The payments & online selling stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
OpenAI, Google and Anthropic each have their own AI checkout, so experts advise online sellers to stay flexible instead of betting on one platform.
Read more: Shopping by AI agent is splitting into rival camps, so stay flexibleA new Visa survey finds 54% of US adults have used AI for shopping, while fraud worries are pushing many to change how they pay and log in.
Read more: More than half of Americans now use AI to help with holiday shoppingCircle, the company behind the USDC digital dollar, explains agentic commerce, where an AI assistant buys for you. Learn the limits before you hand it your money.
Read more: Circle explains agentic commerce: AI that shops and pays for youVerifone, which makes many shop card readers, has added screening that adjusts to new fraud tactics, built with Visa. Shop owners should ask what it costs.
Read more: Verifone adds smarter fraud screening to card payments, with VisaA payments expert at G2A.COM says fraud is shifting from stolen card details to tricking buyers into approving payments themselves, and instant payments are hard to undo.
Read more: Scammers now trick buyers into paying instead of stealing card dataTSB says one in three UK shoppers has been scammed on social media or resale sites, and fake sellers are expected to be busy before Black Friday and Christmas.
Read more: One in three UK shoppers has been scammed on social media or resale sitesAmazon has blocked outside AI shopping bots, while Walmart is letting them in with limits. The split could change the ads, deals and prices you see online.
Read more: Amazon and Walmart split on letting AI bots shop for youScammers are sending AI-made photos of missing pets, then demanding reward money and threatening the animals. Anyone searching for a lost pet should know the signs.
Read more: Scammers use fake AI photos of missing pets to demand reward moneyFiserv says AI agents now review flagged Clover payments in a third of the time, with far fewer false alarms. Shop owners may see fewer held payments.
Read more: Fiserv says AI cut fraud review times by two-thirds at CloverA new survey finds 68% of US adults use an AI agent weekly, but few trust one with a credit card, and many are unsure who pays if it goes wrong.
Read more: Most Americans use AI helpers but won't let them spend moneySpain's Bizum app is now accepted at more than 1.6 million merchants, a sign that bank-based phone payments are moving into stores and could reach your checkout.
Read more: Home-grown payment apps now need stores to accept themA bank told one business customer to wait 18 months for instant payments. Banks are now moving to one shared payment hub, and that affects how fast yours can add new services.
Read more: Banks Replace Separate Payment Systems With One Shared HubCriminals who break into a business email account can use AI to slip fake payment instructions into real invoice threads, and money can be gone fast.
Read more: Fake payment requests now hide inside real email threadsShopify's revenue rose 32% to $3.7 billion as AI shopping tools sent more buyers its way, a sign of how people may soon shop and how stores may sell.
Read more: Shopify sales jump 32% as shoppers let AI do the buyingToast says it will fight an FTC lawsuit over fees and cancellations. Restaurant and shop owners who use its systems may want to review their own contracts.
Read more: Toast, a restaurant tech company, says it will fight FTC lawsuitCasap, a New York startup, raised $56 million for AI that handles card disputes. It says cases now close in 8 days, not up to 90, but the figures are its own.
Read more: Casap raises $56M to use AI to settle card disputes fasterGoogle, Cordial and Twilio each announced ways to feed customer data to AI tools, and the shared message is that the data has to be clean and controlled.
Read more: Google, Cordial and Twilio want AI to use customer data more openlyBilt, known for rent rewards, is buying sports loyalty tech firm Lava for $300 million. Fans and Bilt members may see rewards that reach well beyond rent.
Read more: Rent rewards company Bilt buys sports fan app maker Lava for $300MAmazon says AI tools that shop for people are not hurting its ad business. For sellers and shoppers, the open question is which products get seen.
Read more: Amazon says AI shopping helpers are not hurting its ad businessMashreq, a bank in the United Arab Emirates, is adding generative AI to its fraud checks, which could mean faster flags on suspicious payments for customers.
Read more: Mashreq bank adds generative AI to its fraud detection systemFiserv is talking with possible buyers for parts of its business and now aims to save $1 billion, which could affect banks and shops that rely on it.
Read more: Fiserv, a big payments company, is shopping parts of its business and cutting $1 billionFederal agencies and Congress are leaning on AI failure reports as a first step toward oversight, which could shape how fast problems with AI tools come to light.
Read more: Washington Looks to AI Failure Reports as First Step on OversightA shipping company says three AI agents cleared billing disputes that had frozen $15 million, cutting its payment wait by four weeks. Here is what it did.
Read more: Shipping firm frees $10 million in stuck cash using AI helpersWalmart is growing its investment in Symbotic by $6 billion, and new robot systems are headed to 25 of its U.S. regional distribution centers.
Read more: Walmart puts $6 billion more into warehouse robots from Symbotic
