[andreybaskov]

Originally posted this in another thread, but very curious what others think.

Can I ask my partner to buy a product on Amazon?

Can I ask my personal assistant to buy a product on Amazon?

Can I hire a contractor to buy products on Amazon?

Can I communicate with a contractor via API to direct them what products to buy?

What if there is no human on the other end and its an LLM?

Same issue with LinkedIn. I know execs who have assistants running their socials. Is this legal?

Like, where do we draw the line? In the future, would the only way to shop on Amazon be with approved VR goggles that scan your retina to verify you are a human?

[JumpCrisscross]

> where do we draw the line?

Perplexify has shown itself to be a bad actor [1][2][3], and possibly incompetent, too [4].

We need to draw a line, eventually. But it’s far from urgent. And I don’t think Perplexity should be the one deciding.

[1] https://blog.cloudflare.com/perplexity-is-using-stealth-unde...

[2] https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/perplexity-ai-loses...

[3] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/10/reddit-sues-to-b...

[4] https://brave.com/blog/comet-prompt-injection/

[paxys]

The law has nothing to do with it. Amazon is a private company and can make rules about who can or can't place orders on its website. When you create an account you agree to their ToS.

[andreybaskov]

Interesting. Amazon ToS actually has a section about agents - https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

And they even provide a definition of what an Agent is:

"Agent” means any software or service that takes autonomous or semi-autonomous action on behalf of, or at the instruction of, any person or entity.

Though to me it raises even more questions. What is a software that takes "autonomous" action on my behalf. Is curl "autonomous"?

[kelnos]

I don't think GP meant "legal" in the literal sense. Regardless, the post's meaning is still the same if you replace "Is this legal?" with "Does this conform to Amazon's ToS?", so please read it charitably and avoid being pedantic about this sort of thing.

[simonw]

Can I use Amazon Mechanical Turk to place orders for myself on Amazon?

[whatever1]

No.

That is why you have personal credentials to log in to Amazon. If you want to have delegating capabilities you can open an Amazon business account.

[andreybaskov]

Me and my wife share the same Amazon account. Should I open a business account to do grocery shopping?

[kelnos]

Would Amazon be ok with me opening a business account, creating credentials for a Perplexity assistant, and having it buy products?

Based on this article, I'd think not?