Categories Tech News
Klarna will now let you pay them so you can pay them less money
January 24, 2024
Dollars and sense? | Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge
Great news for those of you already experiencing subscription fatigue: you can subscribe to buy now, pay later (BNPL) service Klarna for $7.99 a month.
At first glance, this seemed pretty fucking weird to me. I mean, the entire point of Klarna is that you can essentially do layaway without paying any kind of interest; Klarna has partnered with a wide array of retailers — from Dolce & Gabbana to 1-800-Flowers.com to Macy’s — to create this service. So what’s the consumer value in the subscription?
The subtext of the announcement is, “Hey look, another revenue stream!”
Well, let’s say you shop at, I dunno, Target or Kroger or Safeway. These retailers aren’t affiliated with Klarna, so if you try to use the service there, you have to pay a…