for their projects will need to contact and work with Plimus' professional services group.
"The evolution of web 2.0 has changed the way users engage with, produce and consume content online, blurring the boundaries of content and commerce," Plimus said in an official statement released on June 28, 2010. "More and more users are turning to the web to make purchasing decisions, and they increasingly seek a frictionless transaction in which the selling point becomes part of the content experience. This is in part driven by the rise of the social web, and the creation of communities that are changing the online buying process and shifting focus away from brand-owned properties toward peer-to-peer recommendations. As these new communities drive brands, companies need to rethink the way they engage with consumers in this new environment."
Available Features
Beyond integrating ecommerce functionality into non-traditional online shopping environments, the Buy Anyware API supports subscriptions and recurring billing, delayed billing for micro-payments—thus reducing transactional fees—currency conversion and hedging, and many of the features from Plimus' ebusiness platform.
Pricing
The Buy Anyware API is free for Plimus platform customers. The company's hosted ecommerce platform is billed on a per transaction basis, so the typical merchant pays Plimus each and every time a sale is made. Plimus transactional fees vary from about 15 percent to 4.5 percent, depending on order size.
