When OpenAI introduced Instant Checkout in September 2025, it gave U.S. shoppers a way to buy from Etsy sellers without leaving ChatGPT. A shopper could choose a product, confirm shipping and payment details, and place an order inside a conversation. The merchant still processed the payment and shipped the purchase.
OpenAI said merchants would pay a fee on completed purchases, while shoppers would use the service without an extra charge. At launch, it supported single-item orders. The company described product results as unsponsored and said paying for checkout would not improve a product’s ranking.
Product details become part of checkout
Stripe’s description of the payment system explains how that handoff works. After a customer chooses a payment method, Stripe issues a token limited to a particular merchant and cart total. ChatGPT passes it to the merchant, allowing a charge without exposing the customer’s payment credentials.
A store can accept or decline the order and use its existing payment provider. It remains responsible for sales tax, shipping and returns. Stripe and OpenAI published a common format, called the Agentic Commerce Protocol, for exchanging this information.
Google is developing a broader cart across its services. In a May 19, 2026 announcement, it described Universal Cart, which would collect items from different merchants while people used Search, Gemini and, later, YouTube and Gmail. Google said it would begin rolling out the cart in Search and Gemini in the United States during summer 2026.
Its proposed features included price-drop alerts, notifications when products returned to stock, and checks for incompatible computer parts. Customers could pay through Google or move to a merchant’s website. Google said the retailer would remain the merchant of record, meaning the business selling the goods would retain that role even when checkout occurred elsewhere.
A listing problem marketing can fix
Google’s Merchant Center specifications specify what information sellers need to supply. Product submissions include identifiers, descriptions, prices, availability and variations such as color and size. Google warns that missing fields and discrepancies between a feed and a merchant’s website can limit eligibility or prevent listings from appearing.
Marketing teams can identify who maintains product descriptions, check whether separate sizes have been represented correctly, and resolve conflicting prices with their commerce colleagues.
Google also provides an issue-details page in Merchant Center for diagnosing problems with submitted products. A retailer can start with items already being rejected or displayed incorrectly, correct the underlying records, and check whether those products become eligible again.
