By Webb Wright
Publication Date: 2025-11-25 20:52:00
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Perplexity and PayPal have launched an “instant buy” feature.
- It allows users to complete purchases within a Perplexity chat.
- Only five brands are currently available, with more on the way.
Perplexity and PayPal are capitalizing on the upcoming holiday shopping rush with a new “instant buy” feature, which allows users to securely purchase products via their PayPal account — without leaving their Perplexity chat.
Also: ChatGPT’s new shopping research tool is fast, fun, and free – but can it out-shop me?
The feature is built on top of Perplexity’s AI-powered shopping agent, which the company introduced last year, and is free starting Tuesday for all US users on the company’s website and desktop app. It will be available for iOS and Android in the coming weeks, according to a company blog post.
How it works
That agent is designed to operate as a virtual shopping assistant, taking specific user queries — like, “I’m looking for a comfortable but stylish pair of boots to keep my feet warm and dry through the New York winter” — and then digging through the web to surface personalized results, along with relevant customer reviews and other useful information. It also references past chats to flesh out individual user profiles over time, allowing it to recall certain details about their life and taste that are germane to a product recommendation.
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