JANUARY 2022 PCWorld 23time for holiday shopping to ramp up—as
an addition to the browser’s existing
coupon and price comparison tools (fave.
co/3pZJrGv). The integration bakes Zip’s
application, signup, and checkout system
into the browser, linking it to the same
Microsoft account you use to log into
Windows. Microsoft claims that when
you’re using Edge’s version of the Zip tool,
you can apply it to any standard purchase
made in the browser (instead of on a store-
by-store basis) between $35 and $1,000.
It’s only available in the U.S. for now.
Like most Edge features it rolled out in the
Canary build first, but as of now, it should be
available to most standard Windows users in
the v96 release. The feature doesn’t seem to
be appearing for everyone; some quick
testing in Canary didn’t show it on either
Amazon or Microsoft’s web store.
Edge users made their displeasure
known (fave.co/33na7Jy) almost
immediately. The announcement post on
Microsoft’s site has over 170 replies at the
time of writing, almost universally negative.
“This sounds like an awful idea that will only
be seen as a shameless cashgrab,” writes
Cameron_Bush. “Please, please stop
bloating the browser with these revenue
grabs,” adds BioTurboNick, who claims to
have created a comment account specifically
to say so. “This should be an extension at
best. It is not a feature I’m looking for in any
browser,” says bppatton.
User-applied tags to the post include
“dirty,” “embarrassment,” “exploitative,”
“predatory,” “scam,” “bloat,” and “usury,”
among others. Reactions among users at
other places around the web, including
forums, comment sections, and Reddit
threads (fave.co/3GGffXA), seem to echo this
general sentiment.
A common refrain on Microsoft’s post and
others is accusations that the company is
adding unnecessary features to Edge in the
name of revenue. For the time being it isn’t
obvious exactly how, or if, Microsoft is
benefitting from this feature in a monetary
sense. According to the support page (fave.
co/3IRNTzL) for Edge’s buy now, pay later
(BNPL) tool, “Microsoft is not involved in
providing the loan and does not collect a fee
for connecting users to loan providers.” But
that terse statement leaves a lot of options
open for less direct monetization.
We’ve reached out to Microsoft for
comment on the company’s relationship with
Zip. A representative said, “Microsoft isn’t
providing financing nor taking a fee as the
FAQ states. Microsoft has nothing further to
share beyond the FAQ at this time.”
At the very least, adding such a situational,
mercantile feature to a browser Microsoft has
worked so hard to improve over the last
couple of years could be seen as a step
backwards. As many users have noted, this
could have been an optional extension
instead of a mandatory, universal feature.