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Agentic commerce is when an AI agent buys on a customer’s behalf. In other words, the agent researches, compares and pays within limits the person approves. In Brazil, agentic commerce is still in controlled tests. Meanwhile, shopping in ChatGPT, built on the Agentic Commerce Protocol, is live in the U.S., says OpenAI.
In short
- Agents already research and compare products. However, agent payments depend on new protocols, such as ACP, UCP and AP2, and on credentials from card networks.
- According to OpenAI, shopping in ChatGPT is live in the U.S. Meanwhile, checkout in Google’s AI Mode works only in the U.S., Canada and Australia.
- Agentic commerce in Brazil began with tests: Visa and Banco do Brasil ran the first agent transaction in March 2026.
- According to PYMNTS and Visa, 74% of 501 Brazilian merchants expect agents to generate sales. However, only 15% have product data that agents can read.
What is agentic commerce?
Agentic commerce is commerce in which an AI agent acts for the buyer. It searches for options, compares them, chooses and, with permission, completes the payment. The difference from regular search is the action, because the agent runs the purchase steps instead of just showing links. Meanwhile, the person approves anything that costs money.
Visa defines agentic commerce as experiences in which agents help consumers or businesses discover products, make decisions and complete parts of the purchase. According to the company, this ranges from comparing products to closing the transaction with the user’s permission. Visa sells payments, so it has an interest in the topic.
| Level | What the agent does | Current example |
|---|---|---|
| Recommends | Researches and suggests products | Products in ChatGPT and Gemini answers |
| Browses | Opens sites, compares and fills in forms | ChatGPT Work cloud browser |
| Buys | Builds the cart and pays with its own credential | Visa and Mastercard tests |
In practice, today’s agentic commerce sits almost entirely in the first two levels. After all, the third depends on stores, banks and card networks speaking the same language. That is why protocols have gained so much attention.
How is agentic commerce different from AI ecommerce?
In AI ecommerce, the store uses AI inside its own site, for example in a chatbot or a recommendation engine. In agentic commerce, however, the agent works for the buyer and moves across many stores. As a result, the store no longer controls the storefront and must compete to be chosen by the agent.
This changes the funnel, since the agent reads catalogs, prices, reviews and policies before it sends the person, or the payment, to a store. Therefore, a brand that AI does not find or cite tends to drop off the shortlist before any click.
In ChatGPT, for example, the ChatGPT Work cloud browser reads pages, clicks buttons and fills in forms. Even so, it asks for confirmation before paying or booking. This is covered in the guide on how ChatGPT works.
Product recommendation has its own guide. See how a store’s products get into AI answers in the GEO for ecommerce guide.
What are the agentic commerce protocols: ACP, UCP and AP2?
They are open standards that let agents, stores and payment providers talk without custom integrations. For example, ACP, from OpenAI and Stripe, covers catalog and checkout. UCP, from Google, runs from search to after-sales. Finally, AP2, also from Google, records proof that the customer authorized the payment.
| Protocol | Who leads | What it standardizes |
|---|---|---|
| ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol) | OpenAI and Stripe | Product feed, cart and checkout |
| UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) | Google, with Shopify and retailers | Catalog, cart, checkout and order |
| AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol) | Google, with more than 60 companies | Payment authorization |
| Trusted Agent Protocol | Visa, with Cloudflare | Identification of trusted agents |
Overall, the protocols complement each other. For example, UCP was built to be compatible with AP2. On the other hand, UCP and the Agentic Commerce Protocol overlap: both connect the agent to the store’s checkout.
How does the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) work?
The Agentic Commerce Protocol is an open standard under the Apache 2.0 license, created by Stripe and OpenAI, according to the ACP specification. Stripe’s documentation also lists Meta among the creators. Under the protocol, the store stays the merchant of record. It decides which products it sells, how they appear and how it fulfills orders. Also, any agent can call an ACP checkout, but the store accepts or declines per agent or per transaction.
For payment, Stripe was the first compatible processor for the Agentic Commerce Protocol. It uses a shared token that passes the credential to the agent without exposing the card.
ChatGPT was the first platform to use the Agentic Commerce Protocol. Today, however, it mainly serves product discovery. On its merchants page, OpenAI says the Agentic Commerce Protocol currently supports discovery and recommendations. Over time, the company says, it will cover the whole shopping journey. OpenAI also says it is moving away from Instant Checkout, the standalone purchase inside ChatGPT. As a result, the purchase ends on the store’s site or app. The Help Center, however, still mentions the feature for some merchants.
How does the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) work?
Google introduced UCP in January 2026 at NRF, the U.S. retail trade show. According to Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, the protocol was built with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target and Walmart. It is also compatible with AP2, A2A and MCP, protocols that agents use.
Today, the official UCP page also lists Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Salesforce and Stripe as co-developers in shopping. The standard covers catalog search, cart, account linking, checkout and orders. Meanwhile, the store stays the merchant of record and owns the customer relationship. UCP even has a draft for lodging, beyond retail.
What is the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)?
Google announced AP2 in September 2025 with more than 60 organizations, including Mastercard, PayPal, American Express and Adyen. It answers a question that today’s checkout does not ask: did the customer really authorize this purchase?
To do that, AP2 uses mandates, meaning digital contracts signed with cryptography. When the person is present, they approve the final cart. For a delegated task, such as buying tickets when sales open, they sign the rules in advance, with a maximum price and a deadline. Besides cards, the protocol supports instant bank transfers and stablecoins.
On the card network side, Visa launched the Trusted Agent Protocol in October 2025, built with Cloudflare. This way, a store can tell agents with buying intent from malicious bots.
Which companies already offer agentic commerce to stores?
Payment processors, platforms and card networks already sell the infrastructure. Stripe and PayPal offer integrations so stores can sell through agents, while Shopify connects stores to ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Meta. Visa and Mastercard, in turn, created their own credentials for agents. However, almost everything starts in the U.S.
- Stripe: Agentic Commerce Suite lets stores sell through agents and supports the store’s own checkout with UCP. It is available in the U.S., Canada and select European countries, and Brazil is not on the list.
- PayPal: Agent Ready accepts payments from AI assistants with few changes to the current checkout, and Store Sync takes the catalog to the platforms. Access, however, goes through a form.
- Shopify: agentic storefronts are on by default for eligible stores. Even so, direct checkout on Google only works for U.S. stores and U.S. customers.
- Visa: Visa Intelligent Commerce already has live transactions in the U.S., according to the company.
- Mastercard: Agent Pay uses agentic tokens, meaning credentials with limits set by the customer.
In June 2026, Visa announced a partnership with OpenAI to bring agent-initiated payments to OpenAI products. According to Visa, the transactions use tokens tied to specific agents. They also respect spending and approval limits set by the buyer.
All these companies sell agentic commerce infrastructure, so they have an interest in the topic gaining ground.
Does agentic commerce already work in Brazil?
Partly. In Brazil, agentic commerce already shows up in product recommendations, but payment by the agent is still in testing. OpenAI’s merchants page says shopping in ChatGPT is live in the U.S. On Google, UCP checkout covers the U.S., Canada and Australia. Visa and Mastercard, on the other hand, test real transactions in a controlled environment.
| Initiative | Where it works today | In Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| Direct product feed to ChatGPT (ACP) | U.S. | Not yet |
| Google checkout (UCP) | U.S., Canada and Australia | No |
| Shopify direct checkout on Google | U.S. stores and customers | No |
| Visa Intelligent Commerce | U.S., with live transactions | Tests since March 2026 |
| Mastercard Agent Pay | Latin America, in a controlled environment | No country given |
What has Visa tested in Brazil?
On March 11, 2026, Banco do Brasil and Visa ran the country’s first transaction with an AI agent, according to Visa (in Portuguese). It was the first step of agentic commerce in Brazil, in a controlled production environment. In it, a token replaces the card data. According to Mobile Time, the customer confirms each purchase with biometrics.
Next, in April 2026, Visa launched the Agentic Ready program in Brazil. According to the Visa announcement (in Portuguese), the first participants are Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Dock, Santander and XP. The program focuses on issuers and tests agent payments in controlled production environments with selected merchants. This way, issuers prepare for agentic commerce in Brazil before it scales.
What has Mastercard done in Latin America?
In March 2026, Mastercard announced live agent transactions in Latin America and the Caribbean, with issuers such as Itaú and Santander. However, the Mastercard announcement refers to a controlled environment and does not separate the countries. Earlier, in December 2025, the company had named Getnet and MagaluPay among the first Agent Pay partners in the region. Even so, given Visa’s tests, agentic commerce in Brazil remains at the pilot stage.
How does the agent choose the store and the product?
By what it can read and compare. In general, the agent cross-checks product data, price, stock, reviews and policies, from the store and from third parties. In ChatGPT, according to OpenAI, the order among stores selling the same item considers availability, price, quality and whether the store is the maker or the primary seller.
The feed helps, but it is not required. OpenAI says a store can skip the feed if ChatGPT already reads the site, but the feed gives more control. On Google, in turn, the base is the Shopping Graph, fed by Merchant Center feeds and by web data, such as the structured markup on pages.
The agent also has to get into the site. According to OpenAI, some sites restrict automated agents, so the task can stall midway. The ChatGPT cloud browser signs its requests with Web Bot Auth, and the site can confirm where they come from.
Before the purchase, however, comes the recommendation. The agent builds the shortlist from what it reads and what is cited on the web. So a brand that AI does not mention tends to stay out of the comparison.
The next guides cover each path. The first shows which sources ChatGPT and Gemini deep research read. Then another guide shows how the ChatGPT agent researches and compares stores. Finally, the guide to AI browsers explains what Comet and Gemini in Chrome change for the site.
What should a store prepare for agentic commerce?
Four fronts: a machine-readable catalog, clear policies, a checkout ready for agent credentials and access for the right bots. After all, in the PYMNTS Intelligence survey with Visa, 74% of 501 Brazilian merchants expect agents to generate at least 5% of digital sales within two years. Only 15%, however, have product data that agents can read.
In other words, agentic commerce in Brazil has high expectations and low readiness. The survey asked merchants in March 2026. Visa is a payments company, so it has an interest in the topic.
Catalog, structured data and policies
- Complete feed. In the OpenAI format, nine fields are required: ID, title, description, URL, brand, seller, image, availability and price. The standard format, however, targets the U.S.
- Structured product data. According to Google, markup on pages and a Merchant Center feed together increase product eligibility. So use the same values in the feed, in the markup and on the product page.
- Policies in text and in the feed. Exchange, return, delivery time and cancellation need to be clear so the agent can compare. In the same survey, 1,046 in-store shoppers used digital assistance. Of them, 28% would let an agent place orders on its own if the store allowed cancellation within 24 hours. With free and guaranteed returns, it would be 23%.
Checkout, payment and agent access
- Payment. Ask your processor and acquirer when they accept agent tokens, such as Visa’s and Mastercard’s, and which protocols they support.
- Platform. On Shopify, check the agents channel in the admin. On other platforms, follow support for UCP and the Agentic Commerce Protocol.
- Bots. Allow OAI-SearchBot and Googlebot in your robots.txt for AI. After all, according to OpenAI, without OAI-SearchBot the site disappears from ChatGPT search answers.
- Firewall and CDN. Do not block legitimate agents by mistake. See how to avoid Cloudflare blocking AI crawlers.
Finally, what changes in SEO when the visitor is an agent is covered in the guide to SEO for AI agents.
Frequently asked questions
No, according to OpenAI. OpenAI’s merchants page says there is no fee on purchases that start in ChatGPT. The store still pays normal payment fees, Shopify notes. Also, the buyer completes the purchase on the store’s site or app. For now, however, OpenAI says shopping in ChatGPT is live in the U.S.
It is not required. According to OpenAI, a store does not need a feed when ChatGPT already crawls the site. Even so, the feed gives more control over how products appear. Sending a feed to OpenAI, however, is open only to approved partners, by application.
Partly. Shopify’s agentic storefronts are on by default for eligible stores and take the catalog to ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Meta. On ChatGPT, however, the store must sell to customers in the U.S. Direct checkout in AI Mode and Gemini requires a U.S.-based store.
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Main sources
- ACP specification, open standard from OpenAI and Stripe for commerce with agents (2026).
- OpenAI, product discovery in ChatGPT for merchants (2026).
- Google, announcement of the Universal Commerce Protocol at NRF (2026).
- Google Cloud, announcement of the Agent Payments Protocol (2025).
- Visa, expansion of the Agentic Ready program (2026).
- Visa Brazil, launch of Agentic Ready in Brazil, in Portuguese (2026).
- Mastercard, agent transactions in Latin America and the Caribbean (2026).
- PYMNTS Intelligence, Global Digital Shopping Index: Brazil Playbook, with Visa Acceptance Solutions (2026).
