1 A “Relentless PR Attack”

A battle among platforms over sellers ultimately cost eBay $55.7 million, equivalent to nearly CNY 380 million.

This month, eBay and three former executives reached a settlement with Ina Steiner and David Steiner, founders of e-commerce publication EcommerceBytes, ending a seven-year saga. Of the $55.7 million provided by eBay, $48.7 million is compensation and another $7 million goes to charitable programs.

Prior to this, seven former eBay employees and contractors had already been convicted. eBay also paid a $3 million criminal fine and is under three years of independent compliance oversight.

The affair began in 2018 when eBay sued Amazon, accusing its employees of using fake accounts and internal messages to recruit high-value eBay sellers. In 2019, EcommerceBytes, which had long covered eBay, discussed this seller tug-of-war. The article quickly angered eBay’s management, and internal communications included heated language like “take her down.”

As these emotions reached the security team, frustration over the reporting escalated into harassment of the journalist. Those involved sent live cockroaches, a bloody pig mask and a funeral wreath; posted pornographic messages under the couple’s names; stalked the couple across state lines; and attempted to install a GPS tracker on their car. After police intervened, some individuals deleted records and forged documents, turning a simple PR problem into a complex criminal case.

The illegal actions quickly boomeranged on management. After receiving a police notice in August 2019, eBay launched an internal investigation and subsequently fired several involved employees and its Chief Communications Officer. A month later, then-CEO Devin Wenig left the company; court documents later showed that the board asked him to resign in part because of this illegal operation.

From the conviction of security team members to the CEO’s departure, eBay paid a heavy price for an out-of-control PR response, yet what triggered management’s anxiety was simply a routine battle for sellers between platforms.

2 The Battle for Sellers

Although eBay’s criminal harassment is an extreme case, its anxiety over losing sellers is not unique.

For marketplaces that rely on third-party merchants, established sellers offer more than just products—they bring product development, inventory, advertising and fulfillment capabilities. Attracting a mature merchant often means adding a proven business to one’s own marketplace.

Platform competition goes beyond recruitment slogans. Amazon currently offers new brand sellers a package of incentives worth over $50,000, including a 10% rebate on the first $50,000 in brand sales, and an additional 5% on sales up to $1 million in the first year.

Similarly, TikTok Shop US launched a “60-Day New Seller Camp” in 2025, giving merchants who complete tasks up to $1,100 in vouchers and a 30-day commission discount after the first order.

Here, “new seller” only means new to a particular platform, not necessarily a newcomer to e-commerce. A seller regarded as new by one platform may already be an established merchant on another, so incentives serve not only to lower entry costs but also to entice merchants to transfer products and resources.

Competition gives sellers more options. They can compare traffic, fees and market potential across platforms before deciding where to invest. However, this choice depends on the portability of their business. If orders, inventory and teams are all tied to a single platform, a single traffic shift, account review, fee increase or payment delay can threaten the whole operation. Even if other platforms are recruiting, it is hard for sellers to move quickly.

For cross-border sellers, a more prudent approach is not to open stores on every platform, but to first choose a primary battlefield that best matches their products and target markets, then keep one or two backup channels and set up listing, payment and fulfillment flows in advance. At the same time, trademarks, product data, supply chain relationships and inventory management capabilities should not remain entirely inside a platform ecosystem. As the business matures, they can gradually expand to independent websites, regional distribution or offline retail.

This harassment case, triggered by seller competition and concluded with a $55.7 million settlement, demonstrates the weight of mature sellers in platform business.

However, being courted by platforms does not mean having the upper hand. Subsidies, traffic and policies can change at any time; what truly belongs to sellers remains products, supply chains and cross-channel operational capability. Being able to sell on one platform is just the starting point; the real ace for cross-border sellers is being able to move to another platform and keep doing business.

Seller Home Comments

eBay’s $380 million settlement over fake negative review mechanisms warns cross-border sellers to pay attention to the fairness of platform evaluation rules. Sellers are advised to proactively monitor risks in review systems and, when necessary, unite to defend their rights to ensure their interests are not harmed by platform algorithms or malicious actions.

Source: E-commerce Pie
Original link: https://www.pai.com.cn/p/01kypnqqrgnfw9p86q22gkk5xg