PayPal, Inc. has announced a strategic adoption of the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) to significantly expand its payments and commerce footprint within ChatGPT. This partnership aims to integrate PayPal’s global payment capabilities directly into the AI environment, creating new avenues for commerce for both consumers and merchants.
Expanding Consumer Payments in ChatGPT
The integration is set to allow millions of ChatGPT users to complete purchases instantly using their PayPal accounts. Key features for consumers checking out include:
- Instant Checkout: Users can leverage the convenience of the PayPal wallet within OpenAI Instant Checkout.
- Multiple Funding Options: Access to various funding sources linked to PayPal, such as bank accounts, balances, and cards.
- Protections and Services: Consumers will retain PayPal’s buyer and seller protections, alongside post-purchase services like tracking and dispute resolution.
Furthermore, PayPal will support OpenAI Instant Checkout via a delegated payments API, taking responsibility for the processing of card payments.
Connecting Merchants to AI-Driven Commerce
The partnership extends a platform to tens of millions of small businesses and major global brands. Beginning in 2026, ACP will facilitate the introduction of product catalogs from diverse sectors—including apparel, beauty, and electronics—into ChatGPT commerce through PayPal’s ACP server.
This server is described as a trusted, scalable, and compliant access layer that eliminates the need for individual merchant integrations. PayPal will manage the underlying processes, including merchant routing, payment validation, and orchestration, making millions of products both discoverable and purchasable directly through the AI interface.
New Agentic Solutions for Merchants
To support this expansion, PayPal is introducing two new agentic solutions:
- Agent Ready: This solution will enable millions of existing PayPal merchants to instantly accept payments on AI surfaces (such as conversational AI or browser-automated experiences). It is designed to include built-in fraud detection, buyer protection, and dispute resolution with no additional technical integration required from the merchant. Agent Ready is scheduled for availability in early 2026.
- Store Sync: This new capability is designed to make any merchant’s product data discoverable across leading AI channels while seamlessly submitting orders to their existing fulfillment and management systems.
Key benefits of Store Sync for merchants:
- Fast Integration: Product catalogs will become discoverable via integrations with strategic partners including Wix, Cymbio, Commerce (BigCommerce & Feedonomics), and Shopware.
- Increased Discovery and Conversion: Merchants can benefit from visibility on AI shopping surfaces, driving conversions through intent-driven shopping rather than traditional search and browse methods.
- Control and Relationships: Merchants remain the merchant of record, retaining control over brand visibility and customer communications for all agent-initiated transactions.
- One-to-Many Compatibility: A single PayPal integration facilitates merchant visibility across multiple AI shopping surfaces, including Perplexity and a shopping agent within the PayPal app (currently in testing).
Merchants can sign up for Store Sync today by visiting PayPal.ai, with enrollment becoming fully available soon. Merchant discoverability on Perplexity is expected before the end of the year.
Broadening AI Strategy within PayPal
Beyond commerce, PayPal is also expanding its internal AI capabilities with OpenAI. The partnership includes scaling access to ChatGPT Enterprise for its over 24,000 employees, enabling engineers with Codex, and broadening the direct use of OpenAI’s APIs. This is intended to accelerate product development and boost employee and customer experience impact across the organization.