Newegg Sparks Debate With New PayPal-Integrated AI Shopping Push (nerds.xyz) 19
BrianFagioli writes: Newegg's new partnership with PayPal is another sign that mainstream e-commerce is shifting control from users to AI-driven intermediaries. Instead of shoppers visiting Newegg directly, PayPal's agentic commerce system pushes product discovery through AI platforms like Perplexity where recommendations, checkout, and fraud checks all happen inside someone else's controlled environment. Newegg stays the merchant of record, but the real influence shifts to the platforms that decide which products their AI agents mention. That may sound convenient, but it also means discovery becomes guided by training data and commercial integrations rather than user intent.
Slashdot readers will likely notice the other issue. This setup puts PayPal deeper into the shopping pipeline at a time when many users already avoid the company over account freezes and dispute policies. An AI-mediated shopping experience where PayPal becomes the silent gatekeeper by default is not going to sit well with everyone. And with AI agents shaping purchasing decisions based on behavior and context, the concept of intent-driven shopping starts to look a lot like quiet nudging rather than empowerment. Newegg may see this as the future, but the community will probably ask whether users truly want AI systems and PayPal deciding how they shop.
Slashdot readers will likely notice the other issue. This setup puts PayPal deeper into the shopping pipeline at a time when many users already avoid the company over account freezes and dispute policies. An AI-mediated shopping experience where PayPal becomes the silent gatekeeper by default is not going to sit well with everyone. And with AI agents shaping purchasing decisions based on behavior and context, the concept of intent-driven shopping starts to look a lot like quiet nudging rather than empowerment. Newegg may see this as the future, but the community will probably ask whether users truly want AI systems and PayPal deciding how they shop.
Newegg (Score:5, Insightful)
That place became a shit-hole years ago. Surprised they are still relevant. It used to be my go-to site for all things computer related.
Re:Newegg (Score:4, Informative)
> It used to be my go-to site for all things computer related.
Me too.
They were slightly cheaper than Amazon for the same product, then I did a big project which got slightly downsized and I wound up with $400 in "restocking fees" for a couple of pieces of factory-hologram-tape sealed network gear, after I paid $100 in return shipping.
Learned my lesson real fast.
Re:Newegg (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
What are good places these days? I miss Fry's Electronics, CompUSA, Computer City, etc. :(
Re: (Score:2)
I miss ZipZoomFly.
Re: (Score:3)
It was one of my primary sources for parts - great prices, great customer service. ... ?!?!
And then, shortly after it was sold to Chinese concerns (~2016), my search for computer cases also returned chicken coops
That killed any desire to do further business them.
And soon after that, it was discovered that new reviews were completely fictitious. Credibility dropped to zero.
Yeah, also surprised they are still in business.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, it was around 2016 when I finally left and didn't look back. The same with Amazon. That's around the same time reviews on Amazon went to shit too. Come to think of it, that's when the Chinesium wave hit Amazon too.
Hey editor, there is one word too much (Score:3)
PayPal's agentic commerce system pushes product discovery through AI platforms like Perplexity where recommendations, checkout, and fraud checks all happen inside someone else's controlled environment.
There is a spurious word "checks" in above sentence that does not belong there.
No one but me decides what to buy. (Score:1)
I don't get the hate for Paypal. They were supposed to be an intermediary to insulate your financial information from any possible shady seller. For that they work. Trying to get your money back when you were ripped off by said shady seller on the other side of the world, well what did you expect?
Re: No one but me decides what to buy. (Score:2)
They used to be great.
Now - presumably because of all the illegal shit they're facilitating - it's more productive to gouge your brain out with a wooden spoon than try to:
* Use it to send someone money
* Reason with 'support' when they block the payment for no good reason.
Re:No one but me decides what to buy. (Score:4, Informative)
How about: trying to get your money when you are the seller, nobody did anything wrong and nobody complained. I have heard plenty of stories throughout the years of artisans selling sculpts, casts and machined items to tens of other hobbyists and getting their accounts suddenly locked because they had too many sales in too short time.
In the country I live, they enabled a mandatory 2FA system without testing that it worked. It had interpreted the country code in my phone number as an area code, so I could not log in.
And you could not contact support unless you were logged in.
There was a phone line, but nobody was there to man it for over a year. When eventually I got through to someone, it was a new hire: a young girl who had only ever used cell phones and did not know what an area code was, so I had to explain it to her.
Also: Bitcoin.
Huh (Score:2)
I've bought stuff fairly recently from the Canadian site (newegg.ca) and have been satisfied with it. Certainly won't buy anything else if they put this AI/Paypal crap on their Canadian site.
who asked for this nonsense? (Score:1)
Seriously, what a horribly gay concept. It's like newegg watched MS shit the bed in hilarious fashion and thought
>we can do it too!
Re:who asked for this nonsense? (Score:4, Insightful)
\o/ (Score:1)
Let the enshittification begin! (Score:2)
Slop (Score:2)
The wording of this piece of news feels like it has been written, or at least doctored, by AI.
Excellent! (Score:1)
nope (Score:2)
I no longer buy from newegg unless absolutely necessary because their customer service in my experience is now atrocious.