Platform & products

Merchant-owned checkout

Definition

The model OpenAI moved to in March 2026: shoppers discover and compare products in ChatGPT, then complete the purchase on the merchant's own website or app. For Shopify stores, that's the online store checkout opened in ChatGPT's in-app browser.

Defined in Instant Checkout Is Gone: How Buying Inside ChatGPT Works Now.

Related terms

Agentic storefronts: Shopify's way of selling inside AI channels such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Google AI Mode — active by default for eligible stores and managed under Sales channels → Agentic.
Shopify Catalog access: The per-channel permission that lets an AI channel receive your product data (titles, descriptions, images, prices, availability) from Shopify Catalog. Turning it off filters your products out of what Catalog sends that channel. It doesn't remove your products from Shopify Catalog itself.
Direct checkout: A Shopify-powered checkout that runs inside an AI channel, so the shopper pays without leaving the conversation. It's on by default for eligible stores on Google AI Mode and Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Meta. ChatGPT has none: Shopify sends ChatGPT buyers to your online store checkout.
Shopify Agentic plan: A Shopify plan for merchants who don't use Shopify as their ecommerce platform. It adds their products to Shopify Catalog and lets them sell through agentic storefronts in AI channels, and on other Shopify channels such as the Shop channel, without a published Shopify online store. It has no monthly subscription fee; payment and app fees can apply.
Shopify Catalog: Shopify's standardized, enriched dataset of eligible merchants' products, made available to AI channels; eligibility starts at the Starter plan.
Universal Commerce Protocol: The open standard behind Shopify's Catalog, Cart and Checkout MCPs, which lets AI surfaces such as Microsoft Copilot complete purchases inside a conversation.

All 157 terms

Can AI channels list your products?

Every product in your public feed against Shopify Catalog's rules, plus robots.txt, policies and product data. About 20 seconds.

Run the eligibility check Agentic Commerce Setup