OpenAI ACP for Merchants: Who's Responsible for What
The ACP Responsibility Map assigns product discovery, feed, checkout, payment, order, and support work to the merchant, platform, or integration before development begins.
OpenAI ACP for merchants uses the Agentic Commerce Protocol, an open standard for sharing product and order data with AI agents. ChatGPT mainly uses ACP to find products. Shoppers then pay through the merchant's checkout. OpenAI has separate rules for native agentic checkout, but that route needs added access.
I've run Shopify stores and learned to ask what work stays with me after a platform handles the buyer-facing experience. I compared OpenAI's current shopping update with its live feed and checkout specifications for this guide. This guide separates ACP work into six roles you can assign before you hire a developer.
Key takeaways
What is OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol?
OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol is an open standard for sharing store data with AI agents. OpenAI and Stripe built it together, according to the ACP reference site. In ChatGPT's current shopping tool, ACP helps people find products. The shopper then pays through the merchant's checkout. OpenAI lists native checkout as a separately enabled option.
ACP says what each party sends and receives. OpenAI can read catalog data and show products. A merchant can add checkout endpoints while keeping its order system. A payment provider can pass a limited token without revealing the buyer's card details.
AI changes dropshipping, while the merchant remains responsible for the products and data it publishes.
OpenAI's March 2026 shopping update governs the current ChatGPT configuration. It says the first Instant Checkout was too rigid and shifts the product toward discovery with merchant checkout.
Catalog data reaches ChatGPT through two product-data methods, an automated crawl or a direct feed. This article assigns the commerce work that follows.
Run the ACP Responsibility Map
The ACP Responsibility Map assigns six roles to merchant checkout or separately enabled native checkout. Use the roles in this order,
- Discovery: OpenAI decides which eligible products appear in ChatGPT.
- Feed: The merchant or commerce platform supplies current catalog data.
- Checkout: The merchant supplies endpoints only for an enabled native integration.
- Payment: The merchant and processor keep the current payment flow.
- Order: The merchant sends order updates for enabled native checkout.
- Support: The merchant handles fulfillment, returns, refunds, and disputes.
After the feed, the default configuration uses merchant checkout. Stores with separate OpenAI approval can use native checkout instead.
1. Discovery
OpenAI decides which eligible products ChatGPT shows and how it ranks them. A merchant can submit a valid catalog, while OpenAI chooses the matching query and placement. Its product-data reference treats search eligibility as entry into the candidate pool.
Your job is to give OpenAI a route to good data. Judge discovery results apart from basic eligibility. MCP live-query tools fetch current data on request, while OpenAI keeps ranking control inside ChatGPT.
I budget around ChatGPT exposure only after referral and order data meets the store's profit target. OpenAI publishes no universal threshold. Eligibility shows only that OpenAI can consider the product, while sales still need proof.
Use this initial spot check,
- Confirm that OpenAI accepts the feed.
- Search with the exact brand and the category problem it solves.
- Track any visit through the store's usual analytics.
Repeated checks can reveal a mismatch, but two searches alone can't diagnose ranking.
2. Feed
Catalog data comes from the merchant or its commerce platform. OpenAI's current feed specification requires 9 fields. They're item_id, title, description, url, brand, seller_name, image_url, availability, and price. A search flag controls eligibility.
Checkout requires separate enablement.
Etsy and named Shopify merchants provide the current live-merchant evidence for eligibility status. OpenAI says Shopify Catalog already sends product data, covering the second-feed work for individual Shopify stores, and its merchant guidance names Etsy as another built-in catalog. Direct-feed merchants still own every value and update. Use our nine-field feed audit when you need to check each field.
The failure is stale or missing data. An accepted row can later show the wrong variant, price, or stock when its source stops updating. Keep the store catalog as the main record, and make every second export stay in sync.
Test updates before you expand the catalog,
- Change the stock or price of one low-risk item.
- Wait for the normal feed cycle.
- Confirm that the next export carries the same value.
Expand the catalog only after the export matches the store.
3. Checkout
5 merchant endpoints in OpenAI's Agentic Checkout Spec apply only after OpenAI enables native checkout. The merchant remains the merchant of record and chooses whether to accept the sale.
For enabled native checkout, the merchant implements these endpoints,
- Create a checkout session.
- Update a checkout session.
- Complete a checkout session.
- Cancel a checkout session.
- Retrieve a checkout session.
Create, update, and complete form the required core, while cancel and retrieve cover the rest of the session. Each call reaches the merchant's backend and returns prices, tax, shipping, discounts, errors, and order details.
In the default configuration, ChatGPT sends the shopper to the merchant's checkout. Assign endpoint work only after the OpenAI merchant onboarding record confirms native access and states the current test rules.
4. Payment
The merchant keeps its current payment flow, while its processor can supply a limited token for native checkout. OpenAI tells merchants to keep their provider and settlement process, so the merchant still approves or captures the charge.
Stripe's Shared Payment Token is one option. Stripe limits it to one merchant and cart total before the agent passes it on. The merchant can process it through Stripe or a supported provider, while Stripe keeps the buyer's card details.
Confirm the token name and processor support. I approve payment work only when the processor can use that token in the store's current flow. Both the checkout and token must work.
5. Order
Order records stay with the merchant, which sends OpenAI updates only for native checkout. The live checkout rules name order_created and order_updated webhook events. Those webhooks update the shipment, delivery, cancellation, and refund status shown in chat.
The merchant's order system remains the main record. Send the webhook after that record changes. The store order must exist before ChatGPT can report its status.
The webhook duty begins when OpenAI turns on native checkout for your store. Until then, keep order tracking in your normal stack.
6. Support
The merchant handles shipping, returns, refunds, disputes, and buyer support in both configurations. OpenAI may show the shopping screen, but the merchant remains the seller.
Put support and policy links on the order page. Use the same order ID in checkout, payment, shipping, and support records so staff can match each ticket to the merchant order.
Support stays with the merchant in both configurations. If your team loses the link between a referred buyer and the merchant order, pause native-checkout work and fix that handoff first.
Before native checkout goes live, test the support handoff,
- Place a non-live order with the same ID across checkout and payment.
- Open a support ticket using only that order ID.
- Confirm that staff can find the buyer, payment state, shipping state, and return policy.
The handoff passes when one ID leads staff to the full record.
Which party owns which role
The owner depends on the role and the ChatGPT configuration that turns it on. Discovery is current. Feed work depends on the catalog method. Checkout, payment, and order work need added access.
The ownership table shows the split:
Which source determines your ACP setup
Your OpenAI merchant onboarding record determines whether the native-checkout specification applies to your store. OpenAI's March 2026 update governs its default merchant-checkout configuration. The live checkout specification states the duties that begin after OpenAI grants native access.
Product pages show what most merchants can use, while a technical specification states what an enabled integration must do. Your onboarding record settles which one applies to your store. OpenAI's feed guide reinforces this order because checkout activates only after search and checkout are both enabled.
I treat onboarding status as the go-or-stop record for checkout engineering. The technical specification applies only after that record names the work. OpenAI may widen native checkout again, while the processor agreement remains the source for private payment terms.
What you still need to verify
The responsibility table assigns public ownership, while your store records confirm access and operation. The onboarding record confirms native access. OpenAI names the checkout test space, and one shared order ID connects payment, order, and support records.
OpenAI can change its shopping product while an older protocol page stays online. Stripe can also change the tokens its processors accept. A passing feed proves only that product data moves through its route. Test native checkout in the space named during onboarding, then match its payment, order, and support records by order ID.
My recommendation is to enable only the ACP functions you can prove today. Send clean product data, and keep merchant checkout until OpenAI onboarding provides native-checkout rules and a test space.
FAQ
What should I verify before acting?
Check OpenAI's current shopping update, product guide, and your store's onboarding record. Use the checkout rules only when that record confirms native access.
Where can OpenAI ACP fail in a real store?
ACP fails when its catalog, checkout, payment, order, or support data stops matching your store. Test every enabled function from one product record through the final order.
What's the smallest safe ACP test?
Use the non-live environment named in OpenAI merchant onboarding. Confirm that catalog, payment, and order records match before native checkout goes live.
Do I need a developer, or can I use an app?
Shopify Catalog already supplies discovery data for Shopify merchants. Native checkout requires a developer to maintain the documented endpoints, webhooks, security, and payment handoff unless onboarding names a supported app.
