eBay Joins Amazon in the Great AI Shop-Bot Ban

eBay has joined Amazon in drawing a clear line against AI-powered shopping bots, and it did so the way large marketplaces usually handle uncomfortable changes: quietly, in the fine print.

In an update to its user agreement posted on January 20, eBay added language explicitly prohibiting “buy-for-me agents, LLM-driven bots, or any end-to-end flow that attempts to place orders without human review,” unless the company grants prior approval. In other words, autonomous AI agents can browse all they want, but they can’t complete a purchase on their own.

While the policy update didn’t come with a press release, the intent is hard to miss. eBay is formally shutting the door on agentic commerce…at least for now.

Following Amazon’s Playbook

eBay’s move closely mirrors actions already taken by Amazon, which recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to AI startup Perplexity over the use of autonomous shopping agents. Amazon’s message was blunt: Automated bots placing orders are not welcome on its platform.

eBay is now effectively saying the same thing, just with more legal language and less public drama.

Both companies already prohibit bots, scrapers, and automated access in general terms. What’s new is the specific targeting of AI agents designed to search, evaluate, and purchase products on a user’s behalf, the core idea behind “agentic commerce.”

Why Marketplaces Are Nervous About Agentic Commerce

Advocates of agentic shopping imagine a future where consumers describe what they want and set a price, and an AI agent handles the rest. Some envision simple price-watching bots, while firms like McKinsey describe far more advanced systems that anticipate needs, negotiate deals, and execute purchases autonomously.

That vision is attractive for shoppers. It’s much less appealing for marketplaces.

If AI agents handle purchasing decisions, users no longer need to browse product pages, compare listings manually, or interact with promoted placements. That means fewer ad impressions, fewer upsells, and less opportunity to influence buying behavior — all core components of marketplace revenue.

Marketplaces would also need to support machine-to-machine interfaces, potentially increasing infrastructure costs while reducing the effectiveness of traditional monetization levers.

Fees Are Part of the Equation

There’s also a straightforward economic reason eBay might be wary of AI shoppers.

eBay earns money through a final value fee that scales with the sale price. Higher prices mean higher fees. Auctions that attract competitive bidding benefit the platform financially.

Autonomous bots, by contrast, are designed to optimize for price and efficiency. They don’t bid emotionally, chase scarcity signals, or “just grab” a slightly more expensive option. If widely adopted, AI bidding and buying agents could push prices down, and with them, eBay’s take.

From that perspective, restricting agentic shopping isn’t just about security or platform integrity. It’s also about protecting how the marketplace makes money.

AI Is Welcome — Just Not at Checkout

Notably, eBay isn’t anti-AI overall. Like most major platforms, it actively promotes AI tools that help sellers write listings, optimize pricing, and improve discovery. What it’s resisting is AI that removes humans from the purchasing loop entirely.

That same pattern is emerging across eCommerce. AI is encouraged as an assistant, an optimizer, or a recommendation engine, but not as a fully autonomous buyer.

What This Signals for the Industry

eBay’s updated policy doesn’t affect casual buyers today, but it sends a clear signal to AI startups and platform builders: autonomous shopping agents won’t be easily welcomed by incumbent marketplaces.

As AI capabilities improve, the tension between consumer convenience and platform control is only going to increase. For now, though, the largest marketplaces are aligned on one point:

If a purchase is happening, a human still needs to click “Buy.”

Agentic commerce may still arrive, but it likely won’t be rolled out with the blessing of the platforms it disrupts first.