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   Amazons AI is shopping on your behalf where it's not supposed to  and   
   retailers arent happy   
      
   Date:   
   Fri, 09 Jan 2026 01:50:31 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Amazons AI-powered Buy for Me service is stirring controversy by placing   
   orders from retailers who say they never agreed to be part of the program   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   Amazons latest experiment in AI-powered shopping may be helping you find the   
   perfect purchase by running roughshod over third-party businesses. The Shop   
   Direct and Buy for Me features that Amazon began testing last year streamline   
   the process of finding and buying items that Amazon may not have in its   
   inventory.    
      
   If you click the Buy for Me button, Amazons system uses information pulled   
   from a brands public website to place the order on your behalf using your   
   details. From the shoppers point of view, it feels like you're just buying   
   something on Amazon. But, from the retailers point of view, Amazon just    
   walked into their store uninvited and started ringing up customers.    
      
   In recent weeks, online retailers have begun complaining to Amazon and    
   sharing stories on social media about how they were never asked if they    
   wanted to participate. Some say they didnt even know the program existed    
   until orders began landing in their inboxes from unfamiliar buyforme.amazon   
   email addresses. Others say Amazon listed products that were out of stock or   
   never intended for direct-to-consumer sales.   
      
   You might not have noticed if you're just shopping on Amazon. You search for   
   something, see a product that looks legitimate, and the purchase all happens   
   in the background. The aggravation is all on the retailer side of things.    
      
   "Products I dont even have anymore (like fully deleted from the back end) are   
   being sold under this shop stores directly section of the app," one retailer   
   related on Reddit. They use AI images of items that arent mine, and   
   authorizing orders to my site for items that are out of stock. I did not opt   
   in to this nor is there an easy way to opt out."    
      
   Amazon has said the AI tool isn't doing anything untoward since the listings   
   are based on publicly available product and pricing information. The system    
   is also supposed to check that items are in stock and correctly priced before   
   offering them to customers. Should there be an issue, Amazon has an email   
   address listed for merchants to send an opt-out request.   
      
   AI shopper sneaking in   
      
   Putting the burden of avoiding Amazon's AI agent on the third-party brands   
   understandably annoys some of those retailers. Plus, it doesn't help them    
   with the orders already placed. Not to mention the businesses that   
   intentionally stay away from Amazon for financial or marketing reasons might   
   not like being dragged onto the platform by ambitious AI shoppers.    
      
   And that's even before considering accuracy issues like the one described by   
   the Reddit post. AI systems are only as good as the data they ingest, and if   
   Amazon uses outdated or mismatched products and images, it's the brand    
   getting the order that has to scramble to explain.    
      
   There's an extra element of irony in this situation since Amazon has pushed   
   hard against any external AI agents scraping its own platform for data. It   
   outright blocks bots from Google, OpenAI, and Perplexity. Now, Amazon itself   
   is using AI to scrape other retailers sites in the name of convenience.    
      
   For shoppers, this contradiction mostly fades into the background. Its easy    
   to imagine how appealing an AI shopper finding products and comparing prices   
   across the internet might be.  But after years of companies scraping public   
   information with little pushback, having the process directly tied to AI   
   purchasing might make the problems more tangible, and Amazon's AI shoppers    
   may have to start knocking and announcing themselves before they take over    
   the register.    
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/amazons-ai-is-shopping-on-yo   
   ur-behalf-where-its-not-supposed-to-and-retailers-arent-happy   
      
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