Amazon’s latest foray into leveraging AI for shopping has drawn criticism from numerous online retailers who claim their products are being listed and even sold on the e-commerce giant’s platform without their explicit consent. This move, particularly through features like “Shop Direct” and the “Buy for Me” AI agent, is sparking debate about data scraping, unauthorized product listings, and the broader implications of generative AI in e-commerce.
“Shop Direct,” currently in a testing phase for some U.S. users, allows consumers to discover and browse items from external brands’ websites directly within Amazon’s ecosystem. The accompanying “Buy for Me” feature employs AI to act on behalf of shoppers, purchasing products from these third-party sites. Amazon has positioned these tools as a means to expand product discovery, enabling shoppers to find virtually any item, even those not directly sold on Amazon’s own marketplace. This strategy aligns with Amazon’s increasing reliance on third-party sellers, who now account for over 60% of sales on its platform.
However, the rollout has triggered a backlash. Recent online discussions on platforms like Reddit and Instagram reveal a growing number of businesses expressing their objections. Retailers report instances where their products were listed by Amazon through these new features, sometimes featuring items they don’t stock or that are out of inventory.
Hitchcock Paper, a stationery shop based in Virginia, shared on Instagram its discovery of being part of the program when it began receiving orders for a stress ball, a product it does not sell, originating from a “buyforme.amazon” email address. This highlights a potential disconnect between Amazon’s AI’s understanding of a retailer’s inventory and the actual offerings.
Similarly, Angie Chua, CEO of Bobo Design Studio, which sells stationery and journaling accessories via its Shopify website and a physical store, reported receiving orders from Amazon’s “Buy for Me” agent without having opted into the program. While she was able to have her products removed after contacting Amazon, Chua described the experience as feeling “exploited,” noting, “We were forced to be dropshippers on a platform that we have made a conscious decision not to be part of.” This sentiment underscores a core concern for many small and medium-sized businesses: being unwillingly integrated into Amazon’s fulfillment chain.
Chua has since been contacted by over 180 businesses operating on platforms such as Shopify, Squarespace, and WooCommerce, who have reported similar unauthorized listings of their products on Amazon.
An Amazon spokesperson stated that “Shop Direct” and “Buy for Me” are designed to help customers discover products and enable businesses to reach new customers and drive sales, adding that the programs have “received positive feedback.” The company also emphasized that businesses can opt out by emailing [email protected], with prompt removal from these programs. Amazon maintains that its systems verify product and pricing information from publicly available sources on brand websites, and that stock availability and price accuracy are checked.
The “Buy for Me” feature is currently considered an “experiment” by Amazon, and the company does not collect commissions on purchases made through it. Since its launch, the number of products available via “Buy for Me” has expanded significantly, from 65,000 to over 500,000.
This initiative is part of a broader strategic push by Amazon into the realm of e-commerce agents—a burgeoning area of AI technology with the potential to fundamentally alter online shopping behaviors. Major tech players like OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity are also developing and releasing features that allow consumers to make purchases without leaving chatbot interfaces.
Amazon, while actively blocking numerous external agents from accessing its site, is simultaneously investing heavily in its own AI capabilities. This includes the development of its shopping chatbot, Rufus, which has incorporated agentic functionalities. The company’s approach to competing AI agents has been assertive; in November, Amazon filed a lawsuit against Perplexity over an agent within its Comet browser that facilitated purchases on behalf of users. Amazon alleged that Perplexity attempted to “conceal” its agents to scrape its website without authorization, a claim Perplexity has dismissed as a “bully tactic.”
The conflict highlights a critical tension in the rapidly evolving AI landscape: the drive for innovation and expanded consumer convenience versus the need for established businesses and marketplaces to maintain control over their data, product listings, and customer relationships. As AI agents become more sophisticated, the lines between browsing, discovery, and automated purchasing are blurring, posing significant challenges for online retailers and raising fundamental questions about consent, data ownership, and the future of e-commerce.
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