Questions · Buy
Can a cookie banner stop an AI agent from buying?
Yes, if the banner blocks interaction until it is answered. A banner is not a problem because it is a banner, it is a problem when it is a modal with no reachable control, which is common in implementations that assume a mouse. A banner with a labelled accept control that responds to the keyboard is fine, and so is one that overlays without blocking. The test is whether a visitor with no pointer can get past it.
Why it happens
Agents dismiss overlays by finding a control with a recognisable name, such as Close or Dismiss, and activating it. An overlay whose close control is an unlabelled icon, whose dismiss action is a click on the backdrop, or which reappears immediately, presents no such control.
Newsletter and discount modals that fire on a timer are the common case, and they are usually set to appear a few seconds after load, which is exactly when an agent is reading the page.
This comes up at the Buy stage. The full treatment, including how to reproduce it and what to change, is on A popup blocks the path to the cart.
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