eBay becomes the first major shopping platform to ban AI agents
eBay has been one of the largest e-shopping platforms for decades, but with a twist: instead of selling the products itself, it’s more of an auction platform. The e-commerce company is now moving to confront what it sees as a new challenge: “agentic shopping” and other aggressive AI-powered bots that compete with human users who pay to use the platform.
Beginning February 20, 2026, eBay will formally ban chatbots and AI agents from operating on its auction site. The company plans to revise its user agreement to include a specific update addressing the use of “automated means” to access eBay’s services. This step was welcomed by many, as automated tools have plagued the platform for years now.
The policy change was announced in a recent email sent to users. Under the updated agreement, eBay strengthens its anti-scraping rules and explicitly prohibits artificial intelligence systems, large language models, and other automated tools designed to place purchase orders without direct human involvement. According to the email, any AI-based system seeking to operate on the platform must first obtain eBay’s explicit approval.
These changes follow earlier updates to eBay’s robots.txt file, which now explicitly signals that bots and AI technologies are not welcome. “Checkouts are strictly for human users,” the file states.
Perhaps disappointingly, the changes are mostly legal, with execution being a whole other issue. The revised user agreement creates a meaningful legal obstacle for automated crawlers run by large technology firms or AI startups, but such obstacles are usually ignored by malicious actors.
AI-driven shopping may appear impractical to many, and its real-world value remains unclear, but some users are already testing such tools. So-called agentic commerce features have been added to ChatGPT, including a checkout capability that lets users make purchases directly on platforms such as Etsy and Shopify.
