Ebay Bans AI “Buy For Me” Agents To Protect Human Auction Integrity

eBay has officially banned autonomous AI shopping agents from its marketplace, updating its user agreement on January 20, 2026, to prohibit “buy-for-me” bots and LLM-driven flows that place orders without human review.

 The move, which takes legal effect for existing users on February 20, 2026, draws a sharp line in the sand against the rising tide of agentic commerce. While eBay has long banned basic scrapers, this update specifically targets reasoning models capable of negotiating deals and executing transactions, with the company warning that unauthorized automation in the checkout process may now lead to legal action.

The ban is a strategic defense against the “machine-to-machine” commerce model currently being championed by Google and Amazon. Just weeks ago, Google launched its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard designed to let AI agents handle the entire shopping journey from discovery to payment.

While retailers like Target and Walmart have signed on to Google’s vision, eBay remains resistant. Industry analysts suggest eBay’s business model is particularly vulnerable to bots because it relies on “final value fees” from high-priced auctions; bots programmed to snipe items at the lowest possible price could significantly erode the company’s commissions.

Despite the ban on third-party bots, eBay is not abandoning AI entirely. The company is currently piloting its own “AI Shopping Assistant” to provide personalized recommendations within its app, alongside a partnership with OpenAI to test the “Operator” agent.

 This suggests a “walled garden” approach where eBay allows its own AI to guide users but blocks external agents that bypass the site’s ads and upsell opportunities. The updated user agreement also includes a clarified class action waiver, making it harder for users to challenge these new automated restrictions in court.

As of Thursday, January 22, the e-commerce sector is split between those embracing an “agent-first” future and those fighting to keep humans at the center of the transaction. Amazon recently issued a similar cease-and-desist to the AI firm Perplexity, signaling that the world’s largest marketplaces are unwilling to become “background utilities” for third-party software.

For eBay users, the message is clear: if you want to win an auction in 2026, you still need to be the one clicking the “Place Bid” button.