The payments & online selling stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
Ramp, Mercury, Corpay and Sunrate now offer company cards for AI agents, so software can pay for routine buys inside limits a business sets.
Read more: AI software can now get its own company credit cardAmazon's Alexa for Shopping now handles over 100 more tasks, including subscriptions and billing questions, as Amazon says shoppers spend more per order with it.
Read more: Amazon's Alexa shopping helper can now handle over 100 more tasksStripe now lets AI assistants like Claude and Cursor read your Stripe data, so you can ask plain questions about revenue. The main tool is free into 2027.
Read more: Stripe lets AI assistants read your sales data and answer questionsVisa tested 22 AI models on shopping tasks and the average pass rate was 57.2%, so letting an AI buy for you or your customers still needs a human check.
Read more: Visa tests AI shopping helpers, and many still fail to buy rightTikTok has quietly released a standalone TikTok Shop app in four Asian countries, a sign it wants to compete with Amazon and Temu for your online shopping.
Read more: TikTok launches a separate shopping app in four Asian countriesAdobe expects AI-driven visits to US retail sites to jump 130% this holiday season, and Google's new shared cart is already live for shoppers.
Read more: AI shopping helpers are set to send far more shoppers to stores this holidayMerchantFloor launched an AI tool that turns a photo and a few notes into a Shopify listing in under five minutes, with a free trial for small stores.
Read more: New AI Tool Builds a Shopify Product Listing in Under Five MinutesKlarna's app can now tell you whether a caller claiming to be Klarna is real. The tool is live in all 26 markets where the company operates.
Read more: Klarna app now shows if a caller claiming to be Klarna is realRegulators in Asia-Pacific are making financial firms answer for scams, and newer banks and payment apps face the same bar as big banks.
Read more: Asia-Pacific rules push banks and payment apps to cover scam lossesSeattle startup firmly raised $15 million to help stores sell through AI shopping assistants without writing code, as AI-driven shopping traffic is expected to jump.
Read more: Startup Firmly Raises $15 Million to Help Stores Sell Through AI Shopping AgentsAI helpers that shop for you may skip the pages where stores show ads, which could hurt a major source of retail income and change how you shop.
Read more: AI shopping helpers could cut into the ads retailers rely onShopify reportedly paid about $100 million for Shop.com, a record, as Google sends fewer visitors. Businesses that rely on search clicks should take note.
Read more: Shopify Reportedly Paid $100 Million for Shop.com as Google Clicks ShrinkVerifone now runs Visa's Featurespace fraud tool on its payment gateways, so shops may get built-in protection without hiring a separate fraud vendor.
Read more: Verifone adds Visa fraud detection to its card payment systemsQueens Public Library's website, Wi-Fi, self-checkout and app are down after a ransomware attack, though every branch is still open.
Read more: Queens Public Library hit by ransomware, Wi-Fi and checkouts downA group of 200-plus merchants is working with a payments body on rules for AI shopping agents, including which card they use and who is liable when a purchase goes wrong.
Read more: Stores and payment groups team up on rules for AI shopping agentsVisa tested 22 AI shopping agents on everyday purchases. They succeeded only about 57% of the time, so checking their picks before you pay still matters.
Read more: AI shopping assistants bought the wrong thing almost half the timeSalesforce expects AI chatbots to start 20 percent of holiday online shopping visits in 2026, and sellers may need proof a real customer approved each AI-made order.
Read more: AI shopping assistants are about to send you a wave of holiday buyersMeta says more than 10 million people in the US and Canada set up its Muse AI agent in about six weeks, while AWS sells stores a base for their own shopping helpers.
Read more: Over 10 million people set up Meta's new AI shopping helperFlagright's co-founder says AI should handle routine fraud and compliance alerts while people decide things like closing accounts, a shift that matters to anyone with a bank.
Read more: Fraud-Fighting Software Handles Routine Alerts, but People Make the Big CallsA new industry report says banks should pick the best payment route for each customer. Business owners may want to ask their bank what it offers.
Read more: Banks want to pick the best way to send each payment for youIndia's cyber agency says AI-assisted hackers are stealing money from financial firms, often on weekends and holidays, and some were hit again after fixing problems.
Read more: India warns banks that AI tools are helping hackers steal moneyA test sent an honest shopping robot to 200 US and UK stores. One in seven turned it away, and security software looks like the cause.
Read more: One in seven online stores turned away a shopping robot in a testWestern Union's third quarter revenue fell 2% to $1 billion, and it is betting on Stablecard, a digital dollar wallet with a Visa card, to help it grow.
Read more: Western Union Launches a Digital Dollar Card as Sales Slip 2%ZentriBase has launched a portal that puts client branding, contracts and payment records in one place for freelancers, agencies and businesses with several brands.
Read more: New ZentriBase tool puts client portals, contracts and payments in one place
