Agentic checkout
Agentic checkout is a purchase in which an AI agent completes the checkout of an online shop for the buyer. The buyer states what to buy and sets limits such as a price ceiling, and the agent fills in the cart, the delivery address and the payment method. The merchant receives the order through its normal systems and remains the seller of record.
Google, OpenAI and Amazon each run an agentic checkout of their own, and protocols decide how the agent talks to the shop. OpenAI and Stripe use the Agentic Commerce Protocol, while Google uses the Universal Commerce Protocol. Payment providers hand the agent a token instead of the card number, so the shop can charge the buyer without the agent holding card data.
Google: from price tracking to Universal Cart
On 13 November 2025 Google started its agentic checkout in the United States. A shopper tracks the price of a product down to size, color and budget, and when the price fits, Google buys the item on the website of the merchant with Google Pay after the shopper confirms.
Since January 2026 the checkout also runs through the Universal Commerce Protocol inside AI Mode and the Gemini app. In October 2026 Google added a Universal Cart that collects products from several retailers and pays them in one step.
OpenAI and Amazon
OpenAI launched Instant Checkout in ChatGPT in September 2025 and moved its focus to product discovery in March 2026, so most purchases now end in the checkout of the merchant. GeekWire reported that OpenAI pulled back after the feature failed to gain traction.
Amazon takes another route with Buy for Me, which needs no protocol on the side of the shop. The agent of Amazon opens the website of another brand and fills in the checkout there with the encrypted address and payment details of the customer.
What the shop has to provide
For an agentic checkout through a protocol, the merchant sends a product feed with prices and stock and offers endpoints for creating, changing and completing a checkout session. The merchant calculates taxes and shipping and accepts or declines the order, as the ACP documentation of OpenAI sets out.
The payment arrives as a token with limits on amount, merchant and time, for example as a Shared Payment Token from Stripe. The merchant charges the token through its payment provider and handles delivery, returns and support as with any online order.
Payment security and authentication
Card networks give agents their own tokens through Mastercard Agent Pay and Visa Intelligent Commerce, so the issuing bank can see that an agent paid. In Europe, card payments online need strong customer authentication, and an agent payment therefore includes a step in which the cardholder confirms.
Upcoming payments events in Germany
What is agentic checkout?
Agentic checkout is a checkout that an AI agent completes for a buyer within limits the buyer set. The agent submits cart, address and a payment token, and the merchant fulfills the order.
Which shops support agentic checkout?
Google started with merchants such as Wayfair, Chewy and Quince and later added Nike, Sephora, Target and Walmart. Etsy sellers were the first shops in Instant Checkout in ChatGPT.
Is agentic checkout available in Germany?
The agentic checkouts of Google and OpenAI started in the United States. Stripe offers its Shared Payment Tokens to sellers in the United States, Canada and selected European countries, so the payment side is ready before most agents are.
Agentic checkout and Finance Loop
Finance Loop covers agentic checkout and the other building blocks of agentic payments in its Payments & Digital Money track. Finance Loop is a media partner of Capital & Code in Frankfurt, a conference whose program includes AI and agentic payments.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.