Important postings often draw an angry email or two. For Ina and David Steiner, it led to live cockroaches, a baby pig, and a bloody Halloween mask.
On Monday, July 27, eBay and several former executives agreed to pay $55.7 million to settle a couple’s lawsuit over a 2019 corporate harassment campaign.
The Steiners are the married founders of EcommerceBytes, a news site covering eBay and the broader ecommerce industry. They filed a civil lawsuit in 2021 after members of eBay’s security team sent them threats, disruptive packages, and unwanted visitors in an attempt to influence the site’s reporting.
Of the $55.7 million, $48.7 million will go directly to the Steiners. EBay will pay $46.15 million, former CEO Devin Wenig will pay $2 million, former executive vice president Wendy Jones will pay $500,000, and former communications chief Steve Wymer will pay $50,000. The remaining $7 million will go to nonprofit organizations. eBay will donate $6 million, and Wenig will donate another $1 million to a First Amendment rights group on behalf of Ina Steiner.
The settlement also allows the Steiners to continue speaking publicly about the case. It does not contain confidentiality clauses, something that was important to the couple because they wanted the agreement to discourage other companies from trying to intimidate journalists about sensitive reporting.
To understand why the Steiners consider that transparency so important, it helps to go back to how the campaign began.
From important conversations to criminal cases
When eBay’s security team first targeted the Steiners in 2019, the couple had spent two decades covering the company and other online marketplaces, such as Amazon and Etsy. Through EcommerceBytes, they report on issues affecting online retailers, including finances, policy changes, and the executives who make those decisions.
The inner leadership of this campaign became clear many years later – the Steiners first filed their lawsuit in July 2021 and amended it in March 2023. Ina Steiner later told. It has strings In July 2026, the lawsuit gave the couple access to approximately 68,000 documents that show how eBay executives discuss the area behind the scenes.
Those records followed a steady rise. According to the amended complaint, Wenig sent Wymer a link to an April 10, 2019, EcommerceBytes article about his compensation. Wymer replied, “We’re going to crush this lady.”
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The following month, Jones allegedly asked eBay security chief Jim Baugh to talk about the company’s “off the radar” criticism and told him he didn’t want to know the details. Then on August 1, 2019, EcommerceBytes published an article asking Wenig about eBay’s handling of the lawsuits against Amazon. Within half an hour, Wenig allegedly told Wymer that if they were going to take him down, referring to Ina Steiner, “now is the time.”
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Four days later, the campaign of harassment allegedly began. According to eBay’s admission to federal prosecutors, members of its security team targeted the Steiners between Aug. 5 and August 23, 2019. Anonymous accounts on what was then Twitter criticized EcommerceBytes and threatened to show up at the couple’s home in Natick, Massachusetts.
The campaign quickly reached their front door. In addition to cockroaches, a baby pig, and a bloody mask, the group allegedly sent live spiders, fly larvae, a funeral wreath, and a book about surviving the death of a spouse. Pornographic magazines targeting David were allegedly delivered to neighbors, while Craigslist ads allegedly invited strangers to the Steiners’ home for sex, parties, and house sales. One night, an emergency plumber arrived unexpectedly.
As messages and deliveries continued, the language within eBay remained aggressive. On August 11, Wymer reportedly told Baugh, “I want to see the ashes. If it takes. Whatever it takes.” The group also took the abuse online – several members of eBay’s security team allegedly traveled from California to Massachusetts, followed the Steiners in a rental van, and tried to install a GPS tracker on their car.
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They also have an unusual plan for how this campaign will end. EBay’s security manager Brian Gilbert, a former police captain, is said to have spoken to the Steiners and asked them to stop the attack being carried out by their colleagues in secret. EBay seems to have solved the problem caused by its employees.
That plan came to fruition when the Steiners realized they were being followed and contacted the local police. When team members learned they were under investigation, they allegedly made false statements, removed digital evidence, and falsified records in an effort to hide eBay’s involvement.
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Wenig, Wymer, and Jones have not been charged with a crime, and Wenig has maintained that he was asking for a social media response and knew nothing about the abuse. EBay’s internal investigation found his messages inappropriate but said there was no evidence he authorized the security team’s actions.
Federal prosecutors eventually charged seven former eBay employees and contractors in 2020, all of whom pleaded guilty. Four received prison terms between July 2021 and October 2022, including Baugh, who was sentenced to 57 months in September 2022. Two others received one year of house arrest later that year. The final defendant, Gilbert, was sentenced in July 2024 to life imprisonment and one year of supervised release.
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The results also reached eBay itself. In January 2024, federal prosecutors charged the company with six counts, including wiretapping, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. EBay admitted to the account detailing the campaign, paid a $3 million fine, and agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years.
The new settlement, however, resolves the Steiners’ claims against eBay, Wenig, Jones, and Wymer. The couple also reached separate interviews with other former employees named in the case, although those terms were not disclosed.
EBay says it has changed
In a public statement published on July 28, 2026, eBay called what happened “unfair, suspicious and should not have happened.” The company criticized the employees who pleaded guilty and acknowledged the “inappropriate tone” of the messages involving Wenig, Wymer, and Jones.
EBay said new leaders have joined the company since 2019 and that it has strengthened its policies, internal controls, and employee training. Wenig continued to say he knew nothing about the campaign, saying through his attorney that he was upset it happened while he was CEO.
After packages, threats, surveillance, criminal charges, and six years of litigation, the campaign still failed in its original goal. EcommerceBytes is always online, and Ina Steiner was able to publish the eBay payment news herself. Talk about closure!
