Amazon is facing criticism for a controversial new feature that scrapes product data from external retailers without their consent, marking a stark reversal from its aggressive stance against companies that scrape its own marketplace. The e-commerce giant has been testing “Shop Direct,” a beta feature that displays products Amazon doesn’t sell by pulling listings from other retailers’ and brands’ websites. When shoppers click these listings, they’re redirected to the external sites where products are actually sold.
The feature operates on an opt-out rather than opt-in basis, meaning retailers must actively request removal of their products rather than granting permission upfront. An Amazon spokesperson defended the tool, stating it’s “designed to expand discovery for customers and help businesses reach more customers,” with product details pulled from “public information on a brand’s website.” The company emphasized its support for small businesses, noting that over 60% of sales in its store come from independent sellers.
However, this approach has drawn sharp criticism for its hypocrisy. Amazon has previously blocked AI tools from OpenAI and Google from scraping its product data and even filed a lawsuit against Perplexity over the AI startup’s use of Amazon’s shopping platform. Juozas Kaziukenas, founder of Marketplace Pulse, called the situation “full of oddness” and noted the irony in a LinkedIn post: “Amazon blocked all AI scrapers and sued Perplexity for building automated buying on top of Amazon, while at the same time doing the same thing with others’ ecommerce websites.”
The feature appears connected to Project Starfish, Amazon’s internal initiative to make its marketplace the definitive source for information on “all products worldwide,” as previously reported by Business Insider. An internal document revealed the AI tool was expected to collect product data from 200,000 external brand websites through “crawling, scraping, and mapping external items to Amazon’s catalog.”
Small business owners have been particularly affected. Angie Chua, CEO of Bobo Design Studio, discovered her products appearing on Amazon without her knowledge or consent in late January. She described the experience as “insulting,” noting that listings contained incorrect product names and information, damaging her brand and customer relationships. After requesting removal, Amazon complied, but Chua says she’s aware of over 100 brands with similar experiences. “It completely undermines the trust that small businesses are working so hard to create,” she stated.
Key Quotes
Amazon is a longstanding supporter of small and independent businesses, and today more than 60% of sales in our store are from independent sellers who leverage our innovative tools and services to run their businesses and serve customers.
An Amazon spokesperson provided this statement defending the company’s practices, attempting to position Amazon as supportive of small businesses despite the controversy over unauthorized product scraping.
All of this is bizarre because Amazon blocked all AI scrapers and sued Perplexity for building automated buying on top of Amazon, while at the same time doing the same thing with others’ ecommerce websites.
Juozas Kaziukenas, founder of Marketplace Pulse, highlighted the hypocrisy in Amazon’s approach in a LinkedIn post, pointing out the company’s contradictory stance on data scraping.
It completely undermines the trust that small businesses are working so hard to create.
Angie Chua, CEO of Bobo Design Studio, expressed frustration after discovering her products listed on Amazon without consent, with incorrect information that damaged her brand reputation. She reports knowing over 100 brands with similar experiences.
Our Take
Amazon’s Shop Direct feature reveals the double standards emerging as tech giants deploy AI at scale. The company’s lawsuit against Perplexity for scraping Amazon data while simultaneously launching Project Starfish to scrape 200,000 external websites demonstrates how market power dictates AI ethics. This isn’t just about data collection—it’s about Amazon leveraging AI to cement its position as the internet’s product search engine, potentially displacing Google while exploiting smaller retailers’ content. The opt-out model is particularly problematic, placing the monitoring burden on resource-constrained small businesses. As AI-powered data aggregation becomes standard practice, we’re witnessing the emergence of a two-tiered system: powerful platforms that can scrape freely while simultaneously blocking others from accessing their data. This case study will likely influence future AI regulation discussions around data rights, consent frameworks, and competitive practices in AI-driven marketplaces.
Why This Matters
This story highlights a critical tension in the AI industry around data scraping ethics and competitive practices. Amazon’s contradictory stance—aggressively protecting its own data while freely scraping others’—exposes the power imbalances that exist as tech giants leverage AI to expand their dominance. The Shop Direct feature, powered by AI scraping technology through Project Starfish, represents Amazon’s strategy to become a comprehensive product search engine, directly competing with Google while potentially undermining smaller retailers.
The controversy underscores broader questions about data ownership and consent in the AI era. As companies race to train AI models and build comprehensive databases, the line between public information and proprietary content becomes increasingly blurred. Amazon’s opt-out approach shifts the burden onto small businesses, many of whom lack resources to monitor and combat unauthorized use of their product data.
For the e-commerce ecosystem, this development signals a fundamental shift in Amazon’s business model—from primarily selling products to becoming an AI-powered universal product directory. This could reshape online shopping, but at the cost of smaller retailers’ autonomy and brand control, potentially accelerating consolidation in an already Amazon-dominated marketplace.