That's cheaper than Amazon's 15%.
It's more than Google and Microsoft's current 0%.
But fixating on toll rates misses what OpenAI is actually building.
Look at what's happening beneath the surface: ChatGPT is building an app ecosystem.
Integrations with Shopify, Google, and Microsoft. Agentic storefronts. Universal Commerce Protocol.
They aren't just checkout features, but also an operating system for consumers and SMBs.
The real strategy is becoming the infrastructure layer between intent and transaction, and it works nicely with their ad testing.
They claim ads won't influence answers. If true, that's fundamentally different from Amazon, where organic visibility effectively disappeared as advertising consumed the screen.
That is a big "if" until revenue pressure ramps up.
The toll booth gets all the headlines.
The roads being built underneath it determine where commerce actually flows.
