The Steiners speak up about eBay harassment

[nobody*s_perfect]

David and Ina Steiner started selling on eBay in 1999. To share their expertise, they founded an online newsletter called AuctionBytes. It's now known as "EcommerceBytes," a newsletter about online commerce including eBay. Of course, the stories often aren't flattering.

Several eBay employees seriously harassed and threatened the Steiners back in 2019, and the cases against the former eBay employees are working their way through the courts.  The Boston Globe has an extensive article in which the Steiners discuss their experience and their side of the case.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/31/business/it-has-be-known-what-was-done-us-natick-couple-haras...

[downunder-61]

I am guessing that will come out during the trials, but I would like to think a company the size of eBay would not risk being a part of anything so ridiculously childish, stupid and damaging.

I also doubt eBay would see the Ecommerce blog site as any kind of a threat to them in the first place.

But who knows these days, the world has become a confusing place

[dbfolks166mt]

     You mean like Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) and their multiple scandals, CEO Travis Kalanick during the Uber scandal, CEO Hiroya Kawasaki in the Kobe steel scandal, CEO Martin Winterkorn during the VW emissions scandal, CEO Jeffrey Skillin during the Enron scandal. Yes this happens more often than it should. Leadership is about doing the right thing. All to often the moral and ethical right thing conflicts with the right thing for the shareholders. 

[eunster1313]

@gracieallen01 

(Just curious, but does anybody have some reason to believe or proof that ebay, the entity and/or people who run the company, had absolutely no knowledge of and/or involvement in what took place? I mean, was this something like those involved getting together over drinks and one saying, 'Say, I've got a fun idea that we can do on our off-time, and have a road trip, too'. If ebay is innocent of any wrongdoing, let them have their rightful day in court, just like any other person in the country is supposed to be allowed (including the Steiners).)

From the very beginning when they got arrested they told the Department Of Justice

that they were not a rogue grope of eBay employees and that they were instructed by

higher ups in eBay to take the Steiners down.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/two-former-ebay-employees-plead-guilty-aggressive-cyberstalking-c... 

If they hadn't been arrested when they were the whole story could have been

(eBay sellers in the California area arrested).

If you watch this video carefully a couple of times. When they thought the heat

was on they were in the process of executing their (exit strategy) when they got

arrested.

1.  Erasing evidence on eBay that points to eBay.

2. Falsifying evidence on eBay blaming people living in the California area from

    a  (predetermined) list that they had already prepared just for this.

Department of Justice - 6 eBay Executives And Employees

Charged With Threatening Natick Couple

https://youtu.be/NacqQW-SC7I 

[katzrul15]

Have often wondered what true "nerve" the Steiners stumbled across, etc.

When this first came out, the newsletters the year prior didn't seem to warrant this behavior - no obvious smoking gun.  Their CEO was evidently truly unhinged/paranoid.

Too bad they just didn't engage a high profile PR firm to tackle these types of situations like most companies do. 

Sabotage and the Ritz Carlton certainly go hand in hand.   

[omgitlightsup]

This is the first I've ever heard of this, and I thank OP for pointing it out.

[gracieallen01]

Thank you for posting the information included in your dialogue.  I've followed, on and off, since the beginning but it seems like the 'big denial' is hitting everywhere and everything and I was just wondering if there was any chance that ebay wasn't involved.

[cdchoicemart]

good

[madhdissa-46]

Interesting one!

[baconbobacon]

Ex-eBay Exec Pleads Guilty to Cyberstalking Role

News update 4/26/22:

BOSTON (AP) — A former top security executive at eBay Inc. has pleaded guilty to his role in a campaign to harass and intimidate a Massachusetts couple who published an online newsletter he perceived as critical of the company.

James Baugh, 47, of San Jose, California — eBay’s former senior director of safety and security — admitted Monday in federal court in Boston to nine charges in connection with the campaign that involved disturbing deliveries — among them, live insects, a bloody pig face mask and a book on surviving the loss of a spouse — to the victims’ home, federal prosecutors said.

The intimidation started when senior executives at eBay became frustrated with the newsletter’s tone and content, according to federal documents.

The harassment campaign also included online posts inviting the public for sexual encounters at the victims’ home, and a trip to the Boston area to spy on the victims with the intention of installing a GPS device in their vehicle, federal authorities said.

The couple from Natick spotted the surveillance and contacted local police. After learning of police involvement, Baugh lied to investigators, deleted digital evidence and falsified records, authorities said.

A voicemail was left Tuesday with Baugh's attorney.

Baugh was one of seven eBay employees or contractors charged in the harassment scheme that ran from August 2019 until August 2020. He is the sixth to plead guilty. One has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. San Jose-based eBay has previously said they were fired.

Baugh faces decades in prison at sentencing scheduled for Sept. 22, if he receives the maximum sentence.

The Massachusetts couple, Ina and David Steiner, who publish the newsletter EcommerceBytes, sued eBay and several employees including former CEO Devin Wenig last summer over what they described as a conspiracy to “intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them” in order to “stifle their reporting on eBay.”

The lawsuit alleges the employees were “carrying out the directives of Wenig” and another executive. Wenig was not criminally charged, has denied any knowledge of the harassment campaign, and his lawyers have asked that the Steiners' claims against him be dismissed.

He stepped down as CEO of eBay in September 2019.

The lawsuit has been stayed as the sides negotiate a settlement, according to court records.

The Silicon Valley giant has apologized to the couple and said that it fully cooperated with the law enforcement investigation.

[theteamsetguy]

Yes there is corp. responsibility and I’m sure eBay has insurance for that. My guess is eventually the insurance company will settle out of court.