Ecommerce Journalists Settle Landmark Harassment Civil Suit Against eBay for Over $50 Million In Total Damages

A years-long civil lawsuit against e-commerce giant eBay, filed by the co-founders of a Massachusetts-based industry news outlet, has reached a final resolution. The settlement holds eBay and its former top executives accountable for what is widely considered one of the most aggressive corporate-backed harassment campaigns against independent critical journalists on record.

The case dates back to 2019, when David and Ina Steiner, the husband-and-wife founders of EcommerceBytes, were targeted for their frequent, often unflattering coverage of eBay. By 2020, six former eBay employees and one contractor were criminally charged for their roles in the campaign, which included doxxing, violent threats, and the delivery of live pests to the Steiners’ home. The couple filed their civil suit in 2021, one year after eBay agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

Key Terms of the Final Settlement

The agreement delivers substantial financial and accountability requirements for all named defendants:

• The Steiners will receive $46.15 million directly from eBay, plus an additional $2 million from former eBay CEO Devin Wenig, $500,000 from former executive Wendy Jones, and $50,000 from former executive Steve Wymer.

• eBay will donate $6 million to charity, and Wenig will donate an extra $1 million to a nonprofit that defends First Amendment rights for journalists.

• eBay is required to issue a formal public statement condemning the actions of involved former staff.

Most notably, the settlement includes no confidentiality clause, meaning the Steiners are free to speak publicly about the case indefinitely. According to their attorney Chris Murphy, of Massachusetts-based personal injury firm Scalli Murphy Law, this was a non-negotiable condition from the start.

“From day one, that was a dealbreaker. As journalists, and as victims, the Steiners were very clear that they wanted everyone to see and understand what eBay did to them. And from day one, they were ready to go to trial over it.”

Speaking to WIRED after the settlement, David Steiner emphasized the couple’s goal of holding a major Fortune 500 company accountable for attacking critics.

“It’s a relief in some sense that we have some finality. But I think that it’s going to take a while to really see what this means in the bigger context of a settlement versus having gone to trial. We were really adamant that this type of behavior by a Fortune 500 corporation didn’t go unchecked.”

Ina Steiner added that the civil suit allowed the couple to uncover details of the internal corporate culture that enabled the harassment that were not released during the federal criminal investigation. Through the civil discovery process, the couple gained access to more than 68,000 internal eBay documents they would not have seen otherwise.

“We were often in the dark during the federal investigation, and we were told very little as victims.”

In a public statement shared with WIRED, eBay extended its “deepest apologies” to the Steiners, condemned the employees who pleaded guilty to criminal charges for the harassment, and acknowledged “the unprofessional tone in internal communications demonstrated, to different degrees and number, by Mr. Wenig, Mr. Wymer, and Ms. Jones.” The company noted it has since installed new leadership, and said the 2019 incidents “are not representative of eBay’s culture or thousands of employees around the world today.”

A representative for Devin Wenig told WIRED that Wenig is “saddened” by what the Steiners endured in 2019. Wenig has long maintained he had no knowledge of the specific harassment campaign, and has said his widely cited order to “take [Ina Steiner] down” referred to a standard public relations plan, a reading supported by some court documents.

Full Scope of the 2019 Harassment Campaign

Initial criminal complaints and court records detail the two-month campaign of intimidation that unfolded in the summer of 2019. It began with anonymous threatening direct messages to the Steiners on Twitter, then quickly escalated to disturbing deliveries to their home, including: a blood-stained pig mask, pornographic materials, live spiders, live cockroaches, fly larvae, a book about grieving a deceased spouse, and a funeral wreath ordered from a local florist.

Perpetrators also conducted in-person surveillance of the couple, tailing them in a rented Dodge Caravan. They posted fake Craigslist classified ads linking the Steiners’ home address to fake events including a swingers’ party, a threesome meetup, and public estate sales, and even sent an emergency plumber to the home unprompted. After the couple contacted local police, who alerted federal authorities, the harassers scaled back their campaign and attempted to cover up their involvement.

A New Legal Precedent

The settlement sets a new legal precedent for civil harassment cases in Massachusetts. Under state law, punitive damages are typically not permitted in standard personal injury or civil harassment claims. The Steiners’ legal team successfully argued that because eBay is domiciled in California, which allows punitive damages for civil harassment, those damages should be permitted in this case. Murphy said this is believed to be the first time this argument has succeeded in this type of case in Massachusetts.

The Steiners continue to operate EcommerceBytes from their long-time home in Natick, Massachusetts. Murphy noted the couple never left their home throughout the harassment and subsequent COVID-19 pandemic, though they upgraded home security and slept in separate rooms as a safety precaution. Ina Steiner broke news of the settlement on EcommerceBytes shortly after 9 p.m. local time on Monday.

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Update 7/28/26 6:53pm ET: This story has been updated with comment from a spokesperson for Devin Wenig.