PayPal and Perplexity introduced on Tuesday (Nov. 25) Instant Buy, which allows U.S. consumers to complete purchases directly in Perplexity’s AI chat, creating a single flow from product discovery to checkout.
The companies said the feature streamlines online shopping by turning conversational queries into purchase-ready actions.
Instant Buy uses PayPal’s identity, payments, and buyer protection systems while keeping the merchant of record with retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Fabletics, Ashley Furniture, and NewEgg. The companies said the setup preserves direct customer relationships while allowing merchants to participate in AI-driven commerce without building custom integrations. To mark the launch, PayPal is offering 50% back on a consumer’s first Instant Buy transaction made between Nov. 25 and Dec. 1, capped at 50 dollars, just in time for Black Friday and holiday shopping.
The rollout expands Perplexity’s earlier prototype shopping features into a full transactional environment supported by more than 5,000 merchants. PayPal said the partnership builds on its broader push to embed payments in AI-first experiences, including its recent collaboration with OpenAI that brought checkout directly into ChatGPT. PYMNTS reported that PayPal’s integration with ChatGPT marked a significant step toward bringing payments directly into conversational AI interfaces, setting the stage for agent-led shopping across platforms.
Perplexity’s approach compresses the search, browse and cart sequence into a single conversational thread. Users can ask for product recommendations, compare items and buy within the same interface. The company said this model reduces friction by eliminating the need to switch between apps or websites while shopping. PayPal provides the underlying commerce services and two merchant tools, store sync and agent ready, to bring catalog data and fulfillment systems into Perplexity’s environment with limited engineering work.
Early versions of Instant Buy and similar offerings have gained visibility among merchants exploring ways to reach consumers who are shifting product discovery to AI systems. The companies said more capabilities will be introduced in early 2026, including deeper catalog connectivity and expanded merchant categories.
Retailers and payment providers have been rolling out AI-led purchase flows over the past year as more shoppers begin product searches in conversational systems rather than on websites. Adoption has been uneven, and some early pilots reported inconsistent user experiences and low conversion rates as customers tested the new interfaces.
Meanwhile, the broader commerce ecosystem is noticing heightened tension between large platforms and third-party AI agents. In its recent coverage, PYMNTS described a clash between Amazon and Perplexity over the deployment of third-party shopping agents as a warning moment for the rise of agentic commerce and platform control.
Source: https://www.pymnts.com/
