Google Launches ‘Agentic Checkout’ to Make Purchases for You
Shopping online? Google wants you to trust AI to click the “Buy” button for you. Google’s new “Agent Pay” feature, launching today, complements the existing price tracking feature , so you won’t always see it. Instead, when you receive a price drop notification for an item you’re tracking, you might see a new “Buy for Me” button, which will send all the necessary information to the retailer’s website and complete the final purchase for you.
Google states that the AI will always ask your permission before beginning the agent check and will only complete the purchase after you confirm all your shipping and payment details (which it will either extract from your Google Pay data or directly request from you). The price you see is also not reported by the AI, but rather from Google’s Shopping Graph, the same information that powers the Shopping tab in Google Search. This means it will come directly from the store you’ll be purchasing from, though while Google promises to show you the most relevant offers, simply trusting the notification will deprive you of the ability to manually compare stores. Once the AI makes your purchase for you, you should see all the regular confirmation emails you’ve specified for the AI to associate with your purchase.
In theory, it all makes sense: you’re essentially given a link to a product, and then you ask the AI to click that link and fill out the checkout form. This should reduce the risk of hallucinations , as long as you’re happy with the link you’re using to make a purchase. The problem is, the checkout form is slightly different on every site, so Google is starting with a few stores to reduce the likelihood of errors. This means that for now, you’ll only be able to try out agent payments on Wayfair, Chewy, Quince, and “select Shopify stores,” but Google says “many more [stores] are coming soon.”
While agent-based checkout does reduce this lengthy process to a single click for shoppers, the real use case may be beneficial for merchants. Getting users to your store after a price drop notification can be challenging, and being able to purchase directly from a notification with a single click can increase the likelihood of impulse purchases. If you find yourself tempted to buy something just because a shiny new button appeared on your screen, it might be worth waiting a bit before clicking it and considering whether you really still want it or whether you should consider other options first.
If you want to try out agent checkout yourself, you’ll first need to track the item’s price and ensure it’s sold at Wayfair, Chewy, or another participating retailer. To do this, go to the Google Shopping tab, search for a specific item or a broader product category, and scroll until you find the item card you want to track. Click the “Track Price” button. Here, select a target price, as well as options like size or color, and click “Refresh” in the lower right corner. You’ll now receive notifications when a listing matches your specified parameters. If the link Google finds is from a participating retailer, you’ll be able to use the “Buy for Me” button. Click it to ensure the information is correct, then click “Buy for Me with GPay” at the bottom of the screen. You’ll see a progress bar indicating when your purchase has shipped and confirmed, and the page will indicate when to expect a confirmation email. You’ll also receive a Buy for Me ID that you can provide to Google Support if you have any issues.
Unfortunately, it appears Google still has some fine-tuning to do before AI can perform all the functions a human can. A Google representative told me that agent purchases currently don’t take into account factors like loyalty programs, so if you want to buy an item from a specific store account to earn a reward, you’ll still have to make the purchase manually.
If you’re buying in bulk, this can save time, but for now, these caveats and limited store selection mean you’ll likely still have to do your own checkout for most purchases.