There are so many of those "local daily deals" websites on the Internet, that it's almost impossible to keep track of them all. And we'd hate to think how some poor mom-and-pop businesssay, a local restaurantdecides which to use to bring in some new business. Where to begin?

Well, Amazon is going to help simplify that decision by pulling out of the local deals game altogether. According to numerous reportsand a big announcement from Amazon itselfthe company will stop offering any deals whatsoever on its local.amazon.com website and Amazon Local app starting December 18.

"Merchants will no longer be able to sell deals and customers will no longer be able to buy deals at www.local.amazon.com and on the Amazon Local app. We are only going to stop selling daily deals for local merchants atlocal.amazon.com and on the Amazon Local app. Amazon's Deal of the Day, Gold Box Deals, and Kindle Daily Deals are not affected by this announcement," reads Amazon's FAQ.

Any vouchers you've previously purchased will remain valid per whatever dates might be applicable on the voucher itself. In other words, if the voucher says it expires on a certain date, that's when it expiresnot December 18. If some merchant is refusing to honor the voucher for some reason, you'll have to contact Amazon to get it all worked out.

"You may still apply any promotional balance on your account to a purchase on Amazon Local before December 18, 2015. After this date, we will stop selling Amazon Local Daily Deals, and unused promotional credits will no longer be valid," Amazon also notes.

Amazon hasn't been very forthcoming as to why it's dropping Amazon Local deals, but it stands to reason that it's just a fairly saturated market with a lot of headache and not, presumably, all that much reward for the effort a company like Amazon has to make to sustain the service.

"We've learned a great deal from the daily deals business and will look for ways to apply these lessons in the future as we continue to innovate on behalf of our customers and merchants," reads a statement provided by Amazon to Engadget.

Amazon is also eliminating its Amazon Register services, which allows businesses to accept payments via a combination mobile app and card reading devicemuch like Square or PayPal Here. The company will stop accepting new applications for the service on October 30, and the service itself will shut down on February 1 of next year.

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