The robots.txt file for Amazon reveals that it has set up quite a restrictive environment for automated web scrapers. The directive Disallow: / is defined, implying a sweeping restriction on all pages of the website. This rule applies to all user agents excluding certain privileged bots like Googlebot, Bingbot preventing general web scrapers from operating on the site.

There are no apparent Allow: / rules or sitemap listed for generic user agents, indicating a lack of specific access points into the site's content. Essentially, no part of Amazon is available for general purpose web scraping from the guidelines rendered in the robots.txt file. As a result, Amazon's robots.txt unequivocally signals an adamant posture opposing unrestricted web scraping, with the exception of certain whitelisted bots.

The terms of service for Amazon.com include explicit statements about automated access and data extraction. The terms state:

“This license does not include any resale or commercial use of any Amazon Service, or its contents; any collection and use of any product listings, descriptions, or prices; any derivative use of any Amazon Service or its contents; any downloading, copying, or other use of account information for the benefit of any third party; or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools.”

This covers all scraping, crawling, or bot-driven collection across both public and logged-in parts of the site because it applies to all “Amazon Services.” While enforceability can depend on whether a user has explicitly agreed (for example, by creating an account or otherwise using the site), Amazon frames this restriction as broadly applicable.

Amazon does offer official APIs for approved partners (such as the Product Advertising API or Selling Partner API), and the Conditions of Use include “Agent” requirements that prohibit bypassing protective measures. For example:

“Not circumvent or otherwise avoid any measure intended to block, limit, modify, or control whether and how Agents access, use, or interact with an Amazon Service.”

The Agent Terms also require automated tools to identify themselves in the user agent string as “Agent/[agent name].” Violations can lead to consequences including IP blocking or account-level actions—Amazon “reserves the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, [and] terminate your rights to use Amazon Services.” In sum, scraping is forbidden without Amazon’s express written permission or participation in an approved API program under its separate terms.