OpenAI is making it easier than ever to shop online with ChatGPT. According to the company, more than 700 million people already use ChatGPT each week for help with everyday tasks, including finding products. Now, ChatGPT can also help you buy products directly through chat, thanks to a new feature called Instant Checkout.
US ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Free users can now purchase items from US-based Etsy sellers right within the chat. Soon, more than a million Shopify merchants, like Glossier, SKIMS, Spanx and Vuori, will be added. Currently, Instant Checkout supports buying one item at a time, but OpenAI plans to expand it to multi-item carts and more regions in the future.
The technology behind Instant Checkout is called the Agentic Commerce Protocol. OpenAI developed it with Stripe and other merchant partners. The protocol is now open-source, which means any merchant or developer can use it to build their own integrations with ChatGPT.
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Here’s how Instant Checkout works: When you ask ChatGPT something like “best running shoes under $100” or “gifts for a ceramics lover,” it shows the most relevant products from across the web. “Product results are organic and unsponsored, ranked purely on relevance to the user,” OpenAI clarified in a blogpost.
If a product supports Instant Checkout, you can simply tap “Buy,” confirm your order, shipping, and payment details, and complete the purchase without leaving the chat.
Merchants pay a small fee for each completed purchase, but users don’t pay extra and product prices are not affected. “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 optimise the user experience,” the company explained.
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OpenAI emphasises that this system is built for trust. Users always confirm each step, payment information is securely encrypted, and only the data needed to complete an order is shared with the merchant.