US-based eBay has started blocking some third-party AI agents from browsing its platform, as reported by The Verge. The agents affected include Muse, developed by Meta. The move adds another access restriction for agentic commerce, a segment that technology companies have presented as a way to automate product discovery, travel booking, and purchasing for consumers.
A reader told the publication that they had used Muse for several weeks to compile a daily digest of watches for sale on eBay. The digest included listing links, prices, shipping details, and notes on condition or style. After some time, the agent could no longer retrieve any links or details from the retailer and reported that it had been blocked from the site. Trying to replicate the issue, The Verge introduced other search requests. In some cases, Muse sent users to external sites that mirrored eBay listings instead, and as of 12 November 2026, access appeared inconsistent.
eBay’s position on agent access
eBay had previously updated its user agreement to prohibit tools such as ‘buy-for-me agents’ and ‘LLM-driven bots’ that place orders without human review. Until recently, however, Muse could still browse the marketplace and pull listings for users.
Sybille St. Arromand, spokesperson at eBay, said that AI is being integrated across the platform for discovery, personalisation, and selling, declining to comment on whether eBay had recently introduced new limits on AI agents. The spokesperson described the company’s approach to third parties as selective and stated it had restricted agent access in certain cases, including unauthorised scraping and training on its data. Furthermore, St. Arromand noted that eBay is in discussions with potential partners and is evaluating how third-party agents could help new customers discover its inventory, while maintaining the end-to-end experience buyers and sellers expect.
After The Verge published its report, St. Arromand clarified that the restrictions do not amount to a blanket ban. eBay permits AI search, discovery, and certain agent-assisted navigation in line with its policies. It blocks unauthorised automated scraping, including data collection for model training, when detected. The company did not explain why Muse lost access, and Meta declined to comment.
Retailers position on agentic commerce
Retailers and service providers that have added AI features to their own platforms differ in how far they allow external agents in. For example, Amazon blocks external agents from browsing or shopping entirely, while Target allows agents to browse in some instances and blocks them in others. On the other hand, Shopify has opened its catalogue of 1 billion listings so that shoppers can set up agents to buy on their behalf.
Part of the challenge is that retail sites are largely designed around human shoppers and their limitations, not automated agents operating at scale. In October 2026, The Verge found that Muse could be used to hold product listings on The RealReal, a secondhand designer consignment site, by repeatedly adding items to a user’s cart. The RealReal updated its bot system after the report.
