eBay updates terms to bar unauthorized AI shopping agents

eBay updated its User Agreement to explicitly ban third-party “buy for me” agents and AI chatbots from interacting with its platform without permission, a change first spotted by Value Added Resource.

The one-line update, which goes into effect on February 20, 2026, specifically prohibits users from employing “buy-for-me agents, LLM-driven bots, or any end-to-end flow that attempts to place orders without human review” to access eBay’s services without the site’s permission. The previous version of the agreement contained a general prohibition on robots, spiders, scrapers, and automated data gathering tools but did not mention AI agents or LLMs by name.

eBay framed the change against the rapid emergence of what some call “agentic commerce,” AI tools designed to browse, compare, and purchase products on behalf of users. The tools are already here: OpenAI added shopping features to ChatGPT Search in April 2025 and launched Instant Checkout by September, which lets users buy items from Etsy and Shopify merchants directly within the chat interface.

The updated terms ban such interactions without the site’s permission and take effect February 20, 2026. In November, eBay CEO Jamie Iannone suggested the company might join OpenAI’s Instant Checkout program in the future.

Key Topics

Tech, Ebay, Agentic Commerce, Openai, Chatgpt, Instant Checkout