Tech Shout!

Amazon.com has announced to begin the Amazon TextBuyIt service that lets buyers use text messages to find and buy products sold on the website. With this new service, users can now shop, compare prices and buy products from Amazon.com from anywhere using either text messages or their mobile device’s web browser.

“With today’s launch of TextBuyIt, any Amazon.com customer can now use any mobile device to shop and buy from Amazon.com, at anytime, anywhere they are,” said Howard Gefen, Director of Amazon Mobile Payments.

“With TextBuyIt, if you’re walking out of a concert and want to buy a CD from the artist you just saw, or if you’re at dinner and a friend tells you about a great book you should read, all you have to do is get out your mobile device, send a text message to Amazon, reply to the response, confirm your order, and your item will be on its way. It’s incredibly simple and convenient,” he continued.

All mobile phone holders need to do is send a text message to “AMAZON” (262966) with the name of the product, search the term or a UPC or ISBN code, and, within seconds, Amazon replies with the product/s that match the search, along with their prices. If users are satisfied with the information and feel like buying the product, they need to simply reply to the text message by entering the unique single digit number next to the item they want.

Amazon then calls back the buyer with the final details of their order and asks them to confirm or cancel the purchase. If users are buying something for the first time using TextBuyIt, they will be asked for their e-mail address and shipping ZIP code to be used for their Amazon.com account. With this information, Amazon uses the customers’ default settings for payment method, shipping address and shipping speed, including a 2-Day shipping for Amazon Prime members.