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TextBuyIt offers Amazon purchases by SMS

The TextBuyIt service opened by Amazon brings a rapid find and buy experience to text-capable mobile devices, but it helps to know exactly what you want first.

Comparison shopping dropped into the pockets of millions of people with the release of Amazon TextBuyIt. Through SMS, people can query and order products from Amazon.com.

Send a query to the Amazon short code (262966) and the service returns two search results. Searchers can pull in up to the top 8 search results over SMS with TextBuyIt. Queries can be text, ISBN, or UPC number.

The search results for a query over TextBuyIt are the same a site search on Amazon via a web browser will return. Customers may retrieve additional details about the results they receive by replying with the correct option, such as 1d for details on the first search result.

Additional details tell the star rating for the product, and provide a web link to the item that will pull it up in the mobile's browser from Amazon's site. The mobile web page shows a heavily stripped down version of a typical Amazon product page, displaying the item, a suggested cross-sell product, pricing, and the ability to add the product to a shopping cart or wish list.

It helps to know what you want if you choose to shop this way. We imagine Amazon had comparison shopping in mind with TextBuyIt. Someone browsing for items in the aisles of a store can do a quick price check against Amazon, and make a buying decision based on that information.