Amazon has introduced adjustments to its Enterprise Options Settlement (BSA) that can take impact on March 4, 2026, putting formal necessities on using AI brokers and automatic software program methods by sellers and third-party builders accessing the platform. The announcement, posted on Amazon Vendor Central boards on February 17, 2026, outlines a set of binding coverage updates that reshape the authorized and technical relationship between Amazon and the ecosystem of software program suppliers, manufacturers, and market members working on its infrastructure.

The timing is notable. Amazon started formalizing its agentic AI posture on a number of fronts in late 2025 – deploying its own autonomous tools for advertisers, introducing Seller Assistant agentic capabilities in September, and suing Perplexity in November over what it described as covert AI agent access to its market. The March 2026 BSA replace extends that posture instantly into vendor contracts, institutionalizing governance necessities for any automated system that touches Amazon’s companies.

What the up to date settlement says

In line with the announcement posted on the Amazon Vendor Central boards, the up to date BSA will introduce a brand new, standalone Agent Coverage governing any “automated software program or AI brokers” that entry Amazon Providers. The replace defines a brand new class – “Agent” – and provides it to the settlement’s formal definitions alongside “Relevant Authorities Authority” and “Our Supplies.”

Three baseline obligations apply to all brokers working beneath the brand new coverage. First, AI brokers should clearly establish themselves as automated methods always. Second, they have to adjust to the brand new Agent Coverage with out exception. Third, they have to stop entry instantly if Amazon requests it. Crucially, the announcement states that Amazon “might prohibit their entry in sure cases beneath the BSA and new Agent Coverage” – a provision that offers Amazon discretionary authority to revoke entry with out specifying a threshold or course of.

The “AI and machine studying restrictions” part of the replace is equally vital. Amazon will add BSA language prohibiting using its supplies or companies for AI improvement functions. The language particularly contains “enhanced safety in opposition to reverse engineering” – a provision that instantly addresses issues about rivals or third-party builders utilizing Amazon’s infrastructure to coach or enhance competing machine studying methods. This represents a notable tightening of mental property protections embedded inside a industrial settlement quite than via separate phrases of service.

Dispute decision will get a brand new part

Past AI governance, the up to date BSA will add a brand new Part 20 devoted to arbitration. In line with the discussion board announcement, the brand new part “contains our current binding arbitration language and sophistication motion waiver” – which means the substantive content material is just not new, however it’s being consolidated and formalized right into a devoted part of the settlement. The announcement describes the arbitrator’s expanded energy as a clarifying replace to current follow quite than a change in rights.

The addition of a proper dispute decision part good points extra relevance when positioned alongside Amazon’s concurrent introduction of the Seller Challenge mechanism in October 2025, which gave Account Well being Assurance sellers three problem allocations per six-month interval for disputing enforcement choices. That program operates exterior arbitration however indicators Amazon’s broader effort to construction and formalize the decision of disagreements with sellers.

Geographic scope: Mexico will get its personal settlement

One structural change within the replace separates the US and Canada settlement from Mexico. In line with the announcement, Amazon will add a standalone Enterprise Options Settlement for the Mexico retailer and take away all references to Mexico from the US/Canada BSA. Minor updates may even make clear Canada-specific language all through that settlement. The change displays the continued development of Amazon’s Latin American operations and the necessity to tackle jurisdiction-specific regulatory environments via separate contractual frameworks.

Vendor response: questions on scope and breadth

Response from the vendor group was quick, and largely skeptical. One vendor – posting beneath the deal with Seller_Ggt6s7zXEwLbA – raised a pointed concern in regards to the breadth of the “automated software program” class: “Please add extra element earlier than we now have to see it within the BSA. We use software program to acquire pending orders for achievement, and to ship monitoring again to Amazon for these orders the place we can not buy postage from Amazon.” The vendor continued: “Coverage adjustments appear to be AI associated however ‘automated software program’ could possibly be broad, akin to often requesting new orders.” The submit additionally requested whether or not software program suppliers had been knowledgeable of the adjustments – noting that third-party software program firms, quite than sellers instantly, are the events most instantly affected.

One other vendor raised a particular compliance query about GETIDA, a extensively used FBA reimbursement service: “I am utilizing GETIDA for FBA reimbursements – will third-party companies like this be thought-about ‘Brokers’ beneath the brand new March 2026 BSA/Agent Coverage replace? May continued use of reimbursement companies create any compliance danger for sellers?” No official response to this query seems within the discussion board thread as of the time of publication.

A 3rd vendor flagged a technical error within the announcement itself: “Hello there, your Agent Coverage hyperlink routes to the flawed coverage web page.” The coverage stays viewable via the Amazon Vendor Central Adjustments web page, although the direct hyperlink cited within the announcement was incorrect on the time of posting.

The issues about third-party software program scope will not be trivial. Amazon’s Solution Provider Portal billing requirements, which got here into power in November 2025, already required builders to submit fee info by January 31, 2026, with purposes missing legitimate cost info dropping SP-API entry by February 16, 2026. The brand new Agent Coverage arrives on prime of this current compliance burden.

The aggressive context behind the principles

The BSA replace can’t be learn in isolation from Amazon’s broader posture towards AI brokers working on its platform. In September 2025, analysis printed by PSE Consulting confirmed that Amazon was the primary exception among major US and UK retailers that blocked AI bots, utilizing fingerprinting and AWS WAF to stop automated scraping whereas rivals like Shopify took extra permissive approaches. The analysis discovered that Amazon explicitly disallows crawlers from Anthropic, Meta, and OpenAI in its robots.txt recordsdata.

Two months later, in November 2025, Amazon filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to Perplexity, alleging that the corporate deployed AI brokers via its Comet browser to covertly entry Amazon’s market. The criticism said that “visitors from automated brokers, akin to that from the Comet AI agent, imposes operational burdens and prices on Amazon’s promoting methods.” Amazon’s promoting enterprise generated $17.7 billion in income within the third quarter of 2025, rising 22% year-over-year – and the corporate has been express that non-human advert visitors creates filtering prices that instantly have an effect on that income stream.

Tom C., founder and CEO of Eleviam, shared the BSA announcement on LinkedIn three days earlier than publication of this text, writing that the replace indicators a transfer towards “stricter governance. Not much less.” His submit famous that “AI brokers accessing Amazon Providers should clearly establish themselves as automated methods” and noticed that Amazon now holds the best to revoke their entry at any level. The commentary was echoed by Muhammad Waqas Arif within the feedback: “yea, governance and methods have gotten simply as necessary as development velocity.”

Implications for the promoting and martech group

For advertising know-how suppliers and promoting professionals, the Agent Coverage introduces a brand new compliance layer for any software program that interacts with Amazon’s ecosystem. Instruments used for sponsored advertisements administration, FBA reimbursement processing, order monitoring, stock administration, and worth monitoring may probably fall throughout the definition of “automated software program or AI brokers” relying on how Amazon interprets and enforces the brand new language.

The broader advertising and AI agent infrastructure has been shifting quickly. Amazon launched its personal Ads Agent in November 2025, enabling automated marketing campaign planning and optimization via pure language inputs. The IAB Tech Lab launched its Agentic RTB Framework model 1.0 in November. Amazon additionally launched a closed beta MCP Serveron November 13 to allow pure language interactions with promoting APIs. Towards that backdrop, the BSA replace represents Amazon’s try and concurrently promote its personal AI agent instruments whereas controlling third-party agent entry to its platform.

The asymmetry is notable. Amazon’s Rufus AI purchasing assistant reached 300 million users and drove $12 billion in incremental sales in 2025, in accordance with the corporate. Its inner agentic capabilities are being expanded. In the meantime, exterior brokers are being introduced beneath formal compliance necessities with discretionary entry revocation constructed into the contract.

For compliance groups at software program suppliers serving Amazon sellers, the sensible query is definitional: at what stage of automation does a bit of software program grow to be an “Agent” beneath the brand new coverage? The announcement doesn’t specify thresholds, and the vendor group has already flagged this ambiguity. The requirement that brokers “clearly establish themselves as automated methods” raises implementation questions – notably for software program that communicates via API calls quite than user-facing interfaces. Neither Amazon’s announcement nor the related coverage documentation cited within the discussion board had clarified these factors as of the time the discussion board submit was printed.

The up to date privateness discover language – changing particular developer references with basic “Amazon’s Privateness Discover” language – and the renaming of “Developer Web site” to “Resolution Supplier Portal” are administrative adjustments with restricted substantive impact on vendor obligations. The revision to the “Insurance coverage Limits” definition might carry extra sensible significance however was not elaborated upon within the announcement.

Sellers who proceed utilizing Amazon’s promoting companies after March 4, 2026, will probably be thought-about to have accepted the up to date phrases, in accordance with the announcement. No motion is required to formally settle for the adjustments – continued use constitutes acceptance.

Timeline

Abstract

Who: Amazon, third-party sellers working on the Amazon market, software program suppliers and builders constructing instruments that work together with Amazon Providers, and AI agent builders whose methods entry Amazon’s platform.

What: Amazon is updating its Enterprise Options Settlement (BSA) to incorporate a proper Agent Coverage governing using automated software program and AI brokers. The replace requires all AI brokers to establish themselves as automated methods, adjust to the brand new coverage, and stop entry if Amazon requests it. Extra adjustments embody AI and machine studying improvement restrictions, enhanced reverse engineering protections, a brand new dispute decision part formalizing binding arbitration, and a geographic separation of the Mexico retailer settlement from the US/Canada BSA.

When: The announcement was posted to Amazon Vendor Central boards on February 17, 2026. All adjustments take impact on March 4, 2026. Continued use of Amazon promoting companies after that date constitutes acceptance of the up to date phrases.

The place: The coverage applies throughout Amazon’s market infrastructure in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, with the Mexico retailer receiving its personal devoted BSA. The Agent Coverage governs any automated software program accessing Amazon Providers globally.

Why: Amazon is formalizing governance over AI brokers and automatic methods because the deployment of such instruments accelerates throughout {the marketplace} ecosystem. The corporate has been engaged in litigation over unauthorized AI agent entry, has constructed its personal competing agentic instruments, and faces mounting questions on non-human advert visitors affecting its $17.7 billion quarterly promoting enterprise. The BSA replace offers Amazon with contractual authority to limit agent entry and establishes clear compliance obligations for the rising variety of third-party instruments working inside its platform.


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