Key Points
- Amazon’s new “Shop Direct” feature lists products from other retailers’ websites without their permission.
- An AI agent called “Buy for Me” can purchase these items on a shopper’s behalf.
- Small business owners are angry, saying they feel “exploited” and have been forced to become dropshippers.
- Amazon says businesses can opt out, but the controversy underscores the growing influence of e-commerce platforms.
Amazon is facing backlash from small business owners who say the e-commerce giant is scraping their websites and listing their products without their consent. The controversy centers on a new feature called “Shop Direct,” which allows Amazon customers to browse and purchase items from other brands’ sites directly through the Amazon platform.
The feature includes an AI agent called “Buy for Me” that can go to another website and purchase a product on the shopper’s behalf. Amazon pitched this as a way to give customers access to items that aren’t available on its own site. However, some retailers are furious, saying they never agreed to participate in the program.
In some cases, the AI has even listed products that stores don’t carry or are out of stock. A stationery shop in Virginia said it started receiving orders for a stress ball it doesn’t even carry, all from a “buyforme.amazon” email address.
The CEO of another small business, Bobo Design Studio, said the experience left her feeling “exploited.” “We were forced to be dropshippers on a platform that we have made a conscious decision not to be part of,” she said. She has since been contacted by more than 180 other small businesses that have had the same experience.
Amazon says the program has received “positive feedback” and that businesses can opt out at any time by emailing Amazon. The company claims it pulls product information from public websites and verifies that items are in stock.
This is all part of a bigger push into e-commerce “agents,” a technology that could change how we shop online.
While Amazon is investing in its own AI tools, it has also been blocking agents from other companies and even sued the startup Perplexity for scraping its site. It seems Amazon wants to be the only AI shopping assistant, even if it means angering some small businesses it claims to be helping.
