eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update • Hacker News Board

Re: eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update

#21

Post by akersten » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 10:05 PM UTC

subroutine wrote: post #20

What is the use case for LLM agent shoppers? I can't imagine delegating the purchase of a used item to an AI (I'd be okay with AI identifying the best deals for me to review). This must be something for people who are doing something at scale like flipping items on Ebay or drop shipping. I imagine this type of automation existed before LLM agents came along - what do they add? Is it just the ability to evaluate the p…

Does it need a known and enumerated use case to be allowed? I don't like that implication.

An AI that shops for a blind user, for one free example of the untold and unexplored uses of new technology.

Re: eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update

#22

Post by jsheard » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 10:07 PM UTC

whyenot wrote: post #12

So scraping bots and “buy for me” bots are bad, but the incredibly annoying sniping bots are OK? That sure feels like a double standard.

What's the point of sniping bots when eBay has automatic bidding? Counter-sniping is essentially built-in, if your price ceiling is higher then a snipers then you're guaranteed to win even if they bid at the last millisecond.

Re: eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update

#23

Post by pishpash » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 10:07 PM UTC

whyenot wrote: post #12

So scraping bots and “buy for me” bots are bad, but the incredibly annoying sniping bots are OK? That sure feels like a double standard.

Scraping and buy for me bots cut out eBay. Sniping bots don't.

Re: eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update

#24

Post by j45 » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 10:11 PM UTC

whyenot wrote: post #12

So scraping bots and “buy for me” bots are bad, but the incredibly annoying sniping bots are OK? That sure feels like a double standard.

This was my thought as well, sniping bots have been around for as long as ebay has. Perhaps though, the sniping bots don't cause as much load on ebay's infrastructure?

Re: eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update

#25

Post by noman-land » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 10:14 PM UTC

jsheard wrote: post #22

whyenot wrote: post #12

So scraping bots and “buy for me” bots are bad, but the incredibly annoying sniping bots are OK? That sure feels like a double standard.

What's the point of sniping bots when eBay has automatic bidding? Counter-sniping is essentially built-in, if your price ceiling is higher then a snipers then you're guaranteed to win even if they bid at the last millisecond.

The act of bidding itself shows interest and raises the price.

Re: eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update

#26

Post by pishpash » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 10:15 PM UTC

jsheard wrote: post #22

whyenot wrote: post #12

So scraping bots and “buy for me” bots are bad, but the incredibly annoying sniping bots are OK? That sure feels like a double standard.

What's the point of sniping bots when eBay has automatic bidding? Counter-sniping is essentially built-in, if your price ceiling is higher then a snipers then you're guaranteed to win even if they bid at the last millisecond.

Auto bid isn't the same as sniping. Sniping hides information about demand. Auto bid can't hide information as soon as there is another bidder.

Re: eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update

#27

Post by drnick1 » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 10:16 PM UTC

yieldcrv wrote: post #3

not the User Agreement! Impossible to enforce, they can read browser windows and pass captchas

This. These kinds of "rules" are basically useless because they are not enforceable. It's exactly like having speed limits but no cops.

Re: eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update

#28

Post by pishpash » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 10:18 PM UTC

noman-land wrote: post #25

jsheard wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the point of sniping bots when eBay has automatic bidding? Counter-sniping is essentially built-in, if your price ceiling is higher then a snipers then you're guaranteed to win even if they bid at the last millisecond.

The act of bidding itself shows interest and raises the price.

Auto bid raises the price to the second highest price among auto bidders, basically running an instant second-price auction. Sniping avoids running these pre-close auctions.

Re: eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update

#29

Post by CompuHacker » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 10:18 PM UTC

noman-land wrote: post #25

jsheard wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the point of sniping bots when eBay has automatic bidding? Counter-sniping is essentially built-in, if your price ceiling is higher then a snipers then you're guaranteed to win even if they bid at the last millisecond.

The act of bidding itself shows interest and raises the price.

The act of viewing the item page in itself demonstrates activity and is relayed to other users; leaking information about, not necessarily intent, but awareness. If you want something, figure out the details without actually clicking on it.

Re: eBay explicitly bans AI "buy for me" agents in user agreement update

#30

Post by pishpash » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 10:21 PM UTC

subroutine wrote: post #20

What is the use case for LLM agent shoppers? I can't imagine delegating the purchase of a used item to an AI (I'd be okay with AI identifying the best deals for me to review). This must be something for people who are doing something at scale like flipping items on Ebay or drop shipping. I imagine this type of automation existed before LLM agents came along - what do they add? Is it just the ability to evaluate the p…

How do ticket scalpers make money? It's an automation war. You can run arbitrage strategies at scale if you can scrape markets with bots that understand unstructured data. Even if trades go wrong sometimes it can be profitable on average.