Earlier this year, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Shopping. Ask a product-related question and ChatGPT would surface product cards with relevant options. To buy, though, shoppers had to click out to the merchant’s site and complete the usual checkout flow.
That changes today. With the launch of Instant Checkout, shoppers can now complete purchases directly inside ChatGPT without ever leaving the conversation.
What is ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout?
Instant Checkout allows ChatGPT users to purchase directly from merchants within the chat experience.
At launch, the feature supports Etsy sellers. It will soon expand to millions of Shopify merchants including Glossier, SKIMS, Spanx and Vuori.
For now, only single-item purchases are supported, with multi-item carts planned for future releases. The service is free for shoppers, while merchants pay a small fee per completed purchase.
Instant Checkout is powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), developed with Stripe and released as an open standard. This allows merchants and developers to integrate once and enable secure, seamless transactions inside AI chats.
For ecommerce, this represents the next phase of agentic commerce: AI assistants that not only recommend products but also guide customers through the entire journey from discovery to purchase.
How Instant Checkout Works
When users ask shopping-related questions, ChatGPT surfaces product cards with details like images, descriptions and pricing.
If a product supports Instant Checkout, shoppers can tap “Buy”, confirm the order along with shipping and payment details, and complete the purchase directly in ChatGPT.
Behind the scenes, the merchant still manages orders, payments and fulfillment through their existing systems. ChatGPT uses the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) to securely pass information between the shopper and the merchant.
Prices remain the same as those listed on the merchant’s site. The service is free for shoppers, although merchants pay a small transaction fee for each completed order. The fee gets refunded if the item is returned.
Instant Checkout does not automatically boost a product’s ranking. ChatGPT states that recommendations are not biased toward items with Instant Checkout enabled. However, when multiple merchants sell the same product, factors such as availability, price, quality, primary seller status, and Instant Checkout support are all considered when ordering results.
Merchants continue to send order confirmation, shipping updates and return-related emails as usual. However, they cannot use customer information from Instant Checkout orders to subscribe shoppers to marketing emails.
Merchants interested in enabling Instant Checkout on ChatGPT can apply here.
Why This Matters for Ecommerce Brands
Instant Checkout is more than a smoother checkout flow. It signals a shift in how AI platforms will shape the customer journey, from discovery all the way to purchase.
From discovery to purchase
ChatGPT is moving beyond product discovery to become a full commerce channel. Shoppers can now go from a query to a completed purchase without ever leaving the conversation.
For brands, this changes the dynamics of both acquisition and retention:
- Acquisition: Discovery happens inside ChatGPT, and only a handful of recommended products are shown. If your products aren’t well-optimized for surfacing, visibility becomes a bigger challenge.
- Conversion: By removing steps in the buying journey, drop-off rates should decrease, creating higher potential conversion.
- Retention: Since merchants cannot automatically sign users up for marketing emails, there’s less opportunity to build a direct relationship on the first touch. Brands will need to focus on strong first impressions, exceptional product experiences, and retargeting website visitors who arrive through ChatGPT orders.
ACP as future-proofing
The Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) is the standard that powers Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. It was developed with Stripe and released as open source, which means other platforms could choose to adopt it in the future.
For brands, this could reduce the need for building separate integrations for each AI assistant. Supporting ACP once may be enough to enable transactions in ChatGPT, and potentially on other AI platforms that decide to use the same standard.
OpenAI notes that Instant Checkout does not automatically boost product rankings. However, when multiple merchants sell the same product, factors such as price, availability, quality, primary seller status, and Instant Checkout support are all taken into account. While it is not a guarantee, being ACP-ready might increase the chances of your products being recommended in competitive cases.
What Ecommerce Brands Should Do Now
The launch of Instant Checkout is still in its early stages, but ecommerce teams can start preparing today. A few practical steps include:
Make your product data complete and accurate
Review your catalog to ensure all SKUs have consistent attributes such as size, color, material and availability. Eliminate duplicates, fill in missing fields and standardize naming conventions so your catalog is clean and reliable.
Optimize for AI discovery (GEO)
Write product descriptions in clear, natural language that aligns with how shoppers ask questions. Check your taxonomies, tags and attributes so they map to the terms people actually use when searching.
Check out our GEO playbook for a comprehensive guide on making your product content more discoverable in AI platforms.
Strengthen the brand experience at first touch
Since you cannot automatically add ChatGPT buyers to your marketing lists, focus on creating a strong impression through packaging, inserts and follow-up experiences that encourage sign-ups or repeat visits.
Track ACP adoption and Shopify rollout
Instant Checkout currently supports Etsy, with Shopify next in line. Monitor when ACP becomes available for your commerce stack so you can enable it early and stay ahead of competitors.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)?
The Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) is the open standard that powers Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. Developed with Stripe, it sets the rules for how AI agents, merchants and payment providers exchange information during a purchase. ACP makes sure transactions are secure, that merchants keep control of fulfillment and returns, and that AI assistants can complete checkouts without needing custom integrations for every store. Because ACP is open source, other platforms can also choose to adopt it in the future.
What is Agentic Commerce?
Agentic commerce is commerce carried out by AI agents on behalf of users. Instead of acting only as search or recommendation tools, these agents can understand intent, surface relevant products, and complete transactions end-to-end.
In practice, this means an AI like ChatGPT can move from “help me find a cotton shirt under $50” to showing products, handling checkout, and confirming the order — all within the chat.
For ecommerce brands, agentic commerce marks a shift from AI being an influence channel (discovery and recommendations) to becoming a direct sales channel.
Looking Ahead
Instant Checkout is still in its early rollout, starting with Etsy and soon expanding to Shopify. Multi-item carts, wider merchant coverage and international availability will follow.
What makes this launch significant is the foundation it sets. By open-sourcing the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), OpenAI has created infrastructure that other AI platforms could adopt as well. If that happens, a single ACP integration could enable brands to sell across multiple AI assistants, not just ChatGPT.
For ecommerce brands, this is the early stage of agentic commerce — a shift where AI doesn’t just recommend products, but also completes the transaction. As these capabilities mature, AI-driven channels may stand alongside SEO, marketplaces and paid ads as a core part of the ecommerce mix.
