Last week, I wrote that I might eventually let Muse buy a movie or concert ticket for me. I was thinking about how my trust in Muse would evolve before I gave it access to my accounts, decisions, and money.
Then, earlier this week, Amazon blocked Muse from shopping on its website.
Amazon said it had not authorized Muse to access customer accounts, collect information, or process transactions. It also said that third-party applications acting for customers should identify themselves and respect the service provider’s decision about whether to participate. (Source: Axios)
When I read this, I realized that I had been thinking about only one side of agentic commerce. I had focused on whether I trusted the agent. However, the merchant also has a vote in this.
Let us say that I ask Muse to find a pair of running shoes under $150, compare the options, and buy the pair that best matches my preferences.
I can give Muse permission to act for me. However, Amazon must recognize that delegation, allow Muse to use my account, and process the transaction. It also needs to know that Muse is staying within the authority I gave it. So, the purchase now depends on three parties:
I need to trust Muse with my preferences, account, and money.
Muse needs to complete the task correctly and stay within my instructions.
Amazon needs to recognize Muse as an authorized agent and decide what it can do.
Any one of the above 3 parties can stop the purchase. What it also tells you is that browser access does not give the agent permission to complete any merchant transcations.
I had assumed that once an agent successfully mastered the browser access and received my trust, it could transact for me. Amazon’s block on Muse shows why that assumption is wrong.
A browser gives Muse technical access to a website. It does not give Muse permission to use the merchant’s services.
In my previous post, I described a trust ladder that agent will need to earn and this trust starts with successfully completing public web searches and gradually moves toward account access, messages, bookings, and purchases. Amazon’s decision adds another ladder. Even after Muse earns my trust, it must earn access from every merchant or service it wants to use.
This is why I found a recent Cloudflare change interesting. Website owners can now create separate policies for search crawlers, AI training crawlers, and agents acting for a user. If I ask Muse to visit a store, that request is different from a crawler collecting the store’s pages for search or model training. However, the merchant still needs a way to recognize the difference. (Source: Cloudflare)
Without that recognition, Muse may compare products across five stores, purchase from two, and then hand the task back to me for the other three. I asked it to complete one shopping task, but I still have to finish part of the checkout myself.
Agentic commerce needs a common language
Today, agentic commerce works best when a few companies decide to work together.
OpenAI and Stripe created the Agentic Commerce Protocol to support purchases inside ChatGPT. Google and Shopify created the Universal Commerce Protocol, which covers product discovery, carts, checkout, and post-purchase support. Shopify is using it to connect merchants with ChatGPT, Copilot, Google AI Mode, and Gemini. (Stripe, Google, Shopify)
These protocols give participating agents and merchants a defined way to complete a purchase. However, a merchant cannot build and maintain a different integration for Muse, Grok Bot, ChatGPT, Gemini, and every agent that comes next.
The agent needs a standard way to identify itself, show that the customer authorized it, learn what the merchant permits, and ask for approval before a consequential action. The merchant needs to remain in control of the transaction, customer relationship, returns, and support.
The Universal Commerce Protocol is one attempt to establish that common language. The merchant remains the merchant of record and chooses which capabilities it supports. I believe this will make more merchants willing to participate because they do not have to treat every agent arriving through a browser as suspicious automation.
Why Amazon is being careful
Amazon has several reasons to control how an outside agent shops on its website.
First, Amazon has a large advertising business. It reported $68.6 billion in advertising-services revenue in 2025, including sponsored ads, display, and video advertising. If I ask Muse to find the best running shoes and it returns one recommendation, I may never see the sponsored listings that Amazon would have shown me. Muse now has more influence over which products reach me. (Source: Amazon 2025 annual report)
Amazon also needs to know whether the agent is actually acting for me. A Muse session that I authorized, a bot scraping prices, and a malicious agent trying to access customer accounts may all arrive through a browser. Amazon still has to deal with payment fraud, returns, refunds, seller disputes, and account security after the agent leaves.
Amazon is listed as a supporter of the Universal Commerce Protocol. So, I do not think Amazon is rejecting agentic commerce. I think it wants agents to use an agreed method to identify themselves, prove that the customer authorized the action, and follow Amazon’s transaction rules.
Prime still influences where I buy
I might let Muse buy something from Facebook Marketplace or compare concert tickets across several websites. However, for everyday physical products, I will probably continue choosing Amazon. With Prime, I can often place an order and receive it in less than 24 hours, and I know what to expect if I need to return it.
Muse may find the same product for a lower price elsewhere, but the lowest price is not always the best choice for me. Delivery speed and easy returns often matter more. So, if a shopping agent cannot access Amazon, it may finish the research and still miss the option I would have chosen.
This is also something agents need to learn about us. I may ask Muse to find the lowest price, but that is not the only rule I use. I may choose Amazon because I trust Prime delivery and returns, even when another store is cheaper. I may not state that preference because I make the decision almost automatically. If Muse is going to shop for me, it needs to learn from those choices instead of treating price as my only instruction.
What I will watch next
I still expect to let an agent buy things for me. However, I do not expect the agent to replace the merchant relationship I already have.
For physical goods, I want the agent to understand various nuances such as Prime delivery or a specific brand or vendor matters to me more, even when Amazon is not the cheapest option. For tickets or travel, I may care more about the seat, schedule, cancellation policy, or total price. The agent needs to infer and apply those preferences while staying within the authority I gave it.
For now, I will continue using Muse to research and compare products. The next test is whether it can work through a merchant-approved path, complete the purchase using my actual preferences, and help me if I need to cancel, return, or get a refund. That is when I will start letting it finish more purchases for me.