Twitter Drops Another Hint That E-Commerce Could Be Coming Soon

The evidence that Twitter is preparing an in-stream shopping service got another boost this week, when some users noticed a “payment & shipping” line within settings in the company’s Android app.

As first reported by The Next Web blog, a number of users posted screen shots showing the setting, while noting that it did nothing when clicked:

Huh. A 'Payment and Shipping' tab was just added to my Twitter app. Currently does nothing when tapped. pic.twitter.com/chbUEJBdm5

— Daniel Bader (@journeydan) August 4, 2014

Twitter regularly tests new features without fanfare and hasn’t responded to questions about this wrinkle, but it seems clear that this is another step toward a true ecommerce feature. Presumably, such a setting would allow users to enter credit card and shipping information that would enable seamless purchases within the network.

Up to now, Twitter’s ecommerce efforts have involved third-parties such as American Express or Starbucks. But this year, signs are pointing to bringing the payment-within-Twitter options in house. In January, Re/code reported that it was near a deal with startup Stripe to provide backend credit card processing (although such a deal still hasn’t been completed). Re/code also unearthed mockups created by online commerce site Fancy.com of how Twitter ecommerce might work.

And in June, “Buy Now” buttons, apparently generated by Fancy’s shopping app, were seen by Twitter users. Those not-ready-for-prime-time buttons — which only appeared on mobile devices — were quickly taken down.