'Buy Now, Pay Later' Is the New Normal for Online Shoppers

pcmag.com:

There's a great bit in the Disney film Raya and the Last Dragon where a kid tells the long-missing dragon Sisudatu that she doesn't have to pay for things now—because of credit! So, disguised as a human, the dragon blunders off to a village bazaar and pilfers everything she wants, chanting to all: "Don't worry...credit!"

The opposite is happening en masse in real life, as vendors such as Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and many others are offering buyers instant "credit" in the form of BNPL: buy now, pay later. Retailers want people to buy with this new form of layaway—where you get the product right away and pay it off in multiple installments—because of fees that make them money.

Amazon instituted the option(Opens in a new window) to buy anything that's over $50 using BNPL via third-party finance company Affirm last year. Amazon has offered financing even longer for PCs and PC parts.

BNPL has grown thanks to the pandemic and because of people with extensive loans (former students) trying not to take on more long-term debt. Still, using BNPL could impact your credit(Opens in a new window), but that's not stopping people from trying it.

In a new survey of 1,000 online shoppers—700 of whom had used BNPL services—ConsumerAffairs.com(Opens in a new window) found that 60% of people are feeling pretty great about BNPL options, especially the older crowd. Baby boomers (ages 57 to 75) have been using BNPL since before it was cool—well over a year.

PayPal is the most common BNPL app, despite it coming late to the BNPL party. It's ahead of Amazon, followed by the services including Afterpay, Klarna, and Affirm.

Using BNPL isn't about a buyer's economic status. The survey shows that it isn't those with the lowest income using it the