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Facebook Messenger will soon let you chat with stores
Facebook's Messenger won't just be for chatting with family and friends in the near future. The social network has unveiled a business feature for Messenger that lets you talk to a store about your orders. The option not only spares you from a flurry of email for receipts and shipping, but gives you an easy way to ask questions -- if you want to change your order or add something new, you just open up the existing conversation. In theory, you don't have to go through the hassles of calling or emailing customer service to solve a simple problem. The business effort will only start out with a handful of partners that includes Everlane, Zendesk and Zulily, but a sign-up program suggests that you'll see Messenger used at more online shops before long.
eBay and Sotheby's high-end auctions will launch next month
You wouldn't expect to be let in to a fine art auction wearing nothing but tighty whities, but starting April 1st, no one's going to be able to stop you. Sotheby's has teamed up with its digital counterpart, eBay, to launch its long-promised digital sales channel. Now, online collectors flush with Beanie Baby sales cash can fight as equals against entitled Manhattan socialites for Ansel Adams' photography and Andy Warhol watches.
Amazon opens a store on its Chinese rival's marketplace
Amazon is willing to do a lot to gain a competitive edge... including setting up shop on a big rival's home turf, apparently. The online shopping giant has launched a store on Tmall, Alibaba's China-focused marketplace. The move requires that Amazon give Alibaba a cut of any sales, which is unusual for an internet retailer that likes to operate on thin profit margins. However, it's clear that Jeff Bezos and crew are primarily interested in getting their foot in the door. Amazon doesn't have that much clout in China compared to Alibaba, which is worth more than Amazon and eBay combined -- a Tmall storefront will at least remind Chinese customers that an American alternative exists.
Amazon's first staffed pickup spot lets students get textbooks quickly
Sure, Amazon has unmanned delivery lockers to save you the trouble of waiting for a courier, but that human touch could come in handy sometimes. What if you need help with a return, for instance? That's where Amazon's first-ever staffed pickup location, Amazon@Purdue, promises to come to the rescue. The location lets university students and faculty both pick up their online orders and drop off returns (including textbook rentals) in a helpful, trustworthy place -- you shouldn't have to worry about someone swiping your new laptop while you're in class. It's potentially faster, too, as some products qualify for free one-day shipping to the Purdue facility.
IBM's monster mainframe is built to handle your mobile shopping
Shopping from your phone is a big deal these days, but it requires a lot of effort behind the scenes to run smoothly -- when there are thousands of people tapping "buy" in short succession, they can easily bring a server to its knees. That crush might not be a problem for stores that have IBM's beastly new z13 mainframe, though. The system's gobs of CPU power (the "world's fastest microprocessor," IBM claims), memory and bandwidth let it handle a whopping 2.5 billion mobile shopping transactions per day, or enough that even a mad rush like Black Friday shouldn't bog it down. It's fast enough to analyze every deal in real time, too, so it's more likely to catch someone who stole your credit card info before you have to dispute any unwanted charges. You'll probably never know which specific apps and sites are using the z13, but this giant computer might just save you from inordinate waits and rude surprises the next time you're ordering online. [Image credit: IBM, Flickr]
Apple's online store returns to Russia with huge price hikes
Remember how Russia's sudden currency devaluation led Apple to shut down its online store in the country, leaving locals without access to one of the biggest internet shops around? Well, Apple is back -- and unfortunately, the prices reflect Russia's new economic reality. If you want a 16GB iPhone 6, for example, you'll have to shell out 35 percent more than you did before, at 53,990 rubles off-contract. That's equivalent to $980, or enough to make that US-bought iPhone 6 Plus (which tops out at $949) seem like a bargain.
Apple halts online sales in Russia due to shaky currency
If you hadn't heard, the value of Russia's ruble is tanking -- and that's starting to make online store operators nervous. Apple tells Bloomberg that it has frozen internet sales in the country while its workers "review pricing." The company hasn't said when the store might come back, but it's a drastic step when Apple and many other tech companies usually deal with currency changes by adjusting prices and calling it a day. Until the official store returns, Russians will have to be content with going through third-party outlets (such as carriers and retail chains) to get their iPhones and Macs.
Amazon shows off the robots handling your holiday orders
Amazon gets a lot of orders during the holidays -- enough that shipping companies sometimes buckle under the load. How's it supposed to cope this year? With robots, apparently. The online shopping giant has revealed that its newest wave of US fulfillment centers make heavy use of automatons to ship your order on time. Kiva robots (the little machines you see above) are around to shuttle smaller goods around the warehouse, while Robo-Stow arms move the larger volumes. There are also shiny new vision-based systems that help workers unload a trailer's worth of stock in 30 minutes, rather than hours. While humans will still play an important role (Amazon will need 80,000 of them this season), they'll hopefully have an easier time dealing with the crushing demand.
Engadget's Cyber Monday 2014 roundup
So you've finally recovered from Thanksgiving dinner, only to realize that you missed out on some hot Black Friday deals. Are you stuck paying full price for your gifts? Far from it -- a whole host of stores are participating in Cyber Monday, a second round of (usually online-only) sales that are frequently as tempting as what you saw just a few days earlier. There are some particularly juicy bargains this year, ranging from surprisingly affordable 4K TVs and smartwatches to gigantic game console bundles. Check out the gallery below to see some of the bigger Cyber Monday deals we've spotted so far, and be sure to let fellow readers know about other bargains in the comments! [Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
Twitter Offers delivers discounts you can nab from tweets
Twitter has been dabbling in timeline-based purchases already, and its latest effort will boost commerce-driven tweeting. Twitter Offers serves up discounts from participating retailers that you'll be able to grab right from the tweet -- so long as you've linked a credit or debit card to sort the funds, of course. To leverage the deal, all you have to do is pay online or at a physical location with the same card. The social network will charge companies to promote their offer-packed messages, and could later opt to bill for every deal that's claimed according to Re/code. Twitter acquired online coupon/payment startup CardSpring earlier this year to power the offering, and discounts will begin appearing as early as today. Perfect timing for the Black Friday scrum, no?
eBay retires stand-alone, same-day delivery apps
When eBay Now first surfaced two years ago, it appeared in the guise of an iOS app that promised same-day delivery for products sold by local stores. The service managed to pick up some steam (or at least that's what company execs led us to believe) but after a burst of bad news over the summer, eBay's grand app experiment has finally bit the dust. Over the weekend, the company quietly pulled the eBay Now app from its spots in the iOS and Android app stores, a turn of events that Reuters called well ahead of time. Don't fret, though! The thing is, eBay Now's heart still beats -- it's just being transplanted into a different body.
Amazon is hiring someone to oversee its courier drones
Want Amazon's Prime Air courier drones to enter service as quickly as possible? You can now do something about it... provided you have years of aviation experience under your belt, anyway. The online retailer is hiring a Flight Safety Manager that will oversee its drone flight tests and make sure these robots deliver their goods without a hitch. Amazon still has plenty of regulatory and technological hurdles to overcome before a position like this is more than a novelty, but its very existence is proof that the company is serious about unmanned aerial shipping. If you want to get a sense of what a drone safety job would entail, you can head below to check out 3D Robotics' flight demo from Engadget Expand.
Fitbit's activity trackers vanish from Apple's online store
Those rumors of Apple pulling Fitbit activity trackers from its stores appear to have been well-founded. SlashGear and others have noticed that Fitbit's gear is no longer available from Apple's online store; search for "Fitbit" and you'll come up empty.. We've reached out to Apple for more details of what's going on, although many have suggested that the forced exit is due to Fitbit's refusal to share tracking data with iOS 8's Health app. Apple typically sells accessories that are showcases for its products, and it might not want to offer a less-than-complete fitness experience in its shops -- even if you'd likely be happy in the long run. The disappearance is unfortunate if you were hoping to pick up a Fitbit Charge alongside that new iPhone, but there will still be plenty of other outlets willing to take your cash.
PayPal now lets you pay for packages days after you order them
Wish you didn't have to pay for online orders before they showed up? You won't have to, if you've loaded up a PayPal account. In the wake of a trial run, the company has formally rolled out Pay After Delivery, a service that gives you up to 14 days after your order to cough up the necessary funds. PayPal gives retailers money right away -- it's just waiting for you to pay the difference. Suffice it to say that this will come in handy if you have a high-priority order (say, a holiday gift) that can't wait until you have the necessary funds.
Amazon's acquisitions and experiments are erasing its profits (updated)
In case you didn't know, here's the crazy thing about Amazon: it isn't really known for turning a profit. Just think about that for a second. The company that wants to sell you everything, get it to you by any means necessary and serves as the backbone for a considerable chunk of the internet doesn't usually make money at the end of the day. And even with that financial truth entered into the record, people -- from Wall Street types to armchair prognosticators -- cheer whenever Amazon avoids losing as much money in a quarter as they expect it to. Today is not one of those days.
Etsy takes a stab at real world sales with free credit card readers
Etsy is best known for being an online marketplace of folksy gewgaws and crocheted everythings, but it's making moves to help its sellers do more out in the real world. Case in point: The company just took a page out of Square and PayPal's playbooks by offering free, smartphone-friendly credit/debit card readers to its users. The idea's simple enough: Etsy crafters hawking their wares in public can use the reader just like any of the other ones out there, but once they swipe a card, those products automatically get deducted from their online Etsy inventory. Buyers who already have Etsy accounts can leave reviews too, just to make sure everyone knows how rad their new minimalist wallets are. Voilà: sellers get to make money and build deeper connections with actual, physical people, and Etsy gets a sweet (if tiny, think 2.75 percent) cut of each transaction to help fuel its growth. Now if you'll excuse us, we've got some funky brass steampunk corsets to prep for the big craft show next week.
Amazon and Simon & Schuster reach a deal on internet book sales
Amazon just found a way to put further pressure on Hachette in its ongoing pricing war: strike a deal with another publisher. The online retailer has forged a new agreement with Simon & Schuster that will keep the book giant's digital and physical titles on Amazon for multiple years. The full terms of the deal aren't available, but the Wall Street Journal claims that it reaches a middle ground; Simon & Schuster will normally set prices, while Amazon will have the right to discount books in some situations. However it works, both sides are claiming it as a victory. Amazon argues that it gives the publisher a "financial incentive" to drop prices, while a letter from Simon & Schuster describes the pact as "economically advantageous" for both itself and authors.
eMusic ditches major labels as it hopes to rule indie song downloads
Many digital music stores scramble to get every song they can, but not eMusic -- it's willingly headed in the opposite direction. The download service has announced that it's dropping music from the three major labels (Sony, Universal and Warner) as of October 1st. After that, it will sell nothing but true-blue independent songs. The company explains that it wants to create the "most extensive catalog" of indie tunes in the world, giving it a way of standing out in a sea of mainstream stores like Google Play and iTunes.
Amazon lets you fill out your wish list with the help of a hashtag
Look beyond the lightspeed rush of news and one-liners and you'll see a Twitter that's slowly morphing into a place where you can buy stuff. Amazon seems to be coming to grips with that peculiar truth, which is why it cooked up another way to use the social service to discover and covet the gewgaws people tweet about. Assuming you've already hooked up your Twitter account (for #AmazonCart shopping), try responding to tweets including Amazon product links with #AmazonWishList - they'll instantly be added to (what else?) your wish list for easy buying down the road. It's useful enough what with the holiday shopping season nearly upon us, but let's face it: this just gives Amazon more reason to fill your feed with products you may or may not actually need. We just wish we could fill our Amazon carts directly with a tweet, and we'd be shocked if the folks in Seattle haven't started thinking about it already.
PayPal's new deals let you pay with Bitcoin at more online stores
PayPal has been coy about embracing virtual currencies so far, but it just took a big step toward welcoming them with open arms. As of today, the company's deals with processing firms BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin let you pay with Bitcoin at North American online stores that both use PayPal's Payments Hub and accept digital cash. This doesn't mean your PayPal wallet can suddenly hold Bitcoin; the service says it's only moving "gradually" toward full support, and wants to see how things shake out. However, it should now be easier for many outlets (primarily smaller ones) to accept Bitcoin. Don't be shocked if some of your favorite internet shops flick the switch and give you an alternative to paying with old-school money.
