The RealReal locks out AI bots after agents held designer stock

The RealReal is changing how it handles automated browsers after discovering that artificial intelligence agents could lock up designer inventory. The secondhand luxury retailer says it has updated its bot defense system to make it harder for these programs to shop on its site. This move follows a recent report showing how easily an AI agent could block other customers from buying specific items.

The issue centers on The RealReal's item reserve system. When a user places an item in their shopping cart, the product goes on hold for 20 minutes. During that window, no other customer can purchase it. Reporters for The Verge found that Meta’s Muse app could be instructed to continuously re-add listings to a cart every time the 20-minute timer expired. This automated loop effectively blocked other shoppers from buying those products for hours or even longer.

Luke Friang, the company's chief technology officer, confirmed the fix in an email sent after the report was published. He stated that the specific use case involving Muse has been addressed. Friang explained that the new bot defense configuration makes it much more difficult for any agent to log in, add items to a cart, and complete a checkout. However, agents will still be able to display listings and direct users to product pages. He noted that the company plans to continue strengthening these protections as AI-powered shopping evolves.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the changes. The company has been pushing its AI agents as personalized assistants that can handle tasks like scheduling and purchasing for humans. During its third-quarter earnings call this month, Meta identified shopping as the most common use case for Muse. The company reported that the average purchase value exceeded $200. Muse also gained rapid traction, with 10 million people in the United States downloading the app within 40 days of its release.

Retailers are watching this shift closely. Amazon and other major players have already restricted agent access to protect their advertising revenue and direct customer relationships. The RealReal's update highlights a new friction point in e-commerce: the tension between human patience and machine persistence. A person might hesitate to keep re-adding a designer jacket to a cart, but an AI agent will perform that busywork indefinitely. As millions of consumers begin using these tools, retailers are scrambling to update their rules to keep up.