OpenAI has added a new eCommerce component to its popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. “Instant Checkout,” a service that lets American ChatGPT make purchases from U.S.-based Etsy merchants plus some sellers on Shopify. “This marks the next step in agentic commerce, where ChatGPT doesn’t just help you find what to buy, it also helps you buy it,” the company said. “For shoppers, it’s seamless: go from chat to checkout in just a few taps. For sellers, it’s a new way to reach hundreds of millions of people while keeping full control of their payments, systems, and customer relationships.” So far, Instant Checkout supports only single-item purchases, but the company plans to add multi-item carts and expand merchants and regions. Instant Checkout works by showing users who ask shopping questions the most relevant products from around the web, ranked solely according to their relevance to the user. If a product supports Instant Checkout, users can click “Buy,” confirm their order shipping and payment details, and carry out the purchase without ever leaving the chat. Orders, payments, and fulfillment are handled by the merchant using their existing systems. ChatGPT simply acts as the user’s AI agent—securely passing information between user and merchant, just like a digital personal shopper would. The service is free for users, but merchants pay a small fee for completed purchases. This payment doesn’t impact prices or color ChatGPT’s product results.