Online flea market eBay has thrown a spanner into the works of the emerging agentic commerce movement by banning third party AI agents from shopping on its site.
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The ban effectively creates a closed-loop ecosystem that locks out independent bots from companies like Amazon and Google while keeping the door open for approved partners like OpenAI.
In early 2025, eBay became a launch partner of OpenAI’s ‘Operator’, an AI agent that is permitted to interact directly with users wanting to make purchases from eBay listings.
The ban comes into efffect next month, targeting bots that can search for items, negotiate prices, and complete transactions, often bypassing traditional user interactions.
EBay says the aim of the prohibition is to prevent instances where bots could outpace human buyers in purchasing, or engage in manipulative practices such as scalping.