Amazon challenges PayPal with ‘Login and Pay' one-click option

Amazon is firing on all cylinders today in its efforts to draw more third-parties into its ecosystem.

Along with a new developer program filled to the brim with incentives for makers of optimized Fire OS apps, the Seattle-based operation has introduced a new "="" feature"=""> designed for third-party online retailers.

Basically, online retailers outside of Amazon.com can install "Login and Pay with Amazon" buttons on their checkout pages through a set of widgets and APIs crafted by Amazon. The feature is supported on both desktop and mobile channels.

Immediately upon introduction on Tuesday, the new e-commerce feature sparked comparisons with a similar offering from PayPal.

Nevertheless, such a feature makes complete sense coming from Amazon given its dominance in the online retail space and the cloud capabilities to support an infrastructure linking third-party businesses with Amazon's own customer profile base.

According to Tom Taylor, vice president of Amazon's Payments unit, Amazon retains more than 215 million active customer accounts.

From the customer side, the advantage is being able to pay virtually instantly with all of the billing and shipping data being filled in by Amazon.

Amazon assured in Tuesday's announcement that it does not "share" credit card information, and all purchases are still covered by its purchase guarantees as if they were shopping directly on Amazon.com.

On the merchant side, Amazon is promising fraud protection for free -- or at least included in what is touted as lower pricing on payments services: 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction, or less. That's on par with the entry level on PayPal's pricing ladder.

For a closer look at Login and Pay with Amazon, check out the promo video below: