Anyone who sells stuff on the Web knows that it's too easy to lose a potential customer somewhere between the clicks. PlaySpan, a developer of monetization solutions for online games has teamed up with PayPal to make payments of virtual goods easier.

No longer will users have to go the extra step of opening a new window and be navigated away from their games. Over 700 games on Facebook, MySpace and Bebo will be affected, including Playdom's Poker Palace, Playfish's Pet Society and RockYou!'s Speed Racing.

It will be interesting to see how this partnership will affect the conversion rate in social games. It's nice to offer convenience to existing customers, but will a shorter line at the cash register be enough to convert a non-paying player?

While virtual goods is big business, the vast majority of players do not spend a dime on social games. Recently, I conducted an informal poll on Pet Society Anonymous to see how much money players spent on their virtual pets.

Out of more than 1,000 respondents, 6% spent about $20 per month, and 4% plunked down more than $100, but 86% said they didn't spend any money on Pet Society. Just time, precious time.