With the holiday shopping season fast approaching, Amazon.com is trying to make it even easier to buy online. The online retail giant is launching PayPhrase, a shortcut for buying on Amazon or other ecommerce sites. Shoppers create a phrase — "Home Sweet Home" for example — for their preferred shipping address and payment method. When they're ready to make a purchase, they enter the phrase, followed by a pin number, and then approve the order in a matter of seconds.

"For the first time, you can bundle your shipping and payment and other settings into this easy-to-remember phrase," said Matt Williams, general manager of PayPhrase, in an interview. "It adds another layer of convenience."

PayPhrase works on Amazon.com and other retailer sites that use the company's Checkout by Amazon service (a group that includes DKNY, Jockey, Patagonia, Buy.com, J&R Electronics, and Car Toys).

Will PayPhrase encourage people to make more purchases? Not everyone will be excited about creating a new password to remember. But PayPhrase lets people buy something quickly in a separate pop-up window, without leaving the page they're on, which is appealing.

Russ Jones, a payments industry consultant with Glenbrook Partners in Silicon Valley, said PayPhrase represents a "more precise way to make purchases" by letting people create phrases for different types of purchases — gifts for Mom, for example, or office supplies using the company credit card.

PayPhrase can also be used to set up an online allowance for teenagers and students. Parents can set monthly spending limits on accounts, and approve or decline each order via e-mail or text messages (Other companies have developed shopping accounts for teens and students, including BillMyParents and eBay's PayPal).

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