SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Pinterest Inc. soon will be more than a site for inspiration, with users able to buy certain items through a "buy button" on the site, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The online-scrapbooking company is working on an e-commerce button that advertisers could use to drive purchases of their products from the site, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Technology blog Re/Code earlier reported on the buy button.

Advertisers have long pressured Pinterest to introduce the feature, as it’s a natural fit for a site where people post pictures of things they admire, places they want to go or recipes they want to cook. The San Francisco-based startup, valued at $5 billion in a funding round last year, has been slowly boosting efforts to make money through advertising and other means. This week, Pinterest also introduced ways to download mobile applications directly from the site.

Mike Mayzel, a spokesman for Pinterest, declined to comment on the buy button.

“Part of our strategy to help people discover new things, save them and do these things in real life has always been to make Pins more useful,” he said in a statement. “App Pins is our latest effort and we have many more ideas, but we don’t have any additional plans to announce at this time.”

Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. also are testing ways for advertisers to sell things directly to their users.

Other startups have profited off of Pinterest’s lack of buying options. Wanelo Inc. lets people follow brands and curators and purchase what they post, while on The Hunt, an application where users post pictures of fashion items they covet, are told where to buy the goods online.

By Sarah Frier. Editors: Pui-Wing Tam, Stephen West.