Report #2 · The gate
Who bot protection lets into a store
More and more purchases start with an AI assistant. Before an agent sees a product, it has to get past the store's firewall, which is there to stop bad bots. We built a test store behind such a firewall and checked who it lets in.
In short
- A bot that only states its name stops at the verification page.
- A bot with a forged signature stops too.
- An agent with a valid Web Bot Auth signature gets in like a person.
- The signed CanItBuy agent got past the gate with 5 of 5 models.
The experiment: store s13 behind a gate
Store s13 is one of CanItBuy's reference stores (NORDLYS). In front of it stands a gate that works like many firewalls today:
- People get in.
- A bot that states its name and has no signature gets a "Verify you are human" page (HTTP 403). The same rule also stops assistants that read a page for a shopper and identify themselves, such as ChatGPT-User, Claude-User or Perplexity-User.
- An agent with a valid Web Bot Auth signature gets in. The gate checks the signature with the key the agent publishes at its own address.
This is our simulation, not a copy of a specific product. Real firewalls also weigh the IP address, behaviour and the browser fingerprint.
Live check
| Who asks | Response | Result |
|---|---|---|
| A person's browser (Chrome) | HTTP 200 | let in |
| A bot that states its name (CanItBuyBot), unsigned | HTTP 403 | verification page |
| An agent with a forged signature | HTTP 403 | verification page |
| The CanItBuy agent with a valid signature | HTTP 200 | let in |
The requests were sent by the CanItBuy server 26 October 2026 at 03:31. We check again at most once an hour. The person's browser is reproduced with a User-Agent header, only in our own test store.
AI agents in store s13
The same test as in the CanItBuy Matrix: an agent in a real browser has to buy running shoes and stop before payment. The CanItBuy agent signs its requests. Next to it, three reading modes that fetch pages without a browser and identify as CanItBuyBot, unsigned.
| Model | How far the agent got | Steps | Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen 3.8 Flash | checkout | 6 | open |
| Amazon Nova 2 Lite | checkout | 6 | open |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | checkout | 6 | open |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | checkout | 6 | open |
| GPT-6 Luna | checkout | 6 | open |
| Reading mode | Model | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Data for machines | Qwen 3.8 Flash | 0 of 5 facts |
| Page without JavaScript | Qwen 3.8 Flash | 0 of 5 facts |
| Voice assistant | Qwen 3.8 Flash | 0 of 5 facts |
| Data for machines | Amazon Nova 2 Lite | 0 of 5 facts |
| Page without JavaScript | Amazon Nova 2 Lite | 0 of 5 facts |
| Voice assistant | Amazon Nova 2 Lite | 0 of 5 facts |
| Data for machines | Claude Haiku 5.5 | 0 of 5 facts |
| Page without JavaScript | Claude Haiku 5.5 | 0 of 5 facts |
| Voice assistant | Claude Haiku 5.5 | 0 of 5 facts |
| Data for machines | Gemini 3.8 Flash | 0 of 5 facts |
| Page without JavaScript | Gemini 3.8 Flash | 0 of 5 facts |
| Voice assistant | Gemini 3.8 Flash | 0 of 5 facts |
| Data for machines | GPT-6 Luna | 0 of 5 facts |
| Page without JavaScript | GPT-6 Luna | 0 of 5 facts |
| Voice assistant | GPT-6 Luna | 0 of 5 facts |
Latest test: 23 October 2026 at 02:08. Full results in the Matrix
What we see in real stores
Since 19 October 2026 the CanItBuy agent has tested 8 stores (8 tests). A person started every test on canitbuy.com; we do not scan stores on our own.
- In 38% of tests we recognised bot protection or a CDN in the page code or headers.
- In 0% of tests the store did not let the agent in.
We show groups of 5 tests or more. Recognition from code and headers does not detect every protection.
We record the gate map (home page, product and cart, signed and unsigned) in our statistics from 20 October 2026. The summary appears from 10 tests.
What to do in your store
- Check what your firewall does with bots that state their name. If it stops all of them, it also stops assistants that read a product page at a shopper's request.
- If your firewall recognises verified bots and Web Bot Auth signatures, turn that on. A signed agent can prove who it is, and a forged signature does not get through.
- Do not show a verification page to agents with a valid signature on product pages and in the cart.
- Test your store on canitbuy.com. The gate map in the report shows which pages let an unsigned agent in and which only a signed one.
Method and limits
- The s13 gate is a CanItBuy simulation. All of its rules are described above; real firewalls weigh more signals.
- The CanItBuy agent is a Chrome browser driven by an AI model through Vercel AI Gateway. Other companies' agents may behave differently. We do not test them automatically.
- Data from real stores is aggregate and anonymous: no store addresses and no emails. We recognise protection from page code and headers, so some firewalls stay invisible.
- This is a CanItBuy method, not market research. The sample is stores that someone chose to test.
You may quote the numbers in this report with the source: CanItBuy, canitbuy.com/report/gate.