The payments & online selling stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
Walmart is opening checkout to AI shopping agents, with limits you set, while Amazon keeps outside bots off its site. Here is how the limits work.
Read more: Walmart will let AI assistants buy for you within a limit you setThe UK Home Office is piloting cameras that scan faces in public places and check them against an immigration watchlist, with ports and transport hubs in view.
Read more: UK plans face-scanning cameras to find visa overstayersA new report says scammers use AI to build whole fake online stores, some posing as luxury shops, just as Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping begins.
Read more: Fake online stores now look like real luxury shopsWhich? says scam messages promise hundreds of pounds in energy help and lead to fake government sites, ahead of the real £100 payment in January 2027.
Read more: Scam texts are using the new £100 energy payment to trick UK householdsA company that builds no-code tools for AI-powered shopping raised $15 million, a sign that AI agents buying for customers is becoming a real business.
Read more: A no-code shopping platform raises $15M to help stores use AI agentsSamsung Galaxy owners in the US can buy USDC, a digital coin tied to the dollar, inside Samsung Wallet, with Stripe running the process behind the scenes.
Read more: Samsung phone owners can now buy digital dollars in their wallet appCashfree's checkout pages now let browser-based AI assistants read orders and show a payment QR code, but shoppers still approve every payment themselves.
Read more: Cashfree lets AI assistants help you check out, but you still payA PYMNTS report says banks can use limited digital tokens so an AI assistant can buy your groceries without holding a card number that works anywhere else.
Read more: Banks eye single-purpose digital tokens to let AI shop safely for youASOS's CEO says casual fashion fans will like AI shopping most, while the retailer's clearest savings so far come from back-office work.
Read more: ASOS says AI shopping will win over casual fashion fans firstSardine launched a tool that shows stores the real person behind an AI shopping agent's order, so fewer legitimate purchases get blocked as bot activity.
Read more: Sardine's new tool helps stores tell AI shopping agents from botsAffirm's CEO expects AI shopping agents to pick interest-free installment plans more often, which could change how you pay and what you agree to.
Read more: Affirm's CEO says AI shopping assistants may steer you to 0% loansAmazon's AWS WAF now lets site owners charge AI bots for content and collect the money in local currency through Stripe, with no crypto wallet needed.
Read more: Websites can now get paid in regular money when AI bots visitQuestionPro, known for online surveys, bought Contlo, a messaging tool for online stores, to let AI use customer feedback to decide how to follow up with shoppers.
Read more: Survey company QuestionPro buys Contlo to build shopping AI agentsBILL says AI helpers cut the time to handle a customer underwriting case from three hours to about 12 minutes, which could mean faster answers for small businesses.
Read more: BILL's AI helpers cut a 3-hour review to 12 minutesOpenAI's president says a 2027 stock market debut is possible, and JPMorganChase will use OpenAI's security-focused AI tools to help protect the bank.
Read more: OpenAI says it could go public in 2027 and signs up JPMorganA Ghana Business News piece says AI agents should pass a permission test before they touch mobile money. Here is why that matters if software ever pays for you.
Read more: Ghana's mobile money needs a permission test for AI agentsAdyen and Checkout.com are adding passkeys, so some card purchases could be confirmed with a fingerprint or face scan instead of a bank prompt.
Read more: Online checkout may soon let you confirm a card payment with your fingerprintOpen AI models that companies can run themselves now beat or match paid rivals on some finance tasks, which could mean lower costs and more control over private data.
Read more: Free AI models from Kimi and Mistral now rival the top paid onesAmazon will raise its average fulfillment fee by 19 cents per item in 2027, and goods that sit in its warehouses longer than six months will cost more to store.
Read more: Amazon Will Charge Sellers 19 Cents More Per Item in 2027Payments company Priority reported 11.3% revenue growth in what is set to be its last earnings report before a $1.6 billion go-private deal.
Read more: Payments company Priority posts 11% revenue growth before going privateThe Fed's October survey says banks tightened lending for small businesses and borrowers with weaker credit in the third quarter, while big firms saw little change.
Read more: Banks make it harder for small businesses and weaker-credit borrowers to get loansThe Justice Department created a task force to pursue fraud and hacks that use AI, and it plans to press AI companies to keep tighter control of their systems.
Read more: Justice Department forms a team to go after criminals using AIPayoneer says its business-to-business payment volume jumped 59% in the third quarter, while its $2.75 billion sale to Nuvei moves toward a mid-2027 close.
Read more: Payoneer's business-to-business payments jump 59% as Nuvei deal nearsA listing in Samsung's own app hints that the Galaxy Fit 4 band can handle tap-to-pay, but a US radio filing does not mention the needed technology.
Read more: Samsung's next fitness band may let you pay with your wrist
