PayPal and Perplexity are teaming up to turn AI-powered search into instant shopping, launching a new Instant Buy feature ahead of Black Friday 2025 for users in the United States. will power payments, identity, and seller protection so shoppers can move from product discovery to checkout within Perplexity in just a few clicks.
Instant Buy comes to AI search
The new Instant Buy feature lets shoppers browsing products inside Perplexity complete purchases directly in the chat interface without being redirected to external sites.
Powered by PayPal identity, Purchase Protection, and payment processing, the experience is designed to feel like a one-stop intelligent shopping assistant that finishes the transaction for you.
Early participating brands include well-known retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Ashley, Fabletics, Adorama, and Newegg, with more merchants expected to follow as PayPal opens up its “agentic commerce” tools to a wider base.
These merchants’ real-time catalogs become discoverable within Perplexity, turning product research into a shoppable feed that can be checked out in a few clicks through PayPal.
Strategic move for the agentic AI era
The collaboration formalizes a strategic alliance between PayPal and Perplexity, first announced earlier in 2025, framing PayPal as a core commerce engine for the next wave of AI-driven retail.
Michelle Gill, General Manager of Small Business and Financial Services at PayPal, stated, “We are shaping the future of commerce by integrating PayPal’s reliable payment solutions and buyer protection directly into AI-driven shopping.”
She said, “Our collaboration with Perplexity is the opening act of PayPal’s innovation in commerce for the agentic era. This is the continuation of our decades-long commitment to make AI-driven commerce seamless and interoperable across every platform.”
By embedding payments and protection at the point of AI discovery, PayPal is positioning itself as the default transaction layer for conversational shopping.
Limited-time 50% cash-back holiday promo
To drive adoption over the peak holiday period, PayPal is rolling out a limited-time incentive for eligible United States shoppers making their first Perplexity purchase using PayPal.
From 9:00 a.m. ET November 2025 until 11:59 p.m. ET December 2025, customers who complete their first Perplexity transaction with PayPal can receive 50% back, capped at 50 U.S. dollars.
The promotion is pitched as a way to let curious shoppers “test drive” AI-native commerce while getting rewarded on that initial checkout. Full terms, conditions, and exclusions are available through PayPal’s official promo details linked from the announcement.
What Instant Buy means for retailers
For merchants, the partnership promises access to an emerging “agentic economy” without complex rebuilds of existing commerce stacks.
PayPal’s store synchronization and “agent readiness” services make product catalogs discoverable in Perplexity while allowing merchants to keep using their current PayPal configurations to process payments and remain the merchant of record.
Key benefits highlighted for retailers include:
- Seamless integration of product feeds into Perplexity’s search and shopping experience, turning AI answers into shoppable moments.
- Higher conversion by catching high-intent shoppers at the exact moment of discovery, inside the AI interface.
- Enhanced payment security through PayPal’s fraud detection and risk systems, key to building trust in automated shopping journeys.
Dmitry Shevelenko, Chief Business Officer at Perplexity, commented, “Shoppers and merchants demand a better e-commerce experience in the age of AI, one that’s as personalized as it is seamless. We’re excited to partner with PayPal to bring instant checkout to our new shopping experience. PayPal’s decades of e-commerce leadership, including deep merchant integration, robust identity verification, and secure transactions give Perplexity users the complete experience needed to shop with confidence and give merchants a powerful new way to expand their consumer relationships in the age of AI.”
About PayPal and Perplexity
PayPal has spent more than 25 years building global commerce infrastructure, today supporting consumers and businesses across around 200 markets with tools for money movement, selling, and shopping. The company continues to lean into AI-driven experiences through initiatives like its agentic commerce strategy and dedicated hub at PayPal.ai.
Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine built around real-time, credible sources and inline citations, handling over 150 million questions each week globally. Founded in 2022, Perplexity focuses on narrowing the gap between traditional search and conversational AI, and is accessible via mobile apps and the web.
