How Do I Get My Products to Be Recommended in ChatGPT?

Shopping just got easier — ChatGPT recently released a new way to shop called Instant Checkout. Now, users can go from chatters to buyers and purchase products directly through the platform. With this new shopping avenue open, you may wonder — how do I get my products to be recommended in ChatGPT?

Well, I’ve got answers!

I’ll tell you everything you need to know about getting products recommended in ChatGPT, including:

• What is ChatGPT Instant Checkout?
• How does ChatGPT Instant Checkout work?
• How do I get my products to be recommended in ChatGPT?

What is ChatGPT Instant Checkout?

ChatGPT Instant Checkout is the newest ecommerce functionality built into ChatGPT platform. It’s powered by Agentic Commerce Protocol and makes it so that people can go from chatting with ChatGPT to purchasing products in the platform.

Currently, you can only buy from U.S. Etsy sellers through Instant Checkout. So, if you sell on another platform, you’ll have to wait until ChatGPT integrates more sellers into the mix. OpenAI is currently working on integrating Shopify sellers into the platform, and accepting applications for sellers outside those platforms (jump ahead to see how to apply).

How does ChatGPT Instant Checkout work?

On the buyer’s end, they’ll chat with ChatGPT looking for products. They may search something like “best charm bracelet for Mother’s Day.” ChatGPT will ask questions to narrow down the focus.

It will pull up merchant listings where you can get details about the products and see the options available from the listing (if there are any). Then, you click buy and checkout right through ChatGPT.

On the merchant’s end, it’ll process like any other order. You’ll be able to choose whether to accept or decline the order. If you accept, you can process the payment with your existing provider. Then, you take care of fulfillment and customer support as you normally do.

💡 Important note: Currently, shoppers can only purchase one product at a time. Multi-product purchasing is coming soon.

How do I get my products recommended in ChatGPT?

If you want your products to appear in ChatGPT, start by applying to make them available for purchase. Here are the basic steps for doing that:

1. Apply to join Instant Checkout (Merchants outside of Shopify and Etsy)
2. Prepare your product feed according to ChatGPT’s specifications
3. Build your checkout integration using the Agentic Commerce Protocol

Let’s dive a little more in-depth with these steps:

1. Apply to join Instant Checkout

The first step to getting your products recommended by ChatGPT is to apply using the Merchant application form. You only need to fill out this form if you don’t sell on Shopify or Etsy — those two platforms are already eligible for Instant Checkout without needing to apply.

So, if you don’t sell on either of those platforms, fill out the form. The form requires you to provide information like:

• Your company name
• Where you’re headquartered
• Link to your website
• Primary product category
• What you’re interested in
• Size of your product feed

Once you submit the form, OpenAI will review your submission and then follow up with you about your application. Keep in mind that it may take some time to hear back from them and approve your application.

2. Prepare your product feed according to ChatGPT’s specifications

Once you’ve applied and been approved, you’ll need to build your product feed according to ChatGPT’s specifications.

Basically, you need to create a structured product feed so ChatGPT can index and display your products in chats. It also ensures that it provides the most up-to-date pricing and availability information.

To get the full details on how to do that, you can read ChatGPT’s Product Feed Spec article.

3. Build your checkout integration using the Agentic Commerce Protocol

The Agentic Commerce Protocol is how users can purchase products through ChatGPT. It’s a language that enables AI agents to help complete purchases for users.

ChatGPT’s Agentic Commerce Protocol is built with Stripe. That means sellers can:

• Have different payment processors
• Integrate without having to change the backend set up
• Keep control over customer relationships when purchases are made

If you already process payment with Stripe, it’s easy to enable agentic payments. 

If you use a different payment processor, you’ll have to either use Stripe’s Shared Payment Token API to accept payments, or you’ll have to adopt the Delegated Payments Spec within Agentic Commerce Protocol. Both options will allow you to keep your existing payment processor, but still process orders from Instant Checkout.

If you need help with building your checkout integration, check out ChatGPT’s resources on the Agentic Commerce flow. 

Is ChatGPT Instant Checkout a win or a problem?

OpenAI has had its fair share of wins and flops as it develops the platform and improves its offerings. Now, with the addition of Instant Checkout, you may be wondering — is this a win, or a problem?

In this case, it’s a little bit of both.

Instant Checkout is a win for simplifying the product search process. Instead of having 15 tabs open to do your product research, you have one tab — an ongoing chat with ChatGPT. You can easily go from researching a product to finding the right one to buying that product without having to switch tabs.

It also creates a better shopping experience when you’re trying to describe what you’re looking for. Since LLMs can understand nuanced phrasing and have context, it can better serve the products you’re looking for.

So, where’s the problem?

From a seller’s point of view, if you want to sell your products, you have to get named at some point in the research and buying process in ChatGPT. There’s no “stumbling across” your product as people do research. Whatever ChatGPT recommends is all users will see.

On top of that, you must enable Instant Checkout in order to appear in these results. So, if you don’t, you won’t get seen. That means that merchants that do enable it will have a clear advantage.

Additionally, for consumers, there’s a lack of social proof. Platforms like Amazon, for example, integrate and leverage reviews to help build trust and confidence. With ChatGPT, the reviews aren’t present — it could make it harder to convince people to buy if they don’t understand why a product is recommended or if they can’t see what people say about it.

All in all, ChatGPT has the potential to be a huge win for consumers and merchants alike, but there are still some kinks that need to be worked out.

Prepare for the agentic commerce era

The age of agentic commerce is alive and growing. That means your business needs to prepare for it. If you’re looking for a partner to keep you ahead in the age of AI search, consider WebFX (the team behind SEO.com).

Connect with us today to see how our OmniSEO® services can help you boost your visibility across AI search platforms!