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NATICK, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Ina and David Steiner are getting tens of millions of dollars from eBay after being terrorized by former executives and employees in a bizarre harassment campaign. But the Natick, Massachusetts couple says the money isn’t the most important part of the $55.7 million settlement.
The Steiners have a long-running online newsletter that covers eBay and other internet marketplaces. Federal prosecutors say that in 2019, some eBay executives became enraged by their coverage and anonymous comments on the Steiners’ website, and began a cyberstalking campaign that included online threats and disturbing deliveries to the couple’s home like a bloody pig mask and a book on dealing with the death of a spouse.
The couple told CBS News Boston in an interview that the windfall they’re getting is life-changing, but they want this case to be about the fact that no company is too big to be held accountable.
“The most important thing in that settlement agreement is the non-disclosure. The fact that as journalists, we are free to talk about this, there are no encumbrances,” David Steiner said. “A company cannot go and try to influence a journalist’s coverage just because they may disagree with it.”
Some former executives went to prison in the case and eBay paid a $3 million criminal penalty in 2024. Ina Steiner said the civil settlement sends a message of “deterrence.”
“We were really trying to get answers and get to the truth,” she said. “But we also wanted to make sure we did everything we could so this wouldn’t happen to anyone else.”
The harassment campaign involved sending live spiders and cockroaches to the couple’s door, and eBay employees even traveled to Boston to try and put a GPS tracker on the couple’s car, investigators said. The Steiners lived in fear for months.
“It was so scary. It was kind of like a Stephen King-kind of nightmare,” Ina Steiner recalled. “And then when we found out that it was eBay, it was just mind-boggling.”
She said she learned during the ordeal and lawsuit process that big companies “have these armies of security people.”
“They can be weaponized. And even on a regular basis, they are scrutinizing people’s social media activities,” Steiner said. “I don’t think people realize the extent to which what you say online is being tracked and potentially being misused.”
David Steiner said he hopes the settlement “allows us to hopefully live the rest of our lives in peace,” though they’re not about to retire. The couple said they are the kind of people who bring their laptops on vacation and work seven days a week.
“We’re happy that we have some financial security – that’s like understating it, it’s crazy. But it’s the message it sends,” Ina Steiner said. “If we had a choice, absolutely we would never have been stalked and harassed. We never would have.”
As part of the settlement, $6 million will go to various charities, including those protecting free speech. eBay said in a statement that “what the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened.”
“If a small company in business, a couple of publishers from Natick, Massachusetts can hold the world’s biggest companies accountable, then everybody else better take notice,” their attorney Chris Murphy said.
The couple says they can’t put a price on getting their peace of mind back.
“It’s starting to sink in, but we’ve had to fight so hard along the way that it’s kind of hard to believe that it’s now over,” Ina Steiner said. “But we’re very happy about it.”
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