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Over three weeks in August 2019, someone sent a married couple in Natick, Massachusetts, packages containing live cockroaches, live spiders, fly larvae, a bloody pig mask, a funeral wreath, and a fetal pig.
A book called Grief Diaries: Surviving Loss of a Spouse arrived addressed to the husband by name.
Pornographic magazines - also in his name - turned up at the neighbors' houses.
The packages were not from a stranger, they were sent by employees of eBay.
On Monday, eBay agreed to pay $55.7 million to settle the case.
The company's former CEO, Devin Wenig, is personally paying $2 million.
Two other former executives are contributing a further $550,000 between them. An additional $6 million is going to charity.
eBay called what happened 'wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened'.
That's definitely one way of putting it.
David and Ina Steiner run EcommerceBytes, a website and newsletter that covers the e-commerce industry.
They have been writing about eBay's fees, seller policies, and platform changes for years.
Their reporting is closely followed by online sellers and, apparently, by eBay's senior leadership.
Wenig, who was CEO at the time, was frustrated by the coverage.
Internal messages showed him telling another executive to 'take her down' in reference to Ina.
Another exec, Steve Jones, wrote that the company should 'clap back at Ina'.
A third, communications officer Steve Wymer, told subordinates to 'eff with her' and wrote: "I want to blow her site up."
What followed was not a PR strategy.
Seven members of eBay's security team, led by Senior Director of Safety and Security Jim Baugh, carried out a coordinated campaign to terrorise the Steiners into silence.
The deliveries were the most visible part.
Cockroaches, spiders, fly larvae, a bloody pig mask, a funeral wreath, a fetal pig, the grief book, the porn magazines. All anonymous, all arriving at the same house and all within a few weeks of each other.
But it went further than that.
They posted the couple's home address online alongside invitations for sexual activity at the property.
They sent graphic, threatening messages through Twitter and other platforms using fake accounts, including one pretending to be a disgruntled eBay seller.
They physically travelled to Natick and conducted surveillance of the couple.
They tried to install a GPS tracker on the Steiners' car. Investigators later traced a rental van that had been used to follow David around town.
"Never did we imagine doing our jobs as journalists would lead to this," David Steiner said when the civil lawsuit was filed in 2021.
All seven were charged by federal prosecutors in Massachusetts in June 2020.
Most pleaded guilty to conspiracy and cyberstalking.
Baugh, the 'ringleader', got 57 months in federal prison plus two years supervised release and a $40,000 fine.
David Harville, eBay's former Director of Global Resiliency, got two years plus two years supervised release and a $20,000 fine. The others received prison terms or home confinement.
eBay itself was criminally charged with stalking, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.
The company entered a deferred prosecution agreement in 2024 and paid a $3 million criminal penalty, the statutory maximum for the offences.
$46.15 million from eBay. $2 million from Wenig personally. $500,000 from Steve Jones, the former Senior Vice President of global operations. $50,000 from Steve Wymer, the former Chief Communications Officer. Plus $6 million in charitable donations to nonprofits, funded by eBay and Wenig.
The Steiners had originally been seeking hundreds of millions in compensatory and punitive damages.
An agreement in principle was reached in February, but negotiations dragged on for months.
In June, the Steiners' lawyer told Judge Patti Saris that a deal could not be reached, and Saris rescheduled a jury trial for early 2027. The final settlement was reached on Monday.
Wenig has never been criminally charged. He maintained he did not know the details of what the security team was doing. But his "take her down" message was central to the lawsuit, and his $2 million personal contribution to the settlement says plenty about how the case would have looked to a jury.
In his statement, Wenig said: "The Steiners' right to publish content was always protected by the First Amendment, and protection of the press and the right to free speech are causes I have long supported and defended."
Because the details are so strange that people assume they are exaggerated. They are not. Every item on the list was documented in the Department of Justice's criminal investigation. Federal prosecutors confirmed all of it. Seven people went to prison over it.
Ina Steiner told the New York Times: "We wanted to find the truth.
"As victims you need to know: why did this happen to me?
"And we wanted it to be a deterrent, to have corporate executives think twice before they said words and set things in motion."
Their lawyer, Christopher Murphy, said the settlement 'sends a clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences.'
The Steiners still live in Natick and EcommerceBytes is still publishing.
Now, eBay has written a cheque for $55.7 million because seven of its employees decided the best way to deal with a critical newsletter was to send the people who wrote it a bloody pig mask and a book about coping with the death of a husband.
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A newly married couple has shared the invoice they sent to wedding guests who no-showed their wedding and explained exactly why they chose to take action.
As reported by the New York Post, newlyweds Doug Simmons and Dedra McGee (now Simmons) decided to take action after forking out a fortune on their big day - only to have certain guests never show up.
Doug, 44, originally shared a screenshot of the invoice to his Facebook page, along with the caption: "DON'T BE OFFENDED WHEN I SEND THIS #INVOICE TO YOU. IT'S GONNA LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS. I'LL BE SENDING IT VIA EMAIL AND CERTIFIED MAIL... JUST IN CASE YOU SAY YOU AIN'T GET THE EMAIL [...] #PETTYPOST".
The couple told The Post that their big day took place in Jamaica at the Royalton Negril Resort & Spa, where they forked out $120 per guest.
However, after some guests opted to no-show, the Chicago couple decided to seek monetary compensation - invoicing the missing guests for a total of $240 to cover the costs ($120 for them and $120 for their plus ones).
A note on the bill reads: "This invoice is being sent to you because you confirmed seat(s) at the wedding reception during the Final Headcount.
"Because you didn’t call or give us proper notice that you wouldn’t be in attendance, this amount is what you owe us for paying for your seat(s) in advance. You can pay via Zelle or PayPal. Please reach out to us and let us know which method of payment works for you. Thank you!"
The invoice soon went viral over on Twitter, with some even questioning if it was legit. But after speaking to The Post, Doug and 43-year-old Dedra have confirmed that the invoice is very real.
Doug told The Post that the no-shows "made [him] feel some kind of way".
"Four times we asked, 'Are you available to come, can you make it?,; and they kept saying 'Yes,'" Doug told The Post, adding: "We had to pay in advance for Jamaica — this was a destination wedding."
The groom added that he has received no messages from the no-shows explaining that they couldn't make it. "To tell me nothing, but then let me pay for you and your plus ones? Four people became eight people. I took that personally," he said.
Over on Twitter, the reactions were divided over whether or not the invoice was the right thing to do.
"I understand being upset about no show guests for a small wedding but sending an invoice is too much," one Twitter user wrote.
A second added: "That is tasteless. If you cannot absorb or factor in the no shows then don’t have it. Simple."
However, a third sided with the Simmons, writing: "I get emergencies or last minute changes but not to say anything then I agree with the invoice. That’s a cold cowboy to actually send it though."
This was echoed by a fourth who wrote: "I don’t think it’s petty at all. Don’t RSVP to s**t that you know you aren’t going to. People are counting you in and putting money up for you to show up."
So, do you think the newlyweds are right to invoice the no-shows? Let us know in the comments!
A notebook that supposedly has "top secret" information from Johnny Depp's recently-concluded trial with Amber Heard is selling on eBay.
Last week, seven jurors decided that Heard's 2018 op-ed about domestic abuse was defamatory towards the Edward Scissorhands star. As such, the jury awarded him $15 million, which was later capped at $10.35 million. Based on her $100 million countersuit, Heard was awarded $2 million.
Speaking to TMZ, Larry Foreman, the seller of said notebook, revealed that he had sat in on part of the trial and took down notes on days 23 to 26.
He says the notes include details not seen on television - so those who were glued to their screens as the six-week trial went on may be tempted to take a gander.
They even contain descriptions of reactions from the jurors, which were not seen on TV.
Note, though, that the current bid is at over $14,000 at the time of writing. So you'll have to shell out thousands of pounds to beat the current highest bidder to it.
Foreman told the outlet that the notebook has about 20 pages per day, covering four days of the trial.
He says he will donate the highest bid to Children's Hospital LA, saying it seemed appropriate since Heard famously pledged $3.5 million to a charity, the American Civil Liberties Union, in 2016. Six years since her pledge - which came after she and Depp reached a settlement in their divorce - the funds are yet to be paid, it was revealed in the trial.
In any case, Foreman says reps for the hospital are aware of his eBay auction and they're very grateful for his offer.
In other news, some of those who attended the defamation trial between the ex-spouses in Fairfax County, Virginia, are now selling their paper wristbands - which allowed them entry into the courthouse.
"This is a piece of celebrity culture history," wrote one eBay seller, who kicked off the bidding for his trial day 20 wristband at $4,999.
He also described the condition of the wristband in detail: "The wristband has been cut so I could remove it from my wrist, you cannot reattach it without using glue or tape; but I figure this would be better framed."
Christmas is a time for family, which means that it's also a time for people and their loved ones to get on each other's nerves. Think about it: how many arguments have you and your family had over Christmas dinner over the years? Maybe it's because your grandmother decided to bring up some long-winded and embarrassing anecdote, maybe your dad and sister argue about someone she's been dating, and maybe your mom and brother have a falling out because he didn't set the table until it was almost too late.
Most of these squabbles end in a frank exchange of views before the participants flounce off to bed, only for them to take up the next morning with (most likely) a hangover and indigestion, and sheepishly apologise for their prior remarks. However, this year a woman who hails from Germany apparently got so fed up with her spouse that she decided to take things to the next level. Rather than continue to nag at him, she decided to see if she could pawn him off at that ultimate repository for everything broken, missing and useless: eBay.
The Hamburgian woman, known only as 'Dorte L', took to the auctioneering site to sell her husband after the two of them had a festive altercation. The advert for the auctioned man was entitled "Husband: Used" and accompanied by an image of the couple’s Christmas tree. Dorte stated that potential buyers could come round to their home to collect the man on Christmas Day, and that he could be "road tested" on Boxing Day.
The advert read: "Dear women who may be interested. Over the first two days of Christmas I have realised that we simply don't belong together any more. I would like to give up my husband. I am happy to negotiate the price. But no exchange. Please send me inquiries over email."
Speaking to the Hamburger Abendblatt, she said her husband was unaware of the advert until it appeared in local newspapers, stating: The advert was very well received. I got a lot of positive feedback and someone sent me a lot of smiley emoticons. I didn't want to make a drama out of it at all. It was just for some amusement."
This isn't the first time that someone has tried to sell something unlikely on the website. Earlier this year, a man named Chris Pollitt attempted to sell his house on eBay. Commenting on the bizarre listing of his own home, Pollitt stated: "It's been on the market around six months, and in that time I've had about eight or nine viewings, but you can tell straight away none of them were serious. Since posting on eBay I've had a few messages and they all seem to be more interested in actually buying the place than just coming for a look around."
So there you go, some lucky person could end up with a new home and hubby in the next few weeks! Isn't eBay grand?
A small business owner was left devastated after a customer sent her a harsh email after receiving a free lollipop with her order.
TLC Body founder Carissa Collins, from the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, sells homemade bath and body products and likes to go the extra mile by dropping a lolly in each order for her customers.
While most would be grateful for the sweet (no pun intended) gesture - even if they weren't a fan of confectionary themselves - one buyer felt the need to send a rude email to Carissa complaining about it instead.
Carissa broke down in tears as she shared her response to receiving the cruel email, asking in the caption: "should I not be giving lollies with my order??"
Breaking down, she told her followers: "Oh my god. Normally emails like this wouldn't get to me so much but today has been a day.
"I literally just received an email from a customer complaining about me giving them a lolly. A b***dy lolly in their order. Honestly, how this email was worded, it was almost as if I had stabbed them or something."
Carissa shared the email on a greenscreen background to her video, showing what the vegan customer had written to her after she got sent a lolly for free with her order.
The woman had written: "So once again I am in a position where I will not be buying from you again because I no longer trust your word.
"I don't even eat lollies - vegan or not - what do you think you are gaining from sending someone a bit of sugary junk in the first place. I'd rather pay less from my product than get something I never asked for or wanted.
"But if they were vegan I would have at least appreciated the thought. Honestly I don't even know what to say. Darn you, I liked your products. Please put more thought into things like this in the future. I won't be buying from you again."
Carissa added that it was just a small excerpt from a longer email the woman had sent - though the mind boggles at how the buyer could possibly find any more ways to complain about a free lolly rather than just... throw it away if she didn't want it and go about her day.
While many confectionary items are made using gelatin or other animal derivatives which are not suitable for vegans, at the most she could have writtena polite note asking for Carissa to include vegan options instead for customers she knows don't use or consume animal products.
Carissa added: "When did it become OK to speak to people like this... like, what the hell. I am trying to do a nice thing by giving free gifts with orders. If you don't like a lolly, don't eat it."
Her followers rushed to the comments to support her, writing: "I am vegan and get sent extra things that aren't vegan all the time. I just give them to friends. It is the thought that counts."
Others added: "They must have a really sad life" and "you don't want customers like that, its a blessing in disguise, don't let this put you down."
Another wrote: "You should write back and tell her that you will not be accepting any more orders from her as she is now banned! You have done nothing wrong."
Carissa told Daily Mail Australia that despite the cruel email, it was soon overshadowed by all the lovely messages she received from her followers.
"I had a stressful day, so I took the email very personally. It is also the first negative email I have received like that," she told the outlet.
"I really appreciated the response online, it blew me away to be honest. I also won't be stopping throwing in free lollies with my products, I think it is a nice touch... I guess the woman was having a bad day."
An eight-year-old boy has earned praise for selling his Pokémon card collection to pay for his sick dog's $700 vet's bills.
Per People magazine, Pokémon fanatic Bryson Kliemann, who hails from Lebanon, Virginia, recently noticed that his four-month-old puppy Bruce was seriously unwell.
A vet later diagnosed the dog diagnosed with parvo - a contagious virus that can be lethal in canines if left untreated.
Take a look at this news report on the heartwarming story in the video below:Unfortunately, the Kliemann family was unable to afford the cost of Bruce's treatment.
However, Bryson wasn't willing to lose his furry friend, and on May 4 he set up a stall outside his house to sell his collection of Pokémon cards to passing strangers.
Bryson initially sold the cards for between $5-$10. But once social media users got wind of his fundraiser through Facebook, they began to donate to a GoFundMe launched by his mom, Kimberly Woodruff.
As a result of this, Bryson has now far exceeded his initial goal, and his mom's fundraiser currently stands at $17,930 at the time of writing.
On social media, a number of Facebook users have praised Bryson for making such a noble sacrifice to save his beloved pet.
One person wrote: "I just made my 1st investment in the Pokémon card business! Two of the most handsome and sweet little gentlemen I've ever [seen] assured me it was worth what I paid for! My [heart] tells me it's priceless! My [heart is a puddle!"
Another added: "Made me cry... a boy n his dog. Hope everything keeps progressing. [sic]"
While a third wrote: "Bless his sweet little heart."
Finally, another person commented: "God bless his little heart. I'm so glad that he is turning into the best little boy. And that he cares that much for an animal that shows me he has true love for animals. Maybe he will grow up to be a vet."
As if that wasn't enough, WCYB News reports that Bryson's story caught the attention of Pokémon employees in Bellevue in Washington.
They promptly sent him a letter of goodwill along with a bundle with rare collectible Pokémon cards to replace those he had sold off.
Meanwhile, People reports that Woodruff later shared an update on Bruce's condition, revealing that he had received his treatment and is feeling better.
She added that the rest of the money raised by the public will be used to help pay for the dog's future vaccinations or donated to charity to support other sick animals in the future.
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