Amazon's AI Hypocrisy: Suing Others for Scraping While Listing Small Businesses Without Consent

Amazon is under increasing scrutiny from small retailers who claim the company listed their products on its AI-powered shopping tool without permission, even as it pursues legal action against competitors for similar practices.

The controversy revolves around 'Buy for Me', an AI agent that enables shoppers to purchase products from third-party websites without leaving Amazon's platform. While the feature is promoted as a convenience for consumers, many business owners say they were never asked to participate and are now facing the consequences.

Why Small Retailers Are Furious

Angie Chua, CEO of Bobo Design Studio, discovered her stationery and journaling products being sold through Amazon's tool despite never opting in. Orders started arriving via her Shopify store from a 'buyforme.amazon' email address, effectively turning her business into an unwitting fulfilment partner.

'We were forced to be dropshippers on a platform that we have made a conscious decision not to be part of,' Chua told CNBC.

Since speaking out, Chua reports that over 180 businesses using platforms including Shopify, Squarespace, WooCommerce, and Wix have contacted her with similar complaints. Many cite reputational damage, pricing confusion, and customer service disputes they never agreed to.

Hitchcock Paper, a Virginia-based stationery retailer, shared its frustration on Instagram after receiving orders for a stress ball product it does not even sell. The company warned that Amazon's AI agent risks 'selling customers things you don't have, all while your shop has no idea it's sending the wrong items.'

Amazon's Defence Falls Flat

Amazon argues that Shop Direct and Buy for Me help customers find products not available on its marketplace while assisting businesses to reach new customers and generate additional sales. The company states that product information is sourced from publicly available data and that businesses can opt out at any time by emailing branddirect@amazon.com.

However, critics contend that the opt-out model unfairly shifts the burden onto retailers who never consented. For many small business owners, the issue isn't visibility but control—especially when stock levels, pricing, or product details are misrepresented.

The programme has expanded rapidly. Amazon claims the number of products accessible via Buy for Me increased from 65,000 at launch to over 500,000 by November 2025, according to Hack Diversity.

The Lawsuit That Makes This Awkward

What complicates Amazon's stance is its own legal action against AI startup Perplexity. In November 2025, Amazon filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Perplexity's Comet browser deployed agents that 'concealed' themselves to scrape Amazon's website and make purchases without approval. Perplexity dismissed the lawsuit as a 'bully tactic'.

From the perspective of affected retailers, Amazon appears to be engaging in the very practices it accuses others of—only on a far larger scale. The company has blocked dozens of external AI agents from accessing its site while simultaneously extracting data from independent merchants' websites.

What This Means for Your Business

If you run an online store, your products may already be listed on Amazon without your knowledge. The platform's AI tools rely on publicly available web data, meaning any retailer with a live website could be at risk.

Amazon states that over 60% of its retail sales now come from independent merchants. Shop Direct further extends this ecosystem without requiring formal marketplace registration or consent.

For small businesses, the risks go beyond operational concerns. Reputational damage is a real threat—being involved in transactions you never authorised, for products you may not stock, can erode customer trust in ways that are difficult to repair.

Amazon's experiment with AI-powered shopping appears to still be in testing. However, for the retailers caught up in it, the consequences are already very real.