Amazon is using AI to scrape independent business websites, pull product information, and list those products on its shopping app for its customers to browse. If you sell online through Shopify, Squarespace, WooCommerce, or a similar platform, your products may already be on Amazon.
How Amazon’s “Shop Direct” and “Buy For Me” Programs Work
In early 2025, Amazon began beta-testing two related features inside its shopping app. The first, called “Shop Direct” (sometimes labeled “Shop Other Stores Directly”), surfaces products from non-Amazon websites in Amazon search results. When a shopper searches for something Amazon doesn’t carry, the app pulls listings from independent retailers and displays them alongside regular Amazon results.
The second feature, “Buy For Me,” takes the premise a bit further. Instead of sending the shopper to a secondary website to complete a purchase, Amazon’s AI agent handles the entire checkout process on the shopper’s behalf — using the other website’s shopping cart, but through Amazon’s interface. The shopper never leaves the Amazon app.
Both programs grew out of an internal Amazon initiative called Project Starfish. According to reporting from Business Insider, an internal planning document from late 2024 described Starfish’s goal as making Amazon the most comprehensive source of product information “for all products worldwide.” The document estimated the project would bring in $7.5 billion in gross merchandise sales in 2025 and scrape product information from as many as 200,000 external brand websites.1
Amazon has confirmed these programs exist and says they’re designed to help Amazon shoppers find products that Amazon itself doesn’t sell. The company also says it doesn’t charge a commission on Buy For Me purchases. But the key issue for business owners is this: Amazon is enrolling businesses automatically, without notice or consent. The burden falls on you to discover you’ve been listed and to request removal.
Why Business Owners Should Pay Attention
By November 2025, Amazon reported that more than 500,000 products were accessible through Buy For Me – up from 65,000 at launch. Hundreds of small business owners across the country discovered their products on Amazon only after receiving unusual orders from email addresses ending in @buyforme.amazon.
One might think business owners would be happy for the extra exposure, and many might be. But the program is also presenting some business owners with operational headaches and real financial consequences.
- Inaccurate listings. Amazon’s AI doesn’t always get it right. Business owners have found that Amazon listed products they no longer sell, posted AI-generated images that didn’t match their actual products, or displayed incorrect pricing. When a customer orders a product through Buy For Me that doesn’t exist or is out of stock, the business owner is left handling the refund and the customer complaint.
- Lost customer relationships. When a shopper buys through Buy For Me, Amazon masks that customer’s contact information with an anonymized email address. That means you can’t add them to your mailing list, follow up on their order, or build any kind of direct relationship. For many small businesses, that email list is the single most valuable marketing asset they own.
- Brand control. Some business owners deliberately choose not to sell on Amazon. Being listed there without consent can create confusion about whether a business is affiliated with Amazon. For retailers whose wholesale suppliers prohibit Amazon sales, an unauthorized listing can jeopardize those supplier relationships, too.
The irony isn’t lost on anyone. In October 2025, Amazon sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity demanding that the company stop using AI agents to make purchases on Amazon’s platform without Amazon’s approval. Amazon’s written statement at the time said that third-party applications “should operate openly and respect service provider decisions whether or not to participate.”2 That’s a principle many small business owners wish Amazon would apply to itself.
How to Check If Your Business Is Listed
If you sell products online, search for your business name on the Amazon shopping app. Look for a section in search results labeled “Shop brand sites directly” or a “Buy for Me” button on product listings.
If you find your products listed without your permission, here’s how to get them removed.
- Email Amazon directly. Send an opt-out request to branddirect@amazon.com. Include your business name, your website URL, and a clear statement that you do not consent to having your products listed on Amazon’s platform. Business owners who have gone through this process report that Amazon removes listings within a few days of receiving the request.
- Document everything. Before you request removal, take screenshots of every listing. Capture the product descriptions, pricing, images, and any inaccuracies. If you’ve received orders through @buyforme.amazon email addresses, save those records too. This documentation matters if you need to demonstrate damages later.
- Post a notice on your website. Some affected business owners have added a notice to their storefronts stating that they do not authorize any third-party platform to list or sell their products. At least one business added a notice that all orders placed through @buyforme.amazon will be automatically cancelled.
What Legal Protections Exist for Businesses?
Deceptive Trade Practices Act doesn’t help here. The first place most business owners look is to the Deceptive Trade Practices Acts, and it’s a dead end. For example, Rhode Island’s DTPA limits its private right of action to consumers, meaning people who purchase goods “primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.”3 In other words, the state consumer protection statute wasn’t designed for business-versus-business disputes, and it won’t help you sue Amazon over unauthorized listings.
The federal Lanham Act is the stronger tool. Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act prohibits the use of any mark that “is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association” of one person with another, or as to the “origin, sponsorship, or approval” of goods or services.4 This is the federal unfair competition statute, and it applies directly to a situation where a marketplace platform uses your business name, intellectual property, and product images in a way that suggests you’ve authorized or endorsed the arrangement.
Critically, you don’t need a federal trademark registration to bring a Lanham Act claim. The First Circuit has confirmed that Section 43(a) “does not require that mark or name be federally registered and is commonly used to prevent infringement of unregistered trademarks.”5 That’s significant for small businesses that may never have filed with the USPTO but still have established brand identity in their products, names, and logos.
Recent case law is also pushing this framework into the AI context. In Advance Local Media LLC v. Cohere Inc., a federal court in the Southern District of New York denied dismissal of trademark infringement and false designation of origin claims where AI outputs misattributed content while using publishers’ marks.6 The court held that a commercially offered AI platform constitutes “use in commerce” and that nominative fair use did not apply to false attribution. That reasoning supports applying Lanham Act claims to AI-driven scraping and re-listing that implies false affiliation or misuses a business’s marks.
CAVEAT: The Lanham Act analysis above is based on the general legal framework and First Circuit precedent. No court has yet ruled on the specific application of § 43(a) to Amazon’s Buy For Me program. This section describes the available legal theory, not a guaranteed outcome.
There’s a Legislative Precedent
If this situation sounds familiar, it should. Third-party food delivery apps like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats spent years adding restaurants to their platforms without the restaurant owners’ permission. The complaints were nearly identical: inaccurate menus, pricing errors, orders for items that didn’t exist, lost control over the customer experience, and reputational damage.
The response was legislative. Cities like Chicago and states like California and New York passed laws requiring delivery platforms to obtain written consent from a restaurant before listing it. Chicago’s ordinance led to an $18 million settlement with DoorDash in late 2025 over unauthorized restaurant listings.7 The City of Chicago also reached a settlement with Uber Eats for similar practices, which included $500,000 specifically for restaurants listed without consent.8
Policy advocates, including the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, are calling for similar legislation extended to all marketplace platforms — not just food delivery. Their proposed framework would require online marketplaces to obtain explicit permission before listing a business, prohibit scraping of business websites without consent, require a clear opt-out process, and impose penalties for each unauthorized listing.
Rhode Island hasn’t enacted such legislation yet. But the precedent from food delivery regulation shows that state and local governments can address this kind of practice when they choose to act. If this issue matters to your business, reaching out to your state representative is a concrete step you can take.
What This Means for Your Business Going Forward
Amazon’s Buy For Me program isn’t inherently predatory. For some businesses, being discovered by Amazon’s massive customer base could generate incremental sales. Amazon says it doesn’t take a commission, and the shopper’s purchase still flows through your website. If you’re comfortable with the arrangement, you don’t need to do anything. But “comfortable with the arrangement” is a decision you should get to make.
Until legislation to support your right to choose is developed, the practical advice is straightforward: check whether your products are listed, document what you find, opt out if you want to, and pay attention to how this issue develops in your state.
Questions? We’re here. Whether it’s protecting your brand, reviewing your e-commerce terms, or understanding how new platform practices affect your business, we help Rhode Island small business owners stay ahead of the curve.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if Amazon listed my products through Buy For Me?
Search for your business name in the Amazon shopping app. Look for listings labeled “Shop brand sites directly” or products with a “Buy for Me” button. You can also check your order records for purchases tied to email addresses ending in @buyforme.amazon. If you find listings you didn’t authorize, email branddirect@amazon.com to opt out.
Does Amazon charge a commission on Buy For Me purchases?
Amazon says it does not currently collect a commission on purchases made through Buy For Me. The sale still processes through your website’s checkout system, and you receive the payment directly. However, Amazon masks the customer’s identity using anonymized email addresses, which means you lose the ability to build a direct relationship with that buyer.
Can I sue Amazon for listing my products without permission in Rhode Island?
Rhode Island’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act won’t help, its private right of action is limited to consumer transactions. However, the federal Lanham Act provides a potential cause of action for false designation of origin or false association if Amazon’s use of your business name, product images, or trademarks creates consumer confusion about your affiliation with or endorsement of the Amazon listing. You don’t need a federal trademark registration to bring this claim. Consult an attorney to evaluate the strength of your specific situation.
How do I opt out of Amazon’s Buy For Me program?
Send an email to branddirect@amazon.com with your business name, website URL, and a clear statement that you do not consent to being listed. Business owners who have done this report that Amazon removes listings within a few days. Document the unauthorized listings with screenshots before requesting removal, and save records of your opt-out request and Amazon’s response.
Can I block Amazon from scraping my website in the first place?
E-commerce platforms like Shopify have begun adding default “Robots & Agent” policies to merchant sites to limit unauthorized AI scraping. You can also update your site’s robots.txt file to restrict Amazon’s web crawler (Amazonbot). The effectiveness of these technical measures against AI-driven scraping tools is still evolving. For guidance specific to your platform, consult your web developer or search Descrybe.ai for current options.
Footnotes
- Eugene Kim, Amazon Starfish: Using AI to Create Ultimate Source of Product Info, Bus. Insider (2025) (describing internal Amazon planning document for Project Starfish, estimating $7.5 billion in GMS and data collection from 200,000 brand websites). https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-starfish-ai-ultimate-source-product-information-marketplace-sellers-collection-2025-7> ↩
- Amazon.com, Inc., Statement Regarding Perplexity’s Comet Browser (Oct. 31, 2025), https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-perplexity-comet-statement (stating that third-party applications “should operate openly and respect service provider decisions whether or not to participate”). ↩
- R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-13.1-5.2 (limiting private action standing to persons who purchase or lease goods “primarily for personal, family, or household purposes”). ↩
- 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(A) (prohibiting use in commerce of any word, term, name, symbol, or device likely to cause confusion as to affiliation, connection, or association, or as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of goods or services). ↩
- PHC, Inc. v. Pioneer Healthcare, Inc., 75 F.3d 75 (1st Cir. 1996) (confirming that Lanham Act § 43(a) does not require federal trademark registration and is commonly used to prevent infringement of unregistered trademarks). ↩
- Advance Local Media LLC, et. al v. Cohere Inc., No. 25-cv-1305 (CM) (S.D.N.Y. 2025) (denying dismissal of trademark infringement and false designation of origin claims where AI outputs misattributed content while using publishers’ marks, holding that a commercially offered AI platform constitutes use in commerce) . ↩
- City of Chicago, Johnson Administration Reaches $18 Million Settlement With DoorDash Over Deceptive Business Practices (Nov. 2025), https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2025/november/doordash-practices-settlement.html (settling claims that DoorDash listed Chicago restaurants without consent in violation of the Chicago Municipal Code). ↩
- City of Chicago v. Uber Technologies, Inc. (Dec. 2022) (settlement requiring Uber to pay $500,000 to restaurants listed without consent and to cease unauthorized listing of Chicago restaurants) https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/bacp/provdrs/consumer/news/2022/december/settlementwithubereatspostmates.html. ↩
