E-commerce

Platform Updates

Etsy bans AI-generated patterns, recipes and instructions

Etsy's October 22, 2026 rules bar AI-generated functional guides, like patterns, recipes and instructions, and bot-generated listings without any human involvement. For most products, listings now need at least one unedited photo of the actual item against a real background.

Two handmade crocheted chicks in straw nests beside a basket of embroidered Easter eggs

Chandni Melwani · Global · Oct 29, 2026

Retail Adoption

Walmart will let AI agents buy within a spending limit

Walmart said on October 21, 2026 that Agent Profiles, launching in the next month, will let customers require approval for every purchase an AI agent makes or set a spending limit. Its terms say agents don't receive customers' payment-card information, and agents that don't follow the terms will be blocked from Walmart's site.

Shoppers' cars parked outside the Grocery entrance of a Walmart Supercenter in Erie, Pennsylvania, under a clear sky

Chandni Melwani · US · Oct 23, 2026

Marketing AI

OpenAI gives itself default permission to edit ChatGPT ads

OpenAI's creative enhancements can adjust ChatGPT ad headlines and descriptions, resize images, optimize destination URLs and translate ad text, and the ads can run without requiring advertisers to review or approve each version. They will switch on by default for new and existing campaigns on October 29 or 30, 2026, depending on which OpenAI notice you read.

A smartphone showing the ChatGPT app's store listing by OpenAI, with the interface in Azerbaijani

Chandni Melwani · Oct 22, 2026

Platform Updates

Google's Universal Cart hands baskets to stores in one direction

Google's Universal Cart is rolling out in the US in Search and the Gemini app. For stores, the first release of its Cart API only creates and transfers a cart; Google doesn't support updating or syncing it. Merchant Center onboarding needs an interest form and Google's selection.

A hand holding a smartphone showing the Google search page at google.com, against a dark background

Chandni Melwani · Oct 21, 2026

Platform Updates

Meta edits “train” out of its US crawl clause

From October 30, 2026, Meta's Commercial Terms authorize it to crawl pages associated with the products or services of businesses using Meta commercially. Meta cut “train” from the US text on October 16; legal experts told Nieman Lab the wording is still broad.

A woman on a phone call works at a laptop in a clothing shop, with folded jeans and boots on the shelves and bags around her

Chandni Melwani · Oct 20, 2026

Platform Updates

Shopify lets any AI agent check out with Shop Pay

Shopify's Shop MCP lets any AI agent search its catalogue and pay with a signed-in shopper's Shop Pay. Shop's help page holds shoppers responsible for agent purchases within the permissions and budgets they set, even unexpected ones.

A person browsing a grid of products in a shopping app on a smartphone

Chandni Melwani · Oct 18, 2026

Platform Updates

Meta is testing checkout inside its AI chats

Meta named Shopify, Stripe, PayPal and Adyen for checkout inside its AI chats. In September, Amazon blocked Meta’s Muse agent from shopping on Amazon.com, Adweek reported.

A person holding a payment card in one hand and a smartphone in the other above an open laptop on a wooden table

Chandni Melwani · Oct 8, 2026

Conversational Commerce

TikTok makes UCP a condition of its in-feed checkout

TikTok says brands that sell through its new in-feed checkout stay the merchant of record. Salesforce tells its Commerce Cloud stores they own the customer relationship, and expects its rollout to begin in the first quarter of 2027.

A woman in a denim jacket at a white desk photographs a string-tied cardboard parcel with her phone, with a laptop in the foreground and more parcels stacked behind her

Chandni Melwani · Oct 7, 2026

Platform Updates

Shopify's old MCP cart tools stop on August 31

The get_cart and update_cart tools on Shopify's Storefront MCP server reached their August 31 deprecation date. Agents that have not moved to the UCP Cart MCP will try to add items to a cart that no longer answers.

A pair of hands typing on a black keyboard, photographed from directly overhead

Chandni Melwani · Aug 31, 2026

Platform Updates

Shopify switched off your post-purchase tracking scripts on August 26

The Additional Scripts field on the Thank you and Order status pages stopped executing for stores on non-Plus plans on August 26. Orders keep flowing, so nothing looks wrong.

Hands placing a wrapped item into an open cardboard box on a wooden table

Chandni Melwani · Global · Aug 28, 2026

Marketing AI

You can buy ads inside ChatGPT. You cannot check whether your own ran.

Meta has the Ad Library, Google has the Ads Transparency Center, TikTok has a Commercial Content Library for Europe. The AI answer surfaces have nothing.

Two facing shelf stacks of white storage boxes each printed with the word archive, forming an aisle that ends at a closed wooden door beneath a clock

Chandni Melwani · Global · Aug 21, 2026

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