The RealReal has changed its bot defenses after an AI shopping agent was used to keep individual secondhand items unavailable to other buyers. The retailer’s 20-minute cart reservation could be extended repeatedly when Meta’s Muse re-added a listing as soon as each hold expired.
That behavior turned a convenience designed for a human checkout into a potentially indefinite lock. Unlike a person, an agent does not tire of repeating the same action, so one shopper could block a unique item for hours without deciding to buy it.
The company says its updated configuration makes it substantially harder for agents to log in, add products to a cart and complete checkout. Agents can still surface listings and direct people to the corresponding product pages. Meta did not provide a comment to The Verge.
Shopping has become a prominent use for consumer agents. Meta says purchases through Muse average more than $200, and the app reached 10 million US downloads in 40 days. The RealReal episode shows why websites cannot simply treat automated behavior as faster human behavior. Reservation limits, rate controls and bot identity need to account for persistence as well as request volume. Retailers also face a trade-off: blocking transactional access may protect inventory fairness while making their products less convenient for customers who increasingly rely on assistants to browse and buy.