Buying Via Text Permits Comparison Shopping

By RACHEL METZ

NEW YORK — TextBuyIt, a recently launched shop-by-cell phone service from Amazon.com Inc., seemed like the ultimate comparison shopping tool — perfect for a bargain hunter such as myself.

As it turns out, TextBuyIt is fun to play with and useful for getting deals on some products, but the service’s limitations will likely make people wary of substantial purchases. Even for cheaper items, shipping costs will probably make many people think twice before text-buying.

The service is easy to set up on a cell phone or at Amazonpayments.com. Purchases through TextBuyIt are charged via the payment method that you select in Amazon’s “one-click” checkout feature, and product deliveries go to the address you register there.

After the setup, TextBuyIt is pretty simple. If you’re in a store and want to compare prices on something that seems appealing, you can text the item’s name or bar code number to “262966,” which corresponds with “AMAZON” on the phone keypad. Then the service sends back matching items available for sale on Amazon.

In order to buy something from Amazon, you just reply with a text message listing the number of the item you want. Other commands are possible, too, such as “M” to get more item listings, or “D” coupled with a product’s number to get information such as a product’s rating on Amazon, and the availability of free two-day shipping for members of the Amazon Prime service. Generally, items costing more than $25 include free standard shipping for non-Prime users, and TextBuyIt can tell you this as well.

I got the most out of TextBuyIt at book and music stores, where I enjoyed roaming the aisles and comparison shopping on my phone.

At a Borders store, I looked up a book I had been wanting to read — “The Billionaire’s Vinegar” — and found it was significantly cheaper through Amazon ($16.47) than at the store ($24.95).

I sent TextBuyIt a command indicating that I wanted to buy the book, and then got the requisite recorded call from the service, letting me confirm or cancel the order. After I confirmed the purchase, TextBuyIt sent me a text message thanking me and giving me the purchase price and shipping cost.

A few days later, the book arrived at my apartment, well worth the wait because I’d saved some cash.

Several other times, however, I looked up potential purchases such as CDs and earbuds and found that the Amazon prices matched those of brick-and-mortar stores, or were only a little cheaper.

In the case of the singer Duffy’s “Rockferry” CD, I figured it was worth buying at the store instead of through TextBuyIt, simply because the prices were too close — $10.99 at Borders and $9.99 on Amazon, at the time — to justify paying for shipping.

And when there wasn’t a big base price difference, I found myself thinking more about my desire for instant gratification, and how I really didn’t want to wait for a few days to listen to a new CD.

Presumably, this desire could lead some shoppers to ask brick- and-mortar merchants to match prices they discover through TextBuyIt. Good luck. I tried this with a digital voice recorder at an electronics store and was rejected by an apologetic salesman.

Although I did look up more expensive items such as cameras and iPod docks, I wasn’t able to find matches for several products I saw in stores and wanted to compare prices on, such as Tivoli’s iSongbook and Bose’s SoundDock. TextBuyIt reveals only items Amazon sells directly, which means that things sold by third-party merchants are unavailable.

Another problem with TextBuyIt is the lack of live help. There is no way to talk to an operator for TextBuyIt purchases, so users who aren’t getting the results they want via text message can’t just call the service.

I probably won’t text-buy my next major purchase. I’m still beholden to the images, details and deals I get when shopping on the Web proper, and the satisfaction I feel walking out of a store holding a new gadget or outfit.

But chances are, next time I’m at a bookstore I’ll be holding a best-seller in one hand and my cell phone in the other, texting to figure out the best deal.

Originally published by RACHEL METZ Associated Press.

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