Amazon is letting customers pay for groceries by scanning their palm at its Go convenience stores

• Amazon is trialing its new Amazon One palm-scanning payment tech at two of its Seattle convenience stores, it announced on Tuesday. This allows you to pay by waving your hand.
• The service connects your palm print to a credit card.
• You can even sign up with both hands, Amazon said, because “you never know which palm will be free when you need it.”
• Amazon is trialing the tech at two Amazon Go stores. It hopes to expand the tech to other stores, sports stadiums, and even offices.

Amazon is letting customers pay with the palm of their hand at two of its Seattle convenience stores.

The e-commerce giant is trialling its new contactless Amazon One payment method, which connects your palm print to a credit card so that you can pay by waving your hand in front of a scanner, it announced Tuesday.

Your palm print also opens the electronic entry gates at the two Amazon Go stores, which usually require a code.

The tech would roll out to all 20-plus Go stores as the trial grows, Amazon told Recode. It was encouraging other retailers to sign up, it said.

Amazon One could also be used for people to identify themselves, Amazon said – such as when they enter offices and sports stadiums.

Customers can sign up by going to one of the two stores, entering their credit card details and mobile number into a device, and scanning their palm on a biometric reader. The process takes less than a minute, Amazon said, and customers can register both of their palms. The scan then connects to their Amazon One ID.

In 2019, Amazon patented tech that would identify people's hands by analyzing characteristics like wrinkles, veins, and even bones.

Amazon chose to use palm prints, which it calls "palm signatures," because each person's is unique, and doesn't change with time. You also have to intentionally scan your palm to make it work, Amazon said, which makes it impossible for you to accidentally pay for someone else's shopping.

The information is stored separately from other customer data, Amazon said.

"We take data security very seriously and protect sensitive data, such as your palm signature and payment information, at rest and in-transit in accordance with Amazon's high security standards," it said on the Amazon One website.

"Your palm data and payment information are not stored on the device and multiple layers of security controls protect your data at all times, including, but not limited to, encryption, data isolation, and dedicated secure zones with restricted access controls."

If a customer decided to cancel their Amazon One ID, or they didn't use an Amazon One device for two years, the company would permanently delete the data, it said.