On February 20, eBay’s updated user agreement goes into effect, banning third-party AI agents that autonomously buy for consumers, targeting the emerging “buy-for-me” tools designed to handle discovery, decisioning, and checkout.

• At the same time, eBay is allowing select pre-approved agents with “the prior express permission of eBay.”
• This likely includes OpenAI, which eBay has already partnered with on Operator, an AI agent that interacts directly with users looking to purchase eBay.

eBay isn’t alone in trying to control agent interactions. Across the industry, platforms are taking different approaches; some, like Walmart, are opening their ecosystems to AI agents, others, like Amazon, tightening access.

“We’re still in the wild west,” said Juan Pellerano Rendón, CMO of Swap Commerce. “Some companies are allowing agents to crawl. Some are putting walls and saying no.”

Restricting agent access may buy time, but it doesn’t necessarily offer a long-term advantage.

“You might put the levees up for now, but the water is going to come over at some point and then, you’re going to have to put the guard down,” said Pellerano Rendón.

A wait-and-see strategy

What looks like selectivity from the outside may be a cautious attempt to manage risk.

“[eBay] will publicly say it’s both. But in my view, it’s a move to protect themselves,” said Pellerano Rendón. “No one’s really sure how having agents crawl your site will be beneficial or not.”

That uncertainty is common across marketplaces and retailers. While agentic commerce has been developing in the background for years, attention only recently shifted as brands emerged from what Pellerano Rendón described as a “whirlwind” of tariffs, trade wars, and supply chain shifts.

“This year will be the tipping point where it really does become super prevalent in how we shop and how we interact with commerce,” he said. “But it will be something that happens slowly and then all at once.”

Where consumers will let agents lead

Even as platforms debate access, consumer adoption is moving ahead, even if selectively.

• “I think where you’ll see consumers start to get comfortable and adopt the quickest is more utilitarian items like groceries or basic fashion staples,” Pellerano Rendón said.
• He noted that consumers might use it to find the best deals, enabling agents to buy for them if they see an item at a certain price.
• That focus on deal-seeking and price thresholds is especially relevant for marketplaces like eBay, where discovery and timing already shape purchasing behavior.

Over time, industry leaders expect agentic AI to become embedded in every part of shopping behavior.

“Agentic AI is poised to transform commerce, starting with agents anticipating needs, streamlining checkout, and embedding security so consumers don’t need to type in their card details,” said Pablo Fourez, chief digital officer at Mastercard. “AI agents will be able to autofill details, apply rewards, and complete payments interfacing with platforms consumers already use.”

But this next phase of adoption will depend on whether AI agents can deliver a seamless end-to-end shopping experience, not just marginal convenience.

“Where progress will take longer is building confidence in utility: Ensuring consumers and merchants trust that agent-intermediated flows are error-free, secure, and authenticated,” said Fourez.

The bottom line: As February 20 approaches, eBay’s updated user agreement underscores the reality retail is facing: Agentic commerce is coming, but platforms want to control the terms.

• By banning autonomous “buy-for-me” agents while allowing select, approved partners, eBay is signaling that access, not adoption, is the next competitive battleground.
• Over time, the question will shift from whether agents should be allowed to buy on consumers’ behalf to who decides which agents are trusted to do so.

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