Apple taking a Fancy to social stuff.
The execs at Cupertino are said to be eyeing up ‘The Fancy’ a social commerce site that lets members buy cool stuff at a deal.

The New York based start-up is being courted by Apple, with the two companies locked into talks on a buyout, reports Business Insider.

The deal would “secure a role for Apple in the growing e-commerce market,” according to the report, as social networking king Facebook looks to further increase its commercial interests, buying a number of start-ups including Karma, the gift giving site.

It would also be Apple’s answer to Pinterest, the wildly popular virtual pinboard. 

Although Apple is undoubtedly a hardware king, success in the social commerce side of its business has largely eluded it.

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‘The Fancy’ site lets members “discover amazing stuff, collect the things you love, unlock crazy good deals,” and “fancy” the items on its site, a la Facebook “likes.”

Fancy’s “stuff” includes everything from electronics, gadgets, to books and hotel rooms and currently has 400 million users but would probably garner a hell of a lot more if Apple got its claws into it.

Fancy even has Apple boss Tim Cook among its user base.

Some of the goods being fancied at the moment are a Breville pie maker, selling for $150, V-MODA Crossfade M-80 Shadow Headphones elegantor and the book ‘Born To Run” by Albert Lewis.

The Fancy was co-founded by Joe Einhorn in 2010 and has just 20 staff, and is said to have be valued at $100m, reports Insider.

No word on how mauch Apple would cough up for its latest Fancy, however.