alt Hacker NewsNo, the first case I used their website in a way that gave them a sale, which is why they have it. Why is it a straw man case when it's reality? Don't argue in bad faith, please. Express your reasoning, like I did, don't just dismiss me because you disagree..
You are assuming that because you are giving the operator money that you are entitled to use their website however you please -- that's not how it works. If you enter a brick & mortar establishment and break their rules, even as a paying customer, you might risk e.g. being kicked out and banned, depending on the behavior. This is not unique to e-commerce
To be fair, I do not generally support wholesale banning of scrapers and non-browser clients, since this tends to have lots of ugly side effects.
But regardless, I'm interpreting your last comment as saying that you should be entitled to behave as you please because you are a paying customer. If that's the case, then you are in for a rude awakening one day