… On January 20, 2026, eBay did not launch a feature. It revised a clause that governs access. Previous language prohibited “automated means.” Updated language (binding February 20, 2026) explicitly names: “buy-for-me agents, LLM-driven bots, or any end-to-end flow that attempts to place orders without human review…” That parenthetical is the structural shift. AI agents moved from implied coverage to explicit contractual identity. What was once broad and interpretive became specific and enforceable. When categories are named, interpretive space narrows. Narrower interpretation reduces enforcement latency. Reduced latency expands unilateral control over the access layer. … From Technical Signal to Contractual Codification December 2025: eBay robots.txt prohibited the same AI categories. Bots from named AI companies were restricted; selected integrations retained access.
Sequence: Technical constraint -> Named AI blocking -> Contractual embedding. In parallel, Amazon escalated against Perplexity’s Comet AI agent (cease-and-desist October 31; federal complaint November 4, 2025). Technical signals precede legal escalation; legal escalation precedes contractual hardening; contractual hardening precedes enforceable restriction. Specification replaces ambiguity and creates executable breach conditions. … Why Naming Changes Power Generic bans require interpretation. Explicit AI constructs reduce legal and computational uncertainty.
Explicit categorization enables: deterministic breach classification automated detection at scale faster enforcement stronger arbitration posture Machine-readable prohibition lowers cost and increases enforcement velocity. Velocity of classification becomes velocity of revenue impact. … Structural Dependency Asymmetry (SDA) The same update broadened arbitration and class waivers. Continued use constitutes binding acceptance. Substantive authority consolidated. Procedural leverage narrowed.
Structural Dependency Asymmetry: a regime where access rules may be modified unilaterally while dependent revenue remains revocable and dispute channels fragment. Under SDA, control over the access layer becomes the underwriting variable. Identical revenue lines trade at different multiples depending on who controls definitional authority. … Capital Implication For RAG pipelines, automated pricing engines, and agentic checkout flows, revenue becomes contract-contingent. Contract-contingent revenue carries structural variance. Higher variance increases discount rates and compresses valuation multiples.
Interpretation risk becomes pricing risk. … Conclusion This is not a minor automation policy revision. It is the codification of AI agency inside enforceable contract language.
What changed is the specification of agency. What it means is the repricing of dependency.