Your agent spends the user’s money. A wrong guess is a charge.Founded by a software developer who runs an AI app.

Technology E&O

Claims that your agent bought the wrong item, the wrong quantity or at the wrong price, or acted outside what the user approved.

Without it — The loss is the user’s money, which is financial loss, and your terms will have limited it. Whether the limit holds is the claim.

Cyber & tech E&O

Breach response, ransomware and the notification costs that follow. Technology errors and omissions sits on the same policy and covers the software or service itself failing a client, which is the half most tech companies find out about too late.

Without it — A shopping agent holds sessions, saved cards or tokens for user accounts, and a breach of those is the larger liability.

Media liability

Covers claims arising from what you publish (defamation, copyright and trademark infringement, invasion of privacy and misuse of a person’s likeness) on an annual policy for creators, podcasters, publishers and authors.

Without it — Product comparisons, generated descriptions and review summaries are published statements about other businesses’ goods, and misleading ones draw advertising and defamation claims.

Directors & officers

Protects the personal assets of the people running the company when they are sued over a management decision. It applies to private companies and nonprofit boards, not just public ones, which is a common and expensive misunderstanding.

Without it — Payments partners, platforms and investors scrutinize who is accountable when an agent moves money.

General liability

Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is the line nearly every contract names by default.

Without it — The certificate that retail partners and platforms ask for, to be read for technology and professional services exclusions.

Ecommerce seller coverage

If you also sell products yourself rather than only run the agent, the merchant’s coverage is on its own page.

Without it — A seller is in the chain of supply for what it ships, which an agent that only buys on a user’s behalf is not.

Why is an AI shopping agent different from other AI apps?

Most AI apps give an answer. A shopping agent acts, and the action costs money. A wrong recommendation is a complaint, but a wrong purchase is a charge, a return, a refund dispute and sometimes a chargeback with a bank. That moves the claim from advice to a financial loss with a payments party attached, and it is why the contract language about what the user approved matters more than for a chatbot.

What happened in Amazon’s lawsuit against Perplexity?

Amazon sued in the Northern District of California in November 2025, alleging that Perplexity’s agentic browser tool shopping on Amazon.com for users violated the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and California’s computer access law. The district court granted a preliminary injunction. On August 4, 2026 the Ninth Circuit vacated it and sent the case back, holding that Amazon was unlikely to succeed in showing Perplexity accessed Amazon’s computers under the federal statute. It was a ruling on an injunction rather than the end of the case. For an agent builder the practical point is that a platform may sue, and that the legal question is still open.

Who pays if the agent buys something the user did not want?

It depends on what the user approved and what your terms say, and then on how the payment was made. Regulation E, which covers debit card and bank transfers, defines an unauthorized transfer as one initiated by someone without actual authority, and it excludes a transfer by a person to whom the consumer furnished the access device unless the consumer told the bank that person’s authority had ended. Whether an AI agent counts as such a person has not been decided in any source we verified, so we do not say. A lawyer should read how your flow captures approval.

Technology E&O explained

Should the agent ask the user to confirm every purchase?

Underwriters like it and users sometimes do not. A confirmation step makes the user the decision maker, which helps the defense, and spending limits, an item list the user can see and an easy way to cancel do the same. A fully autonomous purchase is the version underwriters read as higher risk. Describe your actual flow, not the marketing version.

What will the underwriter ask a shopping agent?

Whether the agent buys on its own or only after the user confirms each order, and what spending limits exist. Where payment credentials are stored and who processes the payment. Which stores it acts on and whether those stores permit it in their terms. Which model powers it and whether a person reviews unusual orders. How it handles returns, refunds and disputes. Your terms: disclaimers, arbitration and any liability cap. Revenue, user count, countries served, whether you are a merchant of record, prior claims and chargeback rate.

Does the policy cover an AI that picks the wrong product?

A wrong pick is a failure of your service and a tech E&O matter, but the wording on AI output matters. Some 2026 forms exclude or restrict claims that arise from generative AI, and general liability forms may carry a generative AI exclusion. Ask whether AI output is covered, in plain words, and put the answer in the policy rather than an email.

The generative AI exclusion on general liability

Does the FTC fake review rule affect a shopping agent?

It can. The FTC’s rule, in effect since October 21, 2024, bans fake reviews, including reviews that misrepresent who wrote them such as AI-generated ones, and bans creating or selling them. An agent that summarizes reviews has to be careful not to present synthetic or paid ones as genuine, and an app sold to merchants that writes reviews for them is in the rule’s direct line. Regulatory defense for that sits with the media or tech form.

Media liability insurance

We make an app that merchants install on their store. Is that this page?

Yes for the app, since the merchant is your customer and relies on your code to take orders, set prices or write product copy. A bug that mispriced a catalog or dropped orders for a day is a merchant’s lost sales, and large merchants will ask for insurance in the contract. The store’s own insurance, as a seller, is a separate matter.

Ecommerce business insurance

We built the agent with AI coding tools. Is that a problem?

Underwriters ask about it because an agent that spends money should be tested before it ships. Describe how the code is reviewed and tested, particularly around payments. The incidents and the policy questions for apps built that way are in our guide.

Insurance for apps built with AI

Do we need cyber coverage if a payments processor holds the cards?

Probably, because tokens, sessions and order history are still yours, and an attacker who takes over an agent can place orders. The processor reduces the card data you hold but not your liability for what an agent does with a logged-in session. Cyber should be read for payment card fines and regulatory defense.

Cyber liability insurance

Could a shopping agent cause bodily injury?

Occasionally, through the goods. An agent that recommends and buys a child’s product, a supplement or a tool that later hurts someone is a thin link in a claim that mostly runs against the seller and maker. Technology E&O forms commonly exclude bodily injury, and contingent bodily injury, an injury someone says came from relying on your output, is available on some forms. It matters most if you recommend safety-related goods.

Bodily injury against contingent bodily injury

Do we need coverage if we sell in other countries?

Check where claims can be brought. Many technology E&O policies only defend claims in the US or Canada, and a buyer abroad can sue at home and bring a payments dispute through a local bank.

Insurance for an app launching worldwide

Which NAICS codes does this page cover?

The 2022 NAICS codes most relevant are 513210 Software Publishers, 541511 Custom Computer Programming Services, 541519 Other Computer Related Services, 519290 Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services and 518210 Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services. A business that sells products itself is classified as a retailer, which is a different page.

Where does this fit among AI app insurance in other industries?

A shopping agent’s distinct claim is spending, which is why this page is separate from advice-giving AI apps. Each industry page names its own gap.

Insurance for AI apps, by industry

Is there a flagship example for an AI app that gives advice?

Our founder, Kevin Kelsey, owns TrainRec, a fitness app with a built-in AI coach by Manifest Post, and has placed AI apps. The coach is the advice version of the exposure, and the shopping agent is the spending version.

Health and fitness app insurance