AI agents have started paying directly for products and services online, but it remains unclear who will decide on refunds and disputes and who will be held responsible after a transaction.

On Oct. 9 local time, blockchain outlet CryptoSlate said Amazon's Bedrock AgentCore Payments uses payment infrastructure from Coinbase and Stripe to let AI agents find paid services, complete authentication and make payments. It uses stablecoins and the x402 protocol within preset limits.

The problem comes after payment. Even if funds are delivered properly, it still takes separate judgement to determine whether the promised service was provided as agreed. Edgars Nemse, chief executive of the GenLayer Foundation, pointed out that while it is possible to clearly verify that money moved, it is hard to judge from payment records alone whether the outcome matches the request.

Regulators are also focusing on where responsibility lies. The Reserve Bank of Australia said in a payments consultation summary released on Oct. 6 that it raised concerns that responsibility is unclear when AI agents act beyond their authority, involving merchants, payment service providers and card issuers. It is difficult for payment networks to verify whether an agent actually followed a customer's instructions, and merchants could face higher costs. The summary also mentioned cases where purchases made through AI carried an additional 4 percent cost.

Another burden is that raising disputes could become easier. Nemse said the existing dispute-handling system relies on the reality that many consumers give up objections because of complex procedures. AI agents, he said, could carry out that process at low cost, which could sharply increase the number of disputes.

The burden of handling complaints is already growing. Complaints received by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau doubled to 6.6 million in 2025. The CFPB also warned that large language models and autonomous software could submit large volumes of duplicate complaints.

Chargeback costs for card payment cancellations and refunds are also significant. Mastercard forecast global chargeback cases would reach 324 million in 2028. The per-case processing cost for U.S. merchants in 2026 was put at $128. That figure reflects only internal processing costs and external fees, and does not include losses of the product or service itself.

On the other hand, it could become an opportunity for small merchants to secure new customers. Nemse said AI agents can search for sellers based on how well they meet consumer needs rather than on advertising exposure. Shopify is also moving toward allowing payments by browser-based AI shopping agents.

Current major payment technologies focus on purchase approval and authority verification. Google's AP2, Mastercard's Agent Pay and Visa's Intelligent Commerce use signed delegation information, tokenised authentication data, spending limits and agent identity checks. They can prove what consumers instructed and allowed, but the question of judging whether a seller delivered the promised outcome remains.

The core of the debate lies not in payment technology but in the dispute-resolution structure. For AI-agent commerce to expand more broadly, automating the approval stage is not enough, and a neutral process is also needed to judge whether outcomes were delivered.