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Hi, {{first_name|friend}}. 👋
Welcome to Issue #192 of Loop WP!
Last week, we dissected some of Matt Mullenweg’s answers from his interview about the “future of WooCommerce” on the newly relaunched Do The Woo Podcast, and it left me with more questions.
This week, we learn a bit more about Shopify Merchant fees for Agentic Commerce and what those implications could be for WooCommerce.
Let’s go! 👇
The Future of Tech. One Daily News Briefing.
AI is moving faster than any other technology cycle in history. New models. New tools. New claims. New noise.
Most people feel like they’re behind. But the people that don’t, aren’t smarter. They’re just better informed.
Forward Future is a daily news briefing for people who want clarity, not hype. In one concise newsletter each day, you’ll get the most important AI and tech developments, learn why they matter, and what they signal about what’s coming next.
We cover real product launches, model updates, policy shifts, and industry moves shaping how AI actually gets built, adopted, and regulated. Written for operators, builders, leaders, and anyone who wants to sound sharp when AI comes up in the meeting.
It takes about five minutes to read, but the edge lasts all day.
What do Open AIs 4% Merchant Fees mean for WooCommerce?
Shopify merchants are about to get a new line item; OpenAI takes 4% on sales completed via ChatGPT Instant Checkout (on top of Shopify’s existing fees), reportedly going live January 26, 2026.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke put it bluntly: “ChatGPT charging 4% and we collect the fees on their behalf.”
Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts terms back that up; the payment processor collects the agentic fees on Shopify’s behalf.
How can a decentralised WooCommerce collect 4%?
The primary concern for WooCommerce merchants is how this fee is collected, especially when they are not using a platform-mandated gateway like Woo Payments.
✅ In the Shopify ecosystem, the 4% fee is automatically deducted from payouts before they hit the merchant's bank account.
WooCommerce hasn’t released a huge amount of detail on the Agentic Checkout yet, and in last week’s newsletter, Matt Mullenweg didn’t enlighten us much, but what we do know so far:
Hopefully, we will know more after today (more on that towards the end of this newsletter). 😉
🧠 For the decentralised WooCommerce environment, three primary mechanisms have emerged (if you are not using WooPayments, which I will assume can theoretically automatically take the 4% from merchants):
1. Split-Settlement via ACP-Compatible Gateways
💡 The Agentic Commerce Protocol utilises the Shared Payment Token (SPT). This token allows a Payment Service Provider (PSP), such as Stripe or PayPal, to handle the financial handshake.
✅ If a merchant uses the official Stripe extension for WooCommerce, the fee collection can be automated at the gateway level. When a transaction is processed, the gateway can be instructed to route 4% to OpenAI’s account while settling the remaining amount to the merchant’s account.
PayPal has also integrated with the ACP to act as an aggregator, bridging its merchant network to ChatGPT and handling routing and payment orchestration in the background.
2. Direct Billing via the OpenAI Merchant Portal
For merchants using gateways that do not natively support split settlements, fee collection often relies on a direct billing relationship.
🚨 To enable Instant Checkout, WooCommerce merchants must apply for approval and integrate with the OpenAI merchant portal.
💡 Because the WooCommerce store must emit real-time webhooks (order.created, order.completed) to OpenAI for every successful transaction, the platform can then reconcile these events and charge the merchant's stored payment method.
(I would presume a credit card or ACH account, typically, at the end of a billing cycle.)
3. Middleware and Third-Party Plugins
The WooCommerce community has already developed specialised "bridge" plugins, such as “Shora” or "AI Checkout for WooCommerce," to handle the technical requirements of the ACP.
These plugins often require merchants to maintain an account with the plugin provider, which “may” then act as a sub-processor or billing agent to ensure that OpenAI’s fees are remitted correctly (but that isn’t confirmed).
What’s Next for Merchants?
🫠 Like most things in life, we want things as frictionless as possible, and sometimes that means merchants might be willing to compromise where they weren’t previously.
🤔 Could we see a rise in the adoption of WooPayments or in the use of the official Stripe and PayPal gateways in WooCommerce?
There is definitely an opportunity for WooCommerce to market its plugins around this aggressively, but if they did, would it be at the expense of independent developers and plugin companies?
What are your thoughts, {{first_name|friend}}?
Reply and let me know.
Before You Go
This newsletter drops just before a live follow-up interview with Beau Lebens happens on the next Do the Woo Podcast.
It’s a follow-up to Matt Mullenweg’s interview, which I covered last week, and I’ll be covering Beau’s interview next week.
Do the Woo have said, Maarten Belmans, and my questions (and others) will be answered in the interview, so I’m very much looking forward to it.
That’s it for this week. 👋
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Weekly WordPress News & Tips
This week's excellent and insightful WordPress News & Tips:
Product Truth - How Do You Compete In Agentic Commerce? (Kevin Indig & SEJ)
Education Initiatives - WordPress[dot]org Launches New Education Hub Highlighting Campus Connect, Credits, and Student Clubs. (The Repository)
Hosting Checklist - Searching For a New Hosting Provider? (Rocket[dot]net)
Even on Restrictive Hosts - How We Made EDD Licensing Work Everywhere. (WPChill and Cristian Raiber)
Introducing Harmony - Vibe Coding meets Drag & Drop freedom. (Wix)
The Myth of Secure Hosting - Only 26% of Vulnerability Attacks Blocked by Hosts. (Patchstack)
PHP can AI - WordPress[dot]com Agentic Infrastructure. (Artur Piszek)
Momentum - Big Picture Goals for 2026. (Mary Hubbard)
Call for testing - Experimental REST API Caching in WooCommerce 10.5. (Woo Dev Blog)
Security Risks - What happens when one site gets hacked on shared hosting? (Kinsta)
No-Code Workflow - Streamlining block theme development with WordPress Playground and GitHub. (Birgit Pauli-Haack)
Inside WordCamp Europe 2026 - Lead Organisers on Getting More People to Kraków and This Year’s Education Focus. (The Repository)
If you have a question about this email or WordPress, please reply, and I will respond as soon as possible.
👋 Until next time,
Logos and trademarks shown, including OpenAI, WooCommerce, Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, are the property of their respective owners. Their use here is for illustrative and informational purposes only and does not imply endorsement or affiliation.