In a very limited test for the moment

Aug 20, 2009 09:58 GMT  ·  By

The power of having one fifth of the world's online population visit your site is barely being used at the moment by Facebook and, though the social network has some big plans and big ambitions, the potential could be bigger than even it believes at the moment. Nevertheless, the social network is slowly but surely becoming a major player online and has recently started testing one feature that could prove a big earner for Facebook by allowing third-party companies to sell their products through the Facebook Gift Shop and, even more interesting, for the first time there will be real physical items for sale as well.

Facebook is sitting on a gold mine and a large amount of untapped revenue potential. While it is a very limited test at the moment and may not seem such big move, it may very well be a first step, with users being able to one day buy any kind of products from a number of online retailers using the social network's own virtual currency, Facebook Credits.

First spotted by Inside Facebook, the move was then confirmed by a company spokesperson. “As we continue to provide users news ways to share with their friends around birthdays and special occasions, we are conducting a test in which third party developers will be able to offer virtual gifts in the Facebook Gift Shop,” the spokesperson said.

The test will include only four outside companies, American Greetings Interactive, GreetBeatz, Someecards, and Real Gifts, and should already be live. Products coming from these third parties will show up among the ones from Facebook itself but they will sport the company's logo to differentiate themselves. Users will then be able to buy the gifts just like the regular ones and most of the prices will be in line with the ones Facebook practices, namely 10 Credits ($1) per gift. However, for the physical gifts the price may go up accordingly, as much as several hundred credits.

This is sure to make many companies very happy, opening up a potentially huge market with Facebook's more than 250 million registered users. But the most exciting prospect is the fact that at some point the social network could integrate its payment system with Facebook Connect, the site's login standard already used by many sites and services, to allow its users to pay for products outside of the Gift Shop by means of what could become a very powerful and fully owned payment system.