---
title: Agentic Payment Protocols for a Merchant
description: AI agents now buy on customers’ behalf. Compare x402, AP2, MPP, and ACP, and see which agentic payment protocols carry the least chargeback risk.
image: https://blog.basistheory.com/hubfs/AI%20Protocols.webp
---

[Skip to content](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payment-protocols-for-a-merchant#main-content)

![Basis Theory logo](https://blog.basistheory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BTLogo%20(1).png?width=365&height=122&name=BTLogo%20(1).png)

- [Use Cases](https://basistheory.com/)
  
  Show submenu for Use Cases 
  
    - [Creator Economy](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/creator-economy)
    - [Digital Health](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/health)
    - [E-Commerce](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/ecommerce)
    - [Fintech](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/fintech)
    - [Gaming](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/gaming)
    - [Subscription Merchants](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/subscriptions)
    - [Travel](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/travel)
    - [VSaaS](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/vsaas)
- Solutions
  
  Show submenu for Solutions 
  
    - [Agentic Commerce](https://basistheory.com/solution/agentic-commerce)
    - [Data Consolidation](https://basistheory.com/solution/data-consolidation)
    - [Monetize Payments](https://basistheory.com/solution/monetize-payments)
    - [Multi PSP](https://basistheory.com/solution/multi-psp)
    - [Payment Method Discovery](https://basistheory.com/solution/payment-method-discovery)
    - [Payment Vault](https://basistheory.com/solution/payment-vault)
- [Platform](https://basistheory.com/platform)
  
  Show submenu for Platform 
  
    - [Enrichments & Add-Ons](https://basistheory.com/add-ons)
    - [Partners](https://basistheory.com/partnerships)
    - [Why Basis Theory](https://basistheory.com/why-basis-theory)
- [Pricing](https://basistheory.com/pricing)
- Resources
  
  Show submenu for Resources 
  
    - [Blog](https://blog.basistheory.com)
    - [Case Studies](https://blog.basistheory.com/case-studies)
- [Docs](https://developers.basistheory.com/)

Open main navigation

Close main navigation

- [Use Cases](https://basistheory.com/)
  
  Show submenu for Use Cases 
  
    - [Creator Economy](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/creator-economy)
    - [Digital Health](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/health)
    - [E-Commerce](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/ecommerce)
    - [Fintech](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/fintech)
    - [Gaming](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/gaming)
    - [Subscription Merchants](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/subscriptions)
    - [Travel](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/travel)
    - [VSaaS](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/vsaas)
- Solutions
  
  Show submenu for Solutions 
  
    - [Agentic Commerce](https://basistheory.com/solution/agentic-commerce)
    - [Data Consolidation](https://basistheory.com/solution/data-consolidation)
    - [Monetize Payments](https://basistheory.com/solution/monetize-payments)
    - [Multi PSP](https://basistheory.com/solution/multi-psp)
    - [Payment Method Discovery](https://basistheory.com/solution/payment-method-discovery)
    - [Payment Vault](https://basistheory.com/solution/payment-vault)
- [Platform](https://basistheory.com/platform)
  
  Show submenu for Platform 
  
    - [Enrichments & Add-Ons](https://basistheory.com/add-ons)
    - [Partners](https://basistheory.com/partnerships)
    - [Why Basis Theory](https://basistheory.com/why-basis-theory)
- [Pricing](https://basistheory.com/pricing)
- Resources
  
  Show submenu for Resources 
  
    - [Blog](https://blog.basistheory.com)
    - [Case Studies](https://blog.basistheory.com/case-studies)
- [Docs](https://developers.basistheory.com/)
- [Get a demo](https://basistheory.com/contact)

[Login](https://portal.basistheory.com/)

[Get a demo](https://basistheory.com/contact)

 November 12, 2026

![Picture of Basis Theory](https://blog.basistheory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/bt-favicon-new.png?width=50&name=bt-favicon-new.png) [Basis Theory](https://blog.basistheory.com/author/basis-theory-team) ·

[Engineering](https://blog.basistheory.com/tag/engineering) [Payments](https://blog.basistheory.com/tag/payments)

# Agentic Payment Protocols for a Merchant

![Agentic Payment Protocols for Businesses](https://blog.basistheory.com/hubfs/AI%20Protocols.webp)

## Table of Contents

- [What are the agentic protocols for payments?](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payment-protocols-for-a-merchant#Payments)
- [What are the risks of bringing agentic protocols into payments?](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payment-protocols-for-a-merchant#Risks)
- [Which agentic payment protocols are safest for merchants?](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payment-protocols-for-a-merchant#Merchants)

The promise of [agentic commerce](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-commerce) is huge, a vision in which merchants can rely upon AI helpers to guide potential customers to buying with limited interaction. But the complexity of creating the right environment for those agents to operate remains a sticking point for many, if not most, merchants.

[Agentic commerce](https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/agentic-commerce) refers to the idea that AI agents can take over the process of buying for consumers and businesses that once relied entirely on human interactions. This is an appealing idea at its heart: a consumer might tell their AI copilot to search out the best deal for, say, a particular set of headphones, setting a maximum they’re willing to pay, and let the agent lie in wait for a particularly good deal and snap it up while the consumer sleeps.

Of course, the challenges to making the autonomous close are real: a consumer who defines their preferences incompletely might find themselves with more than one pair of headphones, with a set that comes from the right brand but is the wrong model, or even one that technically cost less than the competition but includes a massive shipping and handling charge. Over time, we can reasonably assume that AI providers will smooth out these challenges, but the good news for merchants is that this is a future state - there is still time to prepare to serve agents’ needs.

In order for an agent to successfully make a purchase on behalf of the person or organization they represent, they must of course be able to reliably provide payment details. And because they are not themselves human, this will require [interfaces](https://blog.basistheory.com/ui-acceptance-end-to-end-testing) that go beyond standard checkout pages: the agent does not require, or necessarily have the programming to be able to navigate, a human-oriented user interface.

As such, new interfaces must be built that cater to the capabilities of the agents, which means introducing protocols that the agents can use.

## What are the agentic protocols for payments?

There are four main agentic protocols that are in the market today for payments.

- [X.402](https://x402.org/) is an open protocol, originally created by [Coinbase](https://www.coinbase.com/) and now maintained as an open standard by other organizations, including Google, Cloudflare, and AWS. Using HTTP, a purchase request receives a 402 response, which specifies exactly the details required to close the transaction. The agent can then deliver the necessary payment, generally in [stablecoins](https://blog.basistheory.com/stablecoins-tokenization-and-payments) through a standard network like Solana.
- [AP2](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol) is a more involved protocol, developed by Google and its partners, to create a process that is more aligned to how humans actually buy. There are three key pieces, known as mandates: the Intent Mandate validates that the user has authorized the agent to act; the Cart Mandate confirms what the agent is buying; and the Payment Mandate confirms that the agent has agreed to the contents of the Cart Mandate, has the authorization to make the purchase, and has access to the necessary payment instrument. Once the three mandates are confirmed, they are packaged and delivered to the payment system so that a validated payment can be made, and the transaction closed.
- The Machine Payments Protocol ([MPP](https://mpp.dev/)), co-authored by Stripe and Tempo Labs, uses the same HTTP 402 status code as x402. It’s a separate protocol, but the two are interoperable, and MPP also supports non-crypto payment methods, including credit and debit cards. The agent requests a resource, receives a payment challenge, presents a payment credential, and gets the resource once payment is verified.
- Agentic Commerce Protocol ([ACP](https://developers.openai.com/commerce)) was developed by OpenAI with Stripe to create this protocol. It was designed to make it easier for AI systems like ChatGPT to find and purchase items on consumers' behalf. A key contrast between ACP and the other protocols is that ACP expressly requires human in the loop approval prior to a purchase being completed, which provides a level of confidence for all participants in the transaction that the deal is properly authorized, and unlikely to turn into demand for refund or, even worse, a [chargeback](https://blog.basistheory.com/using-ai-to-prevent-chargebacks).

[Return to Top](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payment-protocols-for-a-merchant#TOC)

## What are the risks of bringing agentic protocols into payments?

Anyone who has ever used AI for anything knows that it can, on occasion, do unexpected things. These are often called [hallucinations](https://mitsloanedtech.mit.edu/ai/basics/addressing-ai-hallucinations-and-bias/), although they are technically just statistical errors driven by the methods used to create AI. A project run by the University of California, Berkeley, for instance, was intended to identify [pandas in pictures](https://www.sify.com/ai-analytics/the-hilarious-and-horrifying-hallucinations-of-ai/), but ended up seeing them where none existed because it was using statistical methods to find likely examples, and the elements of the incorrect photos were just close enough to trigger a positive response.

Once AI enters into the purchasing process, however, the impact can go from whimsical to financially ruinous swiftly. An AI agent for Air Canada, for instance, [told a customer](https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240222-air-canada-chatbot-misinformation-what-travellers-should-know) he could apply for a bereavement discount after booking his flight, a policy that didn’t exist. When he took the airline to British Columbia’s Civil Resolution Tribunal in 2024, Air Canada lost.

Meanwhile, a study by [Visa](https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/gemini/articles/ai-agents-went-shopping-tvs-120000960.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA3VAqEJqwGOhGGAPw8VZnln-ThY4H8JjxCDyL6xURBIYHDbz9HCr50TLiB26FuIRKs7GvAul0z4OnKg0cxOTJrRF8P5vWkn6y7n_9yS-OM19_UXg2vlrSNoI4YSiXx_ot_BeVgkffpTHu8KJjV-peSS-fBwdwOYKJH_I9_GaTxR) found that 42.8% of the time, when shopping agents were dispatched to buy relatively simple items, they failed.

And once an agent buys something it shouldn’t have, the trouble can kick in: the agent’s user may not realize that the fault is on their end and try to get a refund, run into resistance by the merchant, and then move to filing a [chargeback](https://blog.basistheory.com/reducing-chargebacks). With the [increased scrutiny](https://blog.basistheory.com/visa-acquirer-monitoring-program-2026-updates) by credit card companies on chargeback rates by merchants, this can be a headache that can turn into significant downstream cost rapidly.

Long story short: merchants need not only to look at the technical challenges of implementing agentic protocols to allow for agentic commerce; they also need to spend substantial time working through their processes for customer management in a world where an autonomous agent may be initiating transactions.

[Return to Top](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payment-protocols-for-a-merchant#TOC)

## Which agentic payment protocols are safest for merchants?

There is no one answer to which agentic protocol delivers the least [risk](https://blog.basistheory.com/risk-assessment-for-merchants) to merchants looking to get into the business of agentic commerce, but there is an argument that the safest options are

- AP2: the confirmed and signed mandates provide a clear and defensible record of the process through which the transaction was made. While customers may still request a refund, they cannot easily argue that the purchase was made without authorization. Merchants should still provide a clear [pathway](https://blog.basistheory.com/chargeback-fraud-unmasked) for customer service in the event an agent has ‘gone rogue’, but can be fairly confident of fighting back errant chargebacks.
- ACP: the fact that the customer must confirm each purchase prior to the agent authorizing the purchase puts the responsibility firmly back on the human. Once again, though, merchants cannot necessarily see the interfaces that the agents are presenting to their customers, and should be prepared with [standard operating procedures](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-a-standard-operating-procedure-SOP/842435/) for dealing with customers who unwittingly follow the advice of agents that are not acting as expected.

Whichever protocol an agent uses, the merchant still has to accept a payment credential, charge it through a payment service provider (PSP) and keep what it needs for refunds, repeat purchases and disputes. Supporting several protocols at once, without pulling more card data into your environment or tying each protocol to a single processor, is a data problem as much as a protocol problem.

A payment vault lets merchants tokenize the credentials agents present, keep sensitive data out of their own systems and route each transaction to the processor that fits.

Be sure your checkout is ready when the agents come shopping. [Basis Theory AI](https://basistheory.ai/) explains how merchants can tokenize agent-presented credentials, keep sensitive data out of their systems, and route each transaction to the right processor. [Here’s how it works](https://developers.basistheory.com/docs/features/agentic?__hstc=48678201.fff3ea62c0377cad9b4ae850e75213d0.1790878999454.1790894800239.1794496261731.3&__hssc=48678201.2.1794496261731&__hsfp=98c2e53f0a15279d760bd1c5e2f484c5&_gl=1*1o35gbm*_gcl_au*MTc0MzA0OTIxNy4xNzkwODc4OTk5*_ga*NjYyMjA1NDQzLjE3OTA4Nzg5OTk.*_ga_CVTJZHL7Y2*czE3OTQ0OTYyNjEkbzQkZzEkdDE3OTQ0OTYyNzkkajQyJGwwJGgyODU1NDI5Mjk.).

[Return to Top](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payment-protocols-for-a-merchant#TOC)

[![View an Interactive Demo   See how the Basis Theory platform secures payment data and significantly reduces PCI compliance burden from day 1.  ](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/22332934/interactive-171495116167.png)](https://blog.basistheory.com/hs/cta/wi/redirect?encryptedPayload=AVxigLIt3MPWo%2BW1at8awP9u5mohdIVBbA%2Fa1c9LCgNMATq5j300cSYky%2FZU36KEjCEseGWmAzPxMzREFn3IhQgdZK0tavKJQNHlX0c552wmZtBr4pWUjDGWHqSUEkWDYrvRk2wZKWHMnO8qXAJpmf0%2F64S%2BJDSNrmTYG8dqyLcdz%2FDpACSm3mJZ7fxsHTES52rG3iYWVnt5UBIdhReZ1r5rulc5Xf8%2FAxPZAiYkLpSUIPS77rhxYPPHXA%3D%3D&webInteractiveContentId=171495116167&portalId=22332934)

## Related posts

[![What are agentic payments?](https://blog.basistheory.com/hubfs/What%20are%20agentic%20payments_.png)](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payments-work-for-merchants)

[Payments](https://blog.basistheory.com/tag/payments)

### [Making Agentic Payments Work for Merchants](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payments-work-for-merchants)

![Picture of Basis Theory](https://blog.basistheory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/bt-favicon-new.png?width=50&name=bt-favicon-new.png) [Basis Theory](https://blog.basistheory.com/author/basis-theory-team) 

 May 15, 2025

[Read more](https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payments-work-for-merchants)

[![Accepting Agent Payments](https://blog.basistheory.com/hubfs/Accepting%20Agentic%20Payments.webp)](https://blog.basistheory.com/accepting-agent-payments)

[Product](https://blog.basistheory.com/tag/product)

### [How to Get Started Accepting Agent Payments](https://blog.basistheory.com/accepting-agent-payments)

![Picture of Basis Theory](https://blog.basistheory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/bt-favicon-new.png?width=50&name=bt-favicon-new.png) [Basis Theory](https://blog.basistheory.com/author/basis-theory-team) 

 September 8, 2026

[Read more](https://blog.basistheory.com/accepting-agent-payments)

[![Merchant of Record vs. Non-MOR](https://blog.basistheory.com/hubfs/Merchant%20of%20Record%20versus%20non-MOR%20models%20in%20agentic%20commerce-1.webp)](https://blog.basistheory.com/merchant-of-record-for-agentic-commerce)

[Payments](https://blog.basistheory.com/tag/payments)

### [Merchant of Record vs. Non-MOR: How Agentic Commerce Changes the Decision](https://blog.basistheory.com/merchant-of-record-for-agentic-commerce)

![Picture of Basis Theory](https://blog.basistheory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/bt-favicon-new.png?width=50&name=bt-favicon-new.png) [Basis Theory](https://blog.basistheory.com/author/basis-theory-team) 

 September 1, 2026

[Read more](https://blog.basistheory.com/merchant-of-record-for-agentic-commerce)

## Stay Connected

### Receive the latest updates straight to your inbox

### Follow on Social

<https://www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=colinthomasluce>

[![BTLogo (1)](https://blog.basistheory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BTLogo%20(1).png?width=138&height=46&name=BTLogo%20(1).png "BTLogo (1)")](https://basistheory.com)

- Use Cases 
    - [Creator Economy](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/creator-economy)
    - [Digital Health](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/health)
    - [E-Commerce](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/ecommerce)
    - [Fintech](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/fintech)
    - [Gaming](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/gaming)
    - [Remittance](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/remittance)
    - [Subscription Platforms](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/subscriptions)
    - [Online Travel Agencies](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/travel)
    - [Vertical SaaS](https://basistheory.com/use-cases/vsaas)
- Developers 
    - [Quickstart](https://developers.basistheory.com/getting-started)
    - [Elements](https://developers.basistheory.com/docs/sdks/web/javascript)
    - [Documentation](https://developers.basistheory.com/)
- Basis Theory 
    - [Pricing](https://basistheory.com/pricing)
    - [Add-Ons](https://basistheory.com/add-ons)
    - [ROI Calculator](https://go.basistheory.com/roi)
    - [Case Studies](https://blog.basistheory.com/case-studies)
    - [Blog](https://blog.basistheory.com)
    - [Contact](https://basistheory.com/contact)
- Other 
    - [Terms and Conditions](https://basistheory.com/resources/terms-of-service)
    - [Privacy Policy](https://basistheory.com/resources/privacy-policy)
    - [Cookie Policy](https://basistheory.com/resources/cookie-policy)
    - [Security](https://basistheory.com/security)
    - [System Status](https://status.basistheory.com/)
- Compare 
    - [Basis Theory Vs. Evervault](https://go.basistheory.com/evervault-alternative)
    - [Basis Theory Vs. IXOPAY](https://go.basistheory.com/alternative-to-ixopay)
    - [Basis Theory Vs. VGS](https://go.basistheory.com/compare/very-good-security)

---

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Basis Theory",
    "url" : "https://blog.basistheory.com/author/basis-theory-team"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2026-11-12T15:27:50.934Z",
  "datePublished" : "2026-11-12T15:27:41.000Z",
  "headline" : "Agentic Payment Protocols for a Merchant",
  "image" : [ "https://blog.basistheory.com/hubfs/AI%20Protocols.webp" ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://blog.basistheory.com/agentic-payment-protocols-for-a-merchant",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://blog.basistheory.com/hubfs/BTLogo%20(1).png"
    },
    "name" : "Basis Theory"
  }
}
```