The RealReal tightens bot controls after a shopping agent tied up reserved items

The retailer told The Verge it had addressed the reported use case while allowing agents to continue surfacing product listings.

The RealReal has changed its bot defences after The Verge demonstrated an AI shopping agent repeatedly renewing reservations on secondhand clothing. In the outlet's October 26 follow-up, chief technology officer Luke Friang said the retailer had addressed the reported use case.

The website's shopping-cart reservation system temporarily keeps an item available for the customer considering it. The earlier test showed how automated repetition could extend that effect and prevent other shoppers from buying the same listings for hours. The issue concerned scarce inventory and repeated actions rather than a chatbot producing an incorrect product description.

Friang told The Verge that the updated configuration makes it harder for agents to log in, add items and check out. He said agents can still surface listings and direct users to product pages. Those are different levels of access: helping someone discover an item does not necessarily require permission to reserve or purchase it automatically.

The case illustrates a change in the assumptions behind familiar retail features. A short reservation can be reasonable for a person choosing between items. An agent can repeat the same interaction for much longer, turning individually permitted actions into an outcome the retailer did not intend.

The reported response is therefore a specific operating-policy change around agent access. It does not establish that every automated shopping service has been permanently excluded or that the retailer has rejected AI product discovery. Its distinction is between letting a tool find merchandise and letting it perform repeated actions that affect other customers' access to that merchandise.

Sources

- [The RealReal won’t let AI agents hog designer clothing](https://www.theverge.com/news/1018713/meta-muse-agentic-shopping-ai-the-realreal) — The Verge