Twitter said to be teaming with Stripe for in-tweet payments

Twitter may soon be a platform retailers use for more than just advertising and marketing. If a report published today is accurate, retailers may soon be able to sell products and take payments directly in tweets.

According to the report by Recode on Thursday, Twitter may be teaming up with the online payments service Stripe to make it possible for retailers to accept credit cards directly through tweets.

"The deal, which is in the final stages but not yet complete," Recode wrote, "will be the surest sign that the social network is finally serious about making it easier for brands, retailers or manufacturers to sell stuff directly on Twitter."

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation, and Stripe spokesperson Kelly Sims said she couldn't comment.

If the report is accurate, this would be a very big move for Twitter. Presumably, it could get a small slice of any transactions -- which would help it move towards profitability. But perhaps even more important, it would no doubt drive a wide variety of new marketing initiatives directly to Twitter. After all, if advertising campaigns conducted on the social network could be immediately converted to sales, that could create an all-new market for merchants eager to reach consumers where they spend their time.

This wouldn't be the first time that commerce could be conducted directly inside Twitter. Last February, Twitter teamed with American Express to make it possible for that card's users to buy things through select retailers simply by tweeting a special hashtag.

Stripe could be a good partner for Twitter because its Stripe Connect service allows online merchants to accept payments by credit card without setting up an account of any kind.