eBay bans illicit automated shopping amid rapid rise of AI agents
Summary
Ars Technica reports that eBay updated its User Agreement to ban third-party “buy for me” agents and AI chatbots from interacting with its marketplace without explicit permission. The policy, effective February 20, 2026, signals growing concern over agentic commerce and the potential legal risk of automated shopping. The article also notes that eBay may develop its own AI shopping tools with permission, and discusses the role of robots.txt changes in restricting automated access.