The payments & online selling stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
Walmart's AI assistant, Sparky, can now turn a photo of a handwritten list into a shopping cart, just ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Read more: Walmart's shopping assistant can now read your photos and handwritten listsRevolve says hackers stole saved card details from at least 200,000 customers in September, and it is not offering free credit monitoring.
Read more: Fashion retailer Revolve says hackers stole card details of 200,000 customersJ.P. Morgan Payments introduced Receivables Matching, a tool that pairs incoming payments with open invoices, which could save businesses hours of manual work.
Read more: J.P. Morgan launches a tool to match incoming payments to invoicesMastercard has launched free cybersecurity lessons for small European businesses, aimed at a gap between worrying about attacks and having protection in place.
Read more: Mastercard Offers Free Online Cybersecurity Lessons to Small BusinessesMastercard says holiday stress, not just weak passwords, makes shoppers easier targets for scammers. A few calm seconds before you click can protect your money.
Read more: Holiday stress makes people easier targets for online scamsGoogle says its Android wallet will grow to hold receipts, track orders, handle refunds and show store deals, so you can leave your physical wallet at home.
Read more: Google wants your phone wallet to handle receipts and refundsVisa, Mastercard and Amex report steady spending, while the networks race to handle AI shopping agents, stablecoins and invoice payments.
Read more: Card spending stays strong as Visa and Mastercard prep for AI shoppingA federal judge paused part of New York's law on rent-setting software, ruling the advice is protected speech. A ban on landlord price coordination remains.
Read more: Judge blocks part of New York's rent software lawPaymentus, a bill-pay company used by nearly 1 in 3 households and businesses, posted record revenue and says it is building its own AI helper.
Read more: Bill-pay company Paymentus hits record $372.2 million in quarterly revenueNew York's mayor says Madison Square Garden's face-scanning cameras should not be allowed, and backs city bills that would ban biometric collection in public places.
Read more: NYC mayor says Madison Square Garden's face scanning should not be allowedPayments giant Fiserv took a $6.45 billion write-down, cut 3,000 jobs and is betting AI can save $1 billion. Clover merchants and bank customers may see changes.
Read more: Fiserv Cuts 3,000 Jobs and Bets on AI to Save $1 BillionWalmart is building tools so AI apps can shop for you, and you can require approval for each buy or cap spending at $50, $100 or $200.
Read more: Walmart will let AI assistants shop for you, with spending limitsGrab's revenue rose 27% and all three core businesses turned profitable together, as the company credits AI tools for helping drivers and merchants earn more.
Read more: Grab's revenue jumps 27% as AI tools help drivers and shops earn moreIXOPAY has launched IXO One, a payments platform that bundles its tools and adds safeguards for purchases made by AI shopping agents. The first full version is due in early 2027.
Read more: IXOPAY launches one payments platform built for AI shopping agentsTexts claiming an Apple Pay charge or a suspended card are meant to rush you into calling or tapping. A text alone does not prove anything happened.
Read more: Got a text about an Apple Pay charge? Don't tap or callTruist says it has expanded its Merchant Services, the card payment side of the bank. Business owners who take cards may want to look at their own setup.
Read more: Truist adds new tools to help businesses take card paymentsA SEON survey finds 68% of US adults use AI agents weekly, yet half are uneasy about letting one use their card. Most would blame the agent's company for fraud.
Read more: Most Americans use AI agents weekly, but half won't let them payShopify says revenue rose 32% in the latest quarter, and it is building shopping into AI assistants, which could change how shoppers find your store.
Read more: Shopify's sales grew 32% as online stores keep spending moreAbout 30% of US shoppers used AI to help buy something lately, but few let it pay. Sellers who show up in AI answers and keep approval fast stand to gain.
Read more: AI helps a third of Americans shop, but rarely checks out for themA new Regula report says identity checks at signup are not enough, and that recovery, retries and AI agents are where businesses can be caught out.
Read more: Identity checks at signup are not enough, a new report warnsHoney Badger's new Risk Playbooks lets fraud teams build and launch live risk checks without code, which could speed up how a business reacts to fraud.
Read more: Honey Badger lets fraud teams build risk checks without codingBoost Payment Solutions had budgeted for outside tech, then found AI and new hires let it build some of it. Here is what the CEO says and what is still unclear.
Read more: Payments company says AI lets it build tools it planned to buyMIT researchers say asking an AI about your health can reveal details about relatives, and that privacy rules are struggling to keep up.
Read more: When you tell an AI about your health, you may expose your familyAttackers are stealing Bitcoin and Litecoin from BTCPay Server shops running old software. Anyone who accepts crypto this way should check their version now.
Read more: Hackers are draining crypto from outdated BTCPay Server shops
