Review: TextBuyIt is fun, but limited

By RACHEL METZ

NEW YORK (AP) — TextBuyIt, a recently launched shop-by-cell phone service from Amazon.com Inc., seemed like the ultimate comparison shopping tool — perfect for an unabashed 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.

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 simple. If you’re in a store and want to compare prices on something that seems appealing, text the item’s name or bar code number to “262966,” which spells “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 like a product’s rating on Amazon, and the availability of free two-day shipping for members of the Amazon Prime service. Generally, items over $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 I wanted to buy the book, and then got the requisite recorded phone 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.

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

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, though. I tried this with a digital voice recorder at an electronics store and was rejected by an apologetic salesman.

Though I did look up some more expensive items like digital cameras and iPod docks, I wasn’t able to find matches for several products I saw in stores and wanted to compare prices on, like Tivoli’s iSongbook and Bose’s SoundDock.

That happened because TextBuyIt reveals only items that 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 contact an operator for TextBuyIt purchases, so users who aren’t getting the results they want via text message can’t just call the service to sort things out.

And don’t expect to get many answers via text. If you text the service an “H” for “help,” it will respond with a list of service commands and the Amazon Payments URL — not so helpful when I’m standing in a store and don’t have my laptop in front of me.