Inside the eBay stalking scandal | 60 Minutes Archive
In a Nutshell
A Silicon Valley-based eBay security team stalked and terrorized Massachusetts couple Ina and David Steiner for months after their CEO and chief communications officer ordered staff to "crush" and "take down" the pair for critical coverage of the company. The campaign included threatening messages, live insects, a funeral wreath, and surveillance of their home, culminating in guilty pleas from seven employees—including five years in prison for the security director—but no criminal charges against the executives who incited the attacks.
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The online auction site eBay launched the e-commerce revolution when founded more than 20 years ago. Over the decades, it's drawn in 134 million users from mom-and-pop collectors on the hunt for bargains to small business owners. In 2022, users sold almost $74 billion worth of goods through eBay. Last month, buried in an otherwise dull annual financial disclosure, a note on page 105 hinted at a scandal inside the Silicon Valley giant. It refers to an inquiry from the US attorney about the stalking and harassment of the editor and publisher of an online newsletter at the hands of eBay employees.
Ina and David Steiner were met in Natick, Massachusetts, a quaint Boston suburb where the couple had enjoyed a quiet life until the summer of 2019. They loved eBay so much, they started a publication to help people who sell stuff on the auction site, and then found themselves the focus of a terror campaign. David described it as "psychological warfare" and "corporate terrorism" because they were terrorized, calling it "very calculated" and "very vicious."
"One of the things that we also learned was what sadistic pleasure these people took in terrorizing us."
The Steiners have been married for more than 30 years and work together from their home for more than 20 years. They publish a news website called e-commerce bytes. David handles the business side of things, and Ina does the reporting. They cover industry news, following what's happening and how it impacts sellers. People would write to them about problems with Amazon or eBay, and they wanted to be a conduit for sellers to tell their problems, share information, and give them a voice. Most of their 600,000 readers are sellers on eBay, Amazon, and Etsy. Industry observers would contact them with questions as there were certain things going on and Wall Street was very interested because these were public companies.
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