All posts tagged: eBay

Who are David and Ina Steiner? Massachusetts couple to get M after being targeted in cockroach harassment campaign

Who are David and Ina Steiner? Massachusetts couple to get $56M after being targeted in cockroach harassment campaign

Published by Parlour News

eBay is set to compensate a couple from Massachusetts with almost $56 million after they alleged that the firm attempted to intimidate them into ceasing their reporting through a series of threats, stalking, the use of live cockroaches, and a Halloween mask resembling a bloody pig. eBay acknowledges the wrongful actions against the Steiners and expresses regret. The settlement, revealed on Tuesday, brings to a close more than six years of legal battles, both criminal and civil, initiated by David and Ina Steiner, who are the founders of the e-commerce newsletter EcommerceBytes. “David and I were on the same page that this settlement should and must be made public—as victims who want to prevent something like this from ever happening to anyone else, and as reporters who believe in transparency,” Ina Steiner stated. “We hope that this case will serve as a deterrent.” What we know about compensation The arrangement entails $48.7 million in compensation, in addition to $7 million designated for charitable donations, which includes contributions to First Amendment organizations, and it lacks any …

‘Sell them on eBay’: Trump puts a price tag on his autograph at event with kids at White House

‘Sell them on eBay’: Trump puts a price tag on his autograph at event with kids at White House

Published by Parlour News

US President Donald Trump claimed to know exactly how much his signatures would fetch if sold online — or so he told kids at an Easter event at the White House on Monday. President Donald Trump sits down with children as he participates in the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday, April 6, 2026, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo) “I could sign autographs for you guys, and then tonight, you could sell them for $25,000 on eBay,” he said to the children in attendance. He also lampooned his predecessor, Joe Biden, over his age while talking to the kids. “Biden would use the autopen… he was incapable of signing his name, so they’d follow him around with this big machine,” he said, as per a video posted on an official X account of the White House. Trump is 79 years old; Biden was 82 when he dropped out of the last presidential election due to ill health. Biden reportedly used the autopen, a device used to …

eBay is cutting more than 200 jobs at TCGplayer

eBay is cutting more than 200 jobs at TCGplayer

Published by Webster

eBay is slashing the jobs of 220 workers at TCGplayer’s card authentication center in Syracuse, New York, as reported earlier by local news outlet LocalSyr. eBay will move the online trading card marketplace’s operations to a warehouse in Kentucky — a decision TCGplayer’s union claims is eBay’s attempt to “evade its bargaining obligations.” TCGplayer and eBay also canceled their meeting to finalize the union’s first contract just days before eBay revealed that it’s closing the Syracuse location. The CWA has since filed another unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing eBay of “terminating the employment” of workers to avoid bargaining. On Monday, the CWA claimed that eBay hired security guards at TCGplayer’s Syracuse authentication center that have “created an oppressive atmosphere by physically and verbally harassing employees.” “TCGplayer is closing its Syracuse Authentication Center to consolidate operations within an eBay logistics center in Kentucky,” eBay spokesperson Maddy Martinez said in a statement to The Verge. “We recognize the near-term impact it will have on our employees, their families and the …

Meta Offers to Publish EBay Ads on Facebook Marketplace to Comply With EU Antitrust Order

Meta Offers to Publish EBay Ads on Facebook Marketplace to Comply With EU Antitrust Order

Published by Webster

Meta Platforms Inc. offered to publish listings from classified ads rival eBay Inc. on Facebook Marketplace in an effort to comply with a landmark European Union antitrust order that was accompanied by a EUR 798 million ($822 million or roughly Rs. 7,061 crore) fine.  The Menlo Park, California-based firm said Wednesday it will launch a test in Germany, France and the US that will enable “buyers to browse listings from eBay directly on Facebook Marketplace while completing their transaction on eBay.”  Despite the changes, the company said in a blog post that it continues to disagree with the EU’s decision, and that it’s pursuing an appeal through the bloc’s courts. EBay shares rose 7.4 percent by 9:19 a.m. in New York trading. Meta’s changes mark an effort to comply with the EU’s decision in November, which ordered the company to stop tying its classified-ads service to Facebook’s sprawling social media platform, as well as refrain from imposing unfair trading conditions on rival second-hand goods platforms.  A commission spokesperson said that Meta has a duty to …

eBay and Beazley Reportedly Being Targeted by Advanced AI-Generated Phishing Scams

eBay and Beazley Reportedly Being Targeted by Advanced AI-Generated Phishing Scams

Published by Webster

eBay, the ecommerce giant and several other companies are reportedly witnessing an increased volume of personalised phishing attacks aimed towards high-level employees. As per the report, these phishing scams are being carried out using artificial intelligence (AI) systems to make them appear human-like and avoid the telltale signs of a typical scam email. These cyber attackers are reportedly also using AI to scrape and analyse data about company executives to add a personal touch to the messages. Basic security filters are said to be insufficient to stop such emails at an organisational level. Company Executives Being Targeted by AI Phishing Scams According to a Financial Times report, companies such as eBay and the UK-based insurance firm Beazley have highlighted the increase in fraudulent emails that contain personal information about their executive-level employees. Kirsty Kelly, the chief informational security officer at Beazley, told the publication that AI is suspected to be behind these attacks due to the personal nature of the emails. Kelly reportedly also added that these targeted phishing attacks have likely been conducted after …

eBay is off the hook for selling harmful products

Published by Webster

A US government lawsuit accusing eBay of selling almost 350,000 polluting and environmentally harmful products — including pesticides and “defeat” devices that let motor vehicles evade emission controls — has been dismissed by a federal judge. On Monday, District Judge Orelia Merchant ruled that eBay isn’t liable for items that users sell on the digital marketplace due to civil protections that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides for online platforms. Under Section 230, online platforms cannot be held responsible for hosted content unless “it assisted in the development of what made the content unlawful.” The lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice last year alleged that eBay had violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) by knowingly selling, or offering unlawful products for sale. Merchant dismissed the DOJ’s claim, ruling that eBay “must own or possess an item” to be considered a seller. Merchant also ruled that administrative and technical support that eBay provides to sellers, such as messages, email notifications, and processing payments, doesn’t materially contribute to the “alleged unlawfulness” of illegal …

The Apple Vision Pro’s eBay prices are making me sad

Published by Webster

I paid a lot of money for the privilege of getting an Apple Vision Pro brand-new in February. All-in, with optical inserts and taxes, I financed a little over $3,900 for the 256GB version of the headset. A day or so ago, I made a mistake that I’m sure many early adopters are familiar with: I looked up how much it’s been selling for on eBay. On Wednesday, a 1TB Vision Pro, complete with all the included gear, Apple’s fluffy $200 travel case, $500 AppleCare Plus, and claimed to have been “worn maybe about an hour” sold for $3,200 after 21 bids. The listed shipping estimate was $20.30. Brand new, that combination is $5,007.03 on Apple’s site for me. Another eBay listing, this one with my headset’s configuration (but sans optical inserts) went for just $2,600 — again with most, if not all, of the included accessories. Several other 256GB and 512GB models sold for around that amount this week. Look at those deep discounts.Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge This, of course, is how …

eBay will lay off 1,000 employees — 9 percent of the company

Published by Webster

Team,  We are on a path to building a stronger eBay for the future — one that is growing, and resilient in the face of any challenge. Over the past three years, we made fundamental changes in our experiences across categories and accelerated the pace of innovation at eBay. In areas where we’re investing, we are seeing consistent increases in customer satisfaction and a meaningful improvement in our growth relative to the market.  Our strategy is the right one, but there is more we can do to ensure our success. We need to better organize our teams for speed — allowing us to be more nimble, bring like-work together, and help us make decisions more quickly. Today, I am sharing news about changes we are implementing to better position eBay for long-term, sustainable growth.  The most significant and toughest of these decisions is to reduce our current workforce by approximately 1,000 roles or an estimated 9% of full-time employees. Additionally, we plan to scale back the number of contracts we have within our alternate workforce …

eBay will pay $3 million over bizarre cyberstalking campaign

Published by Webster

eBay has agreed to pay $3 million in connection with a 2019 harassment campaign directed at a Massachusetts couple that had been critical of the e-commerce site. The US Department of Justice announced the maximum criminal penalty on Thursday and said the company committed six felony offenses. Specifically, the DOJ charged eBay with two counts of stalking through interstate travel, two counts of stalking through electronic communications services, one count of witness tampering, and one count of obstruction of justice. The charges stem from a heinous harassment campaign carried out by a group of seven eBay employees, some of whom were company executives. In 2019, the employees came up with a plan to target Ina and David Steiner, a couple who ran an e-commerce newsletter that covered eBay with a critical lens. In addition to sending the pair online threats, the employees visited the couple’s home to conduct surveillance and sent them grotesque items, including a bloody pig mask, a funeral wreath, live insects, and a book about getting through the death of a spouse. …

US military biometric capture devices loaded with data were sold on eBay

Published by Webster

Old US military equipment being sold on eBay contained what appears to be biometric data from troops, known terrorists, and people who may have worked with American forces in Afghanistan and other countries in the Middle East, according to a report from The New York Times. The devices were purchased by a group of hackers, who found fingerprints, iris scans, peoples’ pictures, and descriptions, all unencrypted and protected by a “well-documented” default password. In a blog post, the hackers called getting at the sensitive data “downright boring,” given how easy it was to read, copy, and analyze. Matthias Marx, who lead the group’s efforts in researching the devices, doesn’t think that the data itself is boring, though, calling the fact that they had been able to get their hands on it “unbelievable.” Though he plans on deleting the data after the club finishes its research, what they’ve already found raises concerns about how closely the military guarded this information. That’s especially true given reports from last year that the Taliban obtained biometric devices as the …