The new smart speaker Amazon Echo based on Alexa offers a endless possibilities to its users, from consulting any topic or question through our own voice to request our favorite music, among many other features. But it can also be very useful for making online purchases from home, just through our voice commands, a simple and practical system that you will surely not stop using once you have mastered it. In addition, we also tell you how block purchases in Amazon Echo in order to avoid unpleasantness and confirm unwanted purchases by mistake, as well as the configuration of a security code to confirm online purchases.
How to shop with Alexa from your Amazon Echo
One of the most interesting utilities of Amazon Echo is the possibility of make online purchases on Amazon through simple voice commands through the Alexa assistant, as long as we are users of Amazon Prime. Its operation is very simple and we can start testing with basic products, for example, with the command “Alexa, I want to buy fries”. Automatically, Alexa will tell us the first two results of the search for said product.
We can also try with the command “I want to buy" so that Alexa asks us every time what we want to buy exactly; Every time we say a specific product, Alexa will ask us if we want to add it to the basket, so we must confirm with a “Yeah” or a “No”.
When we confirm a purchase, Alexa will place the order and pay automatically with our Amazon Prime data; Of course, at that same moment we cannot change anything about the order or cancel it and Alexa will inform us of the estimated arrival date at our home. On the other hand, once the order is placed, we can ask Alexa how the shipping is going, the orders we have in progress and estimated dates and times of arrival.
Finally, to be able to make online purchases through Alexa, in addition to being Amazon Prime users, we must have a Amazon 1-click type card, which in turn can be configured from the mobile application through View 1-Click Preferences, where we can configure, add or delete the cards that we consider.
How to block purchases on Alexa
Although if we do not want to use this Amazon Echo utility with Alexa, we can always block it to be calmer and thus avoiding any unpleasantness with unwanted purchases.
To do this, go to the Alexa mobile app on your smartphone and open the main menu from the left side of the screen. Now click on the option Setting to access the speaker and assistant settings.
Now click on the entry Alexa account to access specific voice assistant settings; now click on the entry Voice purchase to configure the wizard options in the online purchases section.
If we want to deactivate voice purchases, we only have to turn off the switch dedicated to said option, located at the top of said menu. On the other hand, if we don't want to disable voice purchasing but want to add an extra layer of security, we can always activate the Voice Code switch, which will allow us to configure a four digit code to unlock voice purchases before confirming a purchase.
