OpenAI is shaking up the world of online shopping, turning its widely used ChatGPT chatbot into a virtual merchant capable of selling goods from platforms like Etsy and Shopify. Announced on October 1, 2025, the new Instant Checkout feature allows users in the United States to purchase products directly within the chat interface—no more toggling between websites, scrolling through endless product pages, or dealing with cumbersome checkout flows. Instead, shoppers can simply ask ChatGPT for recommendations, see a curated list of relevant items, and complete their purchase in just a few taps, all without leaving the conversation. It’s a move that could fundamentally shift the way people shop online, challenging the long-standing dominance of giants like Amazon and Google.
According to AP News, this new capability is available across ChatGPT’s Plus, Pro, and free plans, meaning that the service is accessible to the chatbot’s massive user base—an estimated 700 million people each week. At launch, the feature supports purchases from U.S.-based Etsy sellers, but OpenAI says it will soon include more than one million Shopify merchants, with well-known brands like Glossier, Skims, Spanx, and Vuori already preparing to join the fold. The company has also revealed plans to expand merchant participation and regional availability, as well as introduce multi-item shopping cart functionality in the near future.
So, what’s under the hood of this new shopping experience? The answer lies in the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), an open-source technical framework developed by OpenAI in partnership with payments powerhouse Stripe. According to BizClik Media, ACP is designed to connect AI models like ChatGPT to business systems for commerce and payments, ensuring that merchants retain control over customer relationships and payment processing. Stripe’s infrastructure brings fraud prevention, global payment rails, and a vast merchant network to the table, making ACP usable by millions of businesses right out of the gate.
“Stripe is building the economic infrastructure for AI,” said Will Gaybrick, President of Technology and Business at Stripe, in a statement. “That means re-architecting today’s commerce systems and creating new AI-powered experiences for billions of people.” For merchants already integrated with Stripe, activating the system is as simple as adding one line of code. Those using other payment processors can join via Stripe’s Shared Payment Token API or by implementing the Delegated Payments Spec within the protocol. The service is free for ChatGPT users and does not alter product pricing, while merchants are charged a fee only on completed purchases.
When a user asks ChatGPT a shopping-related question—say, “recommend gifts for a jogger” or “best running shoes under $100”—the chatbot highlights relevant products from across the web. Products available for Instant Checkout are clearly marked, allowing users to buy directly within the chat. Every step of the process requires explicit user confirmation, and payment tokens are encrypted and authorized only for designated amounts and specific merchants, with data sharing restricted to the minimum required to complete an order. As OpenAI explains, ChatGPT acts as the user’s AI agent, securely passing information between the user and the merchant, much like a digital personal shopper.
But the implications of ACP go far beyond just OpenAI and ChatGPT. Because the protocol is open source, any AI assistant—whether it’s Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini, TikTok’s AI, or Elon Musk’s xAI—could use the same rails to enable in-chat shopping. As Fast Company points out, this means conversational commerce could spread across the internet far faster than brands are ready for, potentially upending the way consumers make purchasing decisions and how brands market their products. Google and Amazon could adopt the same protocol and join the in-chat shopping game, but for the first time in two decades, there’s a real chance that the foundations of online shopping could shift.
For merchants, the promise of frictionless reach is appealing, but it comes with trade-offs. Adopting ACP means ceding some control over the direct relationship they’ve worked hard to build with their customers. There’s also the matter of fees, which could deter sellers operating on thin margins. But as Michelle Fradin, ChatGPT’s product lead, explained to Fast Company, “The primary goal we had was making something incredibly easy for the entire ecosystem—merchants and developers—to adopt. So yes, one aspect of that is, competitors or other players in the space can adopt it, too.” She added, “We felt like the most merchant-friendly approach was making this available to everyone,” noting that demand from merchants was so high that “we needed to build something that could scale.”
To be included in ChatGPT’s search results for Instant Checkout, brands and merchants must provide structured, detailed data—essentially, rich product catalogs with up-to-date descriptions, prices, and availability. Fradin noted that the best way for merchants to increase their chances of being recommended is to ensure ChatGPT has the “most up-to-date and richest amount of information about your products as possible.” Some brands are even supplying more detail than they offer on their own sites, hoping to improve their chances of being surfaced by the AI. This has given rise to a new discipline: AI Optimization, or AIO, the successor to SEO, where the goal is to fine-tune product data so AI assistants choose your brand over competitors.
Crucially, OpenAI says that ChatGPT’s product rankings are entirely AI-driven and organic. According to a company statement, “When ranking multiple merchants that sell the same product, ChatGPT considers factors like availability, price, quality, whether a merchant is the primary seller, and whether Instant Checkout is enabled, to optimize the user experience.” OpenAI does not currently accept money to boost product placement; recommendations are based on the quality of product data, not paid placement. Fradin emphasized, “There isn’t a fixed formula merchants can optimize against—instead, the more high-quality product information the model has access to, the more likely it is to surface relevant results.”
For shoppers, the process is seamless and secure. Orders, payments, and fulfillment are handled by the merchant using their existing systems, while ChatGPT simply acts as the go-between. Every action requires explicit user approval, and sensitive information is encrypted and shared only as needed. The current version supports single-item purchases, but future updates will allow for multi-item shopping carts and greater regional coverage.
OpenAI’s move into conversational commerce represents a bold step in the evolution of online shopping. By embedding commerce directly into the chat experience and opening the protocol to the wider ecosystem, the company is betting that the next frontier of e-commerce will be shaped not by search engines or marketplaces, but by AI assistants that understand users’ needs and connect them to the right products in real time. Whether this vision will upend the current retail landscape or simply add another layer to the digital shopping experience remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the race to redefine how we shop online has never been more intense—or more intriguing.
