The RealReal tightens bot defences after AI agent held items for hours

What happened The RealReal, a secondhand luxury fashion consignment retailer, says it is updating its bot defence system to make it harder for AI agents to shop on its site, The Verge reported on 26 October 2026 ^[1].

The change followed earlier reporting by The Verge. On The RealReal's website, an item goes on hold for 20 minutes once it is placed in a customer's cart, and nobody else can buy it during that time ^[1]. Using Meta's Muse agent, a Verge reporter was able to instruct it to keep re-adding listings to the cart as soon as each hold expired. That effectively stopped other shoppers from buying the products for hours or longer, according to The Verge ^[1].

The company's response After publication, chief technology officer Luke Friang said in an email that the company had addressed the Muse use case flagged by The Verge ^[1]. He said the bot defence configuration now makes it much more difficult for all agents to log in, add items to a cart and check out ^[1]. Agents can still surface The RealReal's listings and send Muse users to product pages, he said, and the company will keep strengthening protections as AI shopping develops ^[1].

The Verge says Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment ^[1].

Why it matters The Verge reports that Meta said on its quarterly earnings call this month that shopping was the most common use of Muse so far, with purchases averaging over $200, and that 10 million people in the US had downloaded the app in 40 days ^[1]. Those figures are Meta's, as relayed by The Verge.

The wider concern is that agents behave differently from people. A shopper is unlikely to spend hours re-adding the same dress to a cart, but an agent does not tire of it ^[1]. Systems built around human limits, such as a 20-minute reservation, can be turned into tools for hoarding stock.

The Verge also notes a business risk. If people reach shops through chatbots instead of visiting websites, retailers become one step removed from customers, and advertising revenue may suffer. It reports that retailers, most notably Amazon, have blocked agents from shopping on their sites ^[1].

What it means for businesses Any company that offers holds, limited stock, tickets, appointments or flash sales should expect automated agents to use those features in ways designers never intended. Sensible steps include rate limits on repeated reservations, checks on how often the same account re-adds an item, and a clear policy on whether agents may check out at all.

The RealReal has chosen to limit agents to discovery rather than buying. Other retailers will have to decide where to draw the same line, and whether to welcome agent traffic as a sales channel or block it.

Source: The Verge — The RealReal won't let AI agents hog designer clothing