Holiday shopping is about to change as payment giant PayPal and AI startup Perplexity launch the “Instant Buy” feature.
Starting this week for US users, the partnership embeds PayPal’s trusted checkout system directly into Perplexity’s conversational search interface, letting shoppers move from asking a question to completing a purchase in a few clicks.
The collaboration is the realization of a strategic partnership announced earlier this year, aiming to make PayPal the commerce engine for a new generation of AI-driven retail. It allows Perplexity’s AI assistant to act as a seamless “agent,” managing the entire shopping journey without requiring the user to jump between different websites.
Michelle Gill, general manager of Small Business and Financial Services at PayPal, highlighted the significance of the move.
“We are building for the next era of commerce by connecting PayPal’s trusted payments and buyer protection directly to AI-powered shopping,” she stated in the PayPal press release. She described the launch as the “opening act of PayPal’s innovation in commerce for the agentic era.”
How instant buy works
Perplexity’s new shopping platform is designed to offer a more personal, tailored experience than traditional search bars. Instead of just listing generic results, the AI assistant keeps track of your conversation and preferences — for example, remembering your “mid-century modern aesthetic” or your need for a jacket that works for a “San Francisco ferry commute.”
Dmitry Shevelenko, chief business officer at Perplexity, explained that the goal is to improve the experience for everyone.
“Shoppers and merchants demand a better e-commerce experience in the age of AI, one that’s as personalized as it is seamless,” he said.
Once the AI has helped a shopper narrow down their options, products from retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch, Ashley Furniture, Fabletics, Adorama, and Newegg appear as product cards. The “Instant Buy” feature then uses PayPal to complete the transaction immediately, reducing the risk of a shopper abandoning their cart.
The launch comes as AI-driven shopping moves from prototype to mainstream. Perplexity’s announcement emphasizes that traditional online search “fails at exploration,” and that shoppers need discovery experiences shaped around personal intent rather than advertising priorities.
Perplexity says its conversational assistant “understand[s] intent, remember[s] preferences, and act[s] as extensions of how users would approach a task on their own.” The company also stresses that retailers benefit from higher-intent shoppers and fewer abandoned carts thanks to the instant checkout flow.
Meanwhile, PayPal is integrating payments across conversational platforms, including previous work with ChatGPT, as more consumers begin product searches inside AI systems rather than on retailer websites.
A holiday incentive
To encourage users to try out the new AI-charged shopping method, PayPal is offering a special incentive just ahead of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday rush.
The company noted that “customers who complete their first purchase using PayPal within Perplexity will receive 50% back,” up to a maximum of $50. This limited-time promotion starts at 9:00 am ET on Nov. 25, 2025, and runs through 11:59 pm ET on Dec. 1, 2025.
The new experience is currently available on the Perplexity website and desktop app, with plans to roll out to iOS and Android mobile users in the coming weeks.
AI-native shopping is accelerating fast, and this in-depth look at Perplexity’s holiday shopping assistant with PayPal built into checkout shows how chat-first commerce is evolving right now.