Project Starfish
Amazon is attempting to be a one-stop shop for all purchases and has launched programs in the US to this end. Many small businesses are anti-Bezos and do not sell through Amazon, while others use their small business platform to list and ship their goods. Regardless, Amazon has begun to use AI to crawl the internet and pull listings from small businesses in their âBuy For Meâ and âShop Directâ programs, inserting themselves as the middle man without the business owner's knowledge or consent. In some cases, these listings have been âAI enhanced,â and in other cases the AI bot has pulled non-relevant information from the small business owner's site, with one business finding their entire home address posted as the listing title. In addition, the AI bot occasionally has mismatched listing and images and/or posted outdated inventory, leading to unhappy shoppers. As Amazon has inserted themselves as the middle man, the small business owner has no direct line of communication to the customer to clarify purchases, request additional information, or fulfill custom order requests. This breakdown in vital communication has the consequence of a decrease in trust between the customer and the small business. In many cases, the small business owner may not even know that this has happened, as they would need to check the site for their own items to do so.Â
If youâre a small business owner, hereâs what you should do:Â
1. Send an email to [email protected] to opt-out. Hereâs an unofficial opt-out template by @ChromaRex (feel free to venmo if youâre grateful for their labor on this):Â
Hello,
Amazon does not have my consent to include my product photos, brand name, my name as [profession; ex: an artist], or any associated product or data on its website or mobile app.
This is an official, written request to Opt-Out of Buy For You, Shop Direct, and any other association with Amazon, for products and copyrighted product photography by brand [your brand name here]. This prohibition of use includes all product listings from/referencing my brand's online store [your website], as well as listings of my products at other online retailers that carry my brand (ex: [insert store name here]). AI-generated derivative works in this retail capacity are also not authorized, and will be considered another copyright violation.
Many of these listings include products that are not in fact offered by my brand, so the misrepresentation appears to be in violation of laws prohibiting false advertising as well. [or replace with other applicable issue here â one brandâs AI-generated listings show the ownerâs home address as several of the product titles, for example]
This issue will not be considered resolved until absolutely zero representation of [your brand name] as a brand or products turns up in an Amazon search. Permission to use my commercial assets will not be granted in the future either, so the expectation is that the opt-out is perpetual. Please remove all other brands & products that have been included in these beta programs as well.
If you feel that permission was granted tacitly or explicitly by my website's host or some other method, please do clarify how permission was obtained so that I may follow up with whomever may be complicit with Amazon's unethical, legally-questionable practices. I will be filing a complaint with my state's attorney general and my web host about this matter.
[Your name]
[Business name as it appears in Amazon app]
2. Post a policy on your site stating your permission or lack thereof. Hereâs another sample from ChromaRex.
Notice to third party marketplaces:
[Brand name] requires written consent to publish online listings of our products in other online stores or marketplaces. Without an existing, written agreement between both parties, publication of our products in other online stores is strictly prohibited. Tacit consent is not granted to use our product photography, brand name, product descriptions, or personal information in a commercial/retail capacity, regardless of direct revenue collected by your marketplace for facilitating sales. Misuse may constitute violations of U.S. Code Title 17 copyright law, and RCW 9.04.050 [this is for WA state â please look up the applicable law for your state] prohibiting false advertising.
3. Keep an eye out for any state-wide class-action lawsuits. Consider reaching out to your Attorney General if you want to take a more proactive approach.
Resources for further reading:Â
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-starfish-ai-ultimate-source-product-information-marketplace-sellers-collection-2025-7?op=1
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-angers-retailers-lists-products-without-consent-starfish-2026-1






















