We’ve been covering Facebook’s expansion of options that users have available for buying its Credits virtual currency, which as of July 1st will be the only currency that users can obtain for games on Facebook using real money. Here’s quick update about that — a country-by-country list of methods of inputting direct payments, previously published by Facebook in its Help Section.
| Country | Payment Methods |
|---|---|
| Argentina | Mobile*, DineroMail, Moneybookers, Western Union QuickPay |
| Australia | Mobile*, Moneybookers |
| Belgium | Mobile*, Bank Transfer, Mister Cash, Moneybookers, PaySafeCard, WallieCard, Western Union QuickPay |
| Brazil | Mobile*, Boleto Bancario, Debito Brandesco, DinheiroMail, Moneybookers |
| Canada | Mobile*, InteracOnline, Moneybookers, Western Union QuickPay |
| Chile | Mobile*, DineroMail, Moneybookers, Western Union QuickPay |
| Colombia | Mobile*, Moneybookers, Western Union QuickPay |
| France | Mobile*, Bank Transfer, Carte Bleue, Moneybookers, PaySafeCard, Ukash, Visa Electron, Wallie Card, |
| Germany | Mobile*, Bank Transfer, ELV Direct Debit, GiroPay, Moneybookers, PaySafeCard, Sofortüberweisung, Ukash, Visa Electron, Wallie Card |
| Greece | Mobile*, Moneybookers, PaySafeCard, Visa Electron, Western Union QuickPay |
| Hong Kong | Mobile*, MyCard – Card Redemption, MyCard – Pay Via MyCard Member Account, Western Union QuickPay |
| Indonesia | Mobile*, Moneybookers, MyCard – Card Redemption, MyCard – Pay Via MyCard Member Account, Western Union QuickPay |
| India | Mobile*, MOLPoints, Moneybookers, Western Union QuickPay |
| Italy | Mobile*, Bank Transfer, Moneybookers, PaySafeCard, Ukash, Visa Electron, Western Union QuickPay |
| Malaysia | Mobile*, MOLPoints, Moneybookers, MyCard – Card Redemption, MyCard – Pay Via MyCard Member Account, Ukash |
| Mexico | Mobile*, DineroMail, Moneybookers, Todito Cash, Wallie Card, Western Union |
| Phillipines | Mobile*, Moneybookers, Western Union QuickPay |
| Portugal | Mobile*, PaySafeCard, Visa Electron, Western Union QuickPay |
| Spain | Mobile*, Bank Transfer, CashU, Maestro, Moneybookers, PaySafeCard, Ukash, Visa Electron, Wallie Card, Western Union QuickPay |
| Taiwan | Mobile*, Gamania GASH – Card Redemption, Gamania GASH – Pay Via GASH/BeanFun Member Account, yCard – Card Redemption, Moneybookers, MyCard – Pay Via MyCard Member Account |
| Thailand | Mobile*, Moneybookers, Western Union QuickPay |
| Turkey | Mobile*, CashU, Moneybookers, OneCard, Ukash, Wallie Card, Western Union QuickPay |
| Great Britain | Mobile*, Maestro, Moneybookers, PaySafeCard, Ukash, Visa Delta/Debit, Visa Electron, Wallie Card |
| United States | Mobile*, Western Union QuickPay |
| Venezuela | Mobile*, Moneybookers |
Facebook’s explanation of the asterisk: “*Mobile payments are powered by Boku or Zong depending on your mobile carrier. For more information about mobile payment options, click here.”
As a bonus, we’ve included a video found via Lolapps that shows Nestea running an advertisement in Taiwan that promotes a giveaway for MyCard credits, which one can in turn use to buy Facebook Credits. MyCard is a pre-paid card service already popular as a way of buying into all sorts of online games, and in the embedded commercial you can see that Facebook — despite the two degrees of separation from the topic of the commercial — is being prominently featured.
We don’t know if Facebook itself had any involvement with this particular campaign, but we have seen MyCards make a big deal out of its “strategic relationship” with Facebook before. Whatever the cause, third-party promotions of Credits like this should help the currency continue to gain traction with users around the world, and eventually result in more money going to developers.
Source: Inside Social Games
Tuesday, June 28, 2011