Ecommpay has published research showing that half of consumers would not trust an AI agent with their card details. The study covered shoppers and merchants across five European countries.
The findings highlight a gap between growing awareness of agentic commerce and willingness to let software complete a payment. While 59.2% of consumer respondents said they had heard of using agents for online purchases, only 13.9% said they wanted an agent to complete purchases with their approval.
The white paper drew on a survey of 1,750 consumers in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, alongside interviews with merchants. It examined how consumers already use AI, how familiar they are with shopping agents, and how comfortable they feel with different stages of the purchase process.
Consumers appeared most comfortable using AI earlier in the buying journey. The research found that 53.3% use AI agents to compare prices, while 47.1% use them to find discounts or better deals.
Confidence weakened when payments were involved. The report found that 50.1% would not trust an agent with their card details, while 17.8% use agents to place items in a basket but still complete checkout themselves.
Even so, many respondents expect wider use of the technology. Some 73.4% said agentic shopping will become common, suggesting familiarity with the concept is advancing faster than trust in handing over payment authority.
Trust barrier
Roy Blokker, Head of Strategic Sales at Ecommpay, said the central issue is confidence at the moment money changes hands rather than a lack of awareness of the technology.
"Our research suggests that the biggest barrier to agentic commerce adoption is not consumer awareness or merchant interest; it's trust at the point of payment.
"Consumers are happy to use AI to search and compare products and prices; many are already using it in their daily lives. But trust drops sharply when asked if they will allow agents to handle card details or complete purchases."
"The payments ecosystem - from merchants to PSPs - needs to focus on nurturing consumer trust if it is to benefit from the commercial opportunities of agentic commerce. Some merchants are already building agentic commerce into their own platforms, where they have more control over the checkout experience. But the big question will come when merchants allow AI platforms to offer a checkout facility."
"There is also work to be done in building merchant confidence. Uncertainty around liability when something goes wrong, as well as how chargebacks and disputes will be managed, was evident throughout the merchant interviews," Blokker said.
The research also indicated that consumers may accept limited delegated spending more readily than unrestricted payments. According to Ecommpay, 24.2% would allow an agent to complete purchases in the £50-£100 or €50-€100 range.
That points to a possible middle ground for merchants testing the model, with agents handling product discovery or basket-building before consumers approve the final transaction. For retailers and payment providers, the challenge will be how to move from that assisted model to one in which an agent can complete a purchase without undermining customer confidence.
Merchant concerns
Merchant interviews highlighted questions around operational risk as well as customer behaviour. Businesses raised uncertainty over liability when transactions go wrong and how chargebacks and disputes would be handled if an autonomous or semi-autonomous agent had played a role in the purchase.
Those concerns matter because payment disputes can be expensive and difficult to resolve even in conventional eCommerce. Introducing an AI agent into the chain creates additional questions about who gave authority, whether a payment mandate was clear, and which party bears responsibility if goods are bought in error.
The report also highlighted concerns about vulnerable consumers. It cited research from the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the UK Payments Association showing that 42% of the most vulnerable respondents said they had been unable to complete a banking or payment task because an AI-powered or digital tool did not work.
That finding adds a regulatory and reputational dimension for merchants and payment firms. If shopping agents and AI-driven payment tools become more common, companies will need to show that customers who struggle with digital interfaces are not excluded from completing essential transactions.
Blokker said merchants will need practical safeguards before broader adoption can take hold.
"More than any single technical development, our research suggests adoption will depend on merchants trusting the solution: clear authority, visible controls, secure payment flows and reliable fallback routes. Already holding a strong position of trust, payment service providers (PSPs) are ready to support identity proofing, transaction mandates, authentication, fraud prevention and dispute management".
"PSPs are the connective tissue between merchants, consumers, banks and schemes - perfectly placed to deliver the vital trust layer that will secure consumer confidence and empower merchants to succeed within agentic commerce," Blokker said.