ChatGPT’s 4% Checkout Fee shake up

The announcements keep coming in the world of Agentic Commerce.

This week OpenAI announced it will charge US Shopify merchants a 4% fee on sales made through ChatGPT Instant Checkout, turning the AI assistant into a direct sales channel rather than just a source of traffic. Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts preserve merchant control by routing orders through Shopify checkout, while AI-driven traffic to Shopify stores has reportedly risen sevenfold and AI-attributed orders 11x.

Brand Owners will be delighted by the announcement, but will be skeptical as to whether it is sustainable. Tiktok Shop burst on the scene with low fees only to hike them up once they had built a user base. The 4% fee is very competitive when set against today’s marketplaces. Amazon typically charges 8–15% referral fees, often on top of significant ad spend, making ChatGPT’s cut appear a bargain for high-intent buyers delivered at the point of decision. Card processing alone often costs smaller US merchants roughly 2.5–2.9%, so a 4% success fee for pre-qualified, high-conversion traffic is broadly in line with – or better than – many blended acquisition costs.

If ChatGPT and other AI agents like Gemini and Perplexity evolve into trusted buying agents, traditional marketplaces risk being pushed down to interchangeable fulfilment layers, while brands that build early relationships with AI platforms may secure a structural advantage in the next wave of ecommerce.