The payments & online selling stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
Fiverr's CEO says AI assistants are replacing web search as the place buyers start. The company is rebuilding to be found there, and the numbers show the strain.
Read more: Fiverr bets on AI assistants as Google-style search fadesFanatics rebuilt its Shop the Look tool with OpenAI, and an early test showed 10% more shopper engagement. Expect more AI-picked suggestions online.
Read more: Fanatics uses OpenAI to rebuild its outfit suggestion toolVisa and Tencent will make cross-border payments easier for travelers and explore AI tools that shop and pay for you, which could matter if you visit or sell in China.
Read more: Visa and Tencent team up on AI-assisted shopping and travel paymentsShopify's Shop Pay is adding card network technology so AI agents can complete purchases without seeing your card, keeping your rewards and protections.
Read more: Shopify lets AI shopping helpers pay without ever seeing your cardMastercard says AI shopping agents should pay with a secure stand-in for your own card, so your rewards and spending controls could carry over.
Read more: Mastercard Wants AI Shopping Helpers to Pay With Your Real CardMastercard's CEO says AI shopping agents are already adding transactions and he expects more this holiday season, but many merchants are not ready to be found.
Read more: Mastercard expects AI shopping agents to drive more purchases this holiday seasonOnline holiday spending rose 6.8% last season, and J.P. Morgan says busy weeks give card thieves more cover and put sellers in a bind.
Read more: Holiday shopping season gives online card fraud more places to hideHoliday shoppers are focused on price, and Walmart is getting the most criticism, so the same item may cost different amounts depending on when and where you look.
Read more: Shoppers are watching prices closely this holiday season, and Walmart is feeling itUBS says staff use more than 12,700 personal AI agents, a sign that banks are moving AI into daily work that can touch your accounts and advice.
Read more: UBS staff now use more than 12,700 personal AI helpers at workThe FTC ordered Walmart, Target and seven other companies to explain whether personal data changes the prices people see. Here is what shoppers should know.
Read more: FTC demands answers from Walmart and Target on pricingJoko, an AI shopping app, wants to be where you start every search. To do that, it asks you to link your bank account and browser, so the privacy trade-off matters.
Read more: AI shopping assistants could become the new place shopping startsCarvana reported $8 billion in quarterly revenue, and its CEO says AI shopping helpers are now part of the plan. Sellers online should take note.
Read more: Carvana sales jump 42% to $8 billion as it preps for AI car shoppingAn ad fraud firm says AI played a role in 52% of the scam schemes it found this year, and the ads now look far more convincing.
Read more: AI is behind more than half of the ad scams one fraud firm foundA new retail study says AI assistants could soon compare products and complete purchases for shoppers, raising questions about data, control and responsibility.
Read more: Shopping assistants may soon compare products and buy for youPine Labs, an Indian merchant-payments firm, saw quarterly profit rise more than sixfold as UPI and online payments grew, a sign of where Indian shopping is heading.
Read more: Pine Labs profit jumps more than sixfold as India pays digitallyKipp, which helps stores recover sales when a card is declined for low funds, was bought by a group led by LTVCo and plans to grow in the US.
Read more: Kipp, a card payments startup, is bought and plans to grow in the USForbes says AI tools that find, compare and buy for people are arriving, and startups need to know if their products can be found and bought by them.
Read more: Soon, AI assistants may do the shopping, and your business must be readyShopify's Fall '26 update lets AI assistants shop and check out, adds app security checks, and shows store owners a partner's history before they grant access.
Read more: Shopify adds tools to make online stores easier to build and saferNielsenIQ and Google will pair store and product data with Google's shopping system so AI helpers can better judge what is real and in stock nearby.
Read more: NielsenIQ and Google team up so AI shopping helpers find what's in stockA WhatsApp test version lists the US, Canada, Germany, Italy and Australia in a new Payments section, though the company has not confirmed any expansion.
Read more: WhatsApp may be preparing to offer payments in more countriesSocure has launched Agent Intelligence, a tool that spots AI agents online and scores whether to trust them, as businesses struggle to tell helpers from fraudsters.
Read more: Socure Launches a Way to Tell Which AI Agents Can Be TrustedShopify's Fall '26 update adds fraud pattern spotting and ad automation for small stores, which could save time and cut losses for owners who sell online.
Read more: Shopify adds fraud alerts and ad help for small online storesElavon's CEO says AI shopping agents should not be rushed to market, warning that a fast, careless rollout could repeat 25 years of online fraud mistakes.
Read more: Payments chief says safety must come before speed when AI agents shop for youSecurity firm IPQS says approving an AI shopping agent is not enough to protect payments, and that matters if software ever spends your money.
Read more: Approving an AI shopping agent is not enough to keep payments safe
