eBay Files Lawsuit Against Amazon Over 'Seller Recruitment' (bbc.com) 38
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BBC: EBay has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing the U.S. retail giant of using illegal tactics to recruit sellers. It says Amazon representatives abused eBay's internal email system to contact sellers -- a violation of the marketplace's policies. Amazon declined to comment on the case, which follows a letter from eBay demanding an end to the activity. It had previously said that it was investigating the claims. In the lawsuit filed in Santa Clara County, California, eBay says Amazon representatives created eBay accounts to solicit sellers, often sending messages within minutes of setting up their profiles. The activity dates back to at least 2015 and involved dozens of Amazon representatives, who each sent hundreds of emails, it says. EBay was alerted to the issue a few weeks ago by a seller and asked Amazon to stop.
Whatever.... (Score:3, Interesting)
As a customer, I prefer Amazon over eBay. Better protections and faster.
As an honest seller, I prefer Amazon over eBay. The commission is a little less, but the seller security is better.
I didn't need any recruitment email for that. I used everyone I could and the FREE MARKET decided for me.
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It's a unilateral contract, but not entirely without force of law.
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Next step is to abuse the CFAA to claim that it's unauthorized computer breach since it's a violation of terms.
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So what though. Please stop, no, disconnect. New account, please stop, no, disconnect. Just the reality of business, try suing Amazon, they can counter sue because you are acting in a prejudicial manner against the individuals you kick off.
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I'll second the "Whatever.."
I signed up on eBay in 1997, had occasionally bought and sold many times over the years and accumulated a long history with positive feedback and reliable payment.
Tried to log in again a few months ago to buy sell a few things and discovered they had deleted my account with no warning. No explanation from customer support, who refused to help and repeatedly told me that it was "impossible" to recover my account. Can't imagine that I'm the only one.
Done and moved on.
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Re: Whatever.... (Score:1)
The free market is only free until a monopoly takes over and pretty soon EVERYTHING you RENT is owned by the company store. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
Impolite perhaps, but unlawful? Maybe afterward (Score:2)
I'd be interested to read the suit to see exactly which law eBay is cutting to make this unlawful.
You mentioned "so shut down their accounts". Perhaps after eBay shut down the accounts for this reason and notified them, they kept setting up new accounts with fraudulent info. In a way that's reminiscent of trespassing, I suppose. A store can kick you out, providing clear notice, and coming back in after receiving notice is trespassing.
Which is rude, but not illegal (can-spam sucks) (Score:2)
The CAN-SPAM act doesn't make unsolicited messages unlawful. So still just rude, not illegal.
Except, perhaps, for the "unsubscribe" requirement of CAN-SPAM.
Then you have the question of whether an eBay message is within the scope of the Act. To be applicable, the message must sent to an "electronic mail address":
(5) Electronic mail address
The term âoeelectronic mail addressâ means a destination, commonly expressed as a string of characters, consisting of a unique user name or mailbox (commonly ref
Amazon wanted to be Ebay... (Score:2)
That word "policy"... (Score:1)
a violation of the marketplace's policies.
Once again, a company's "policies" carry zero legal weight. All they can do is deny those individuals use of Ebay's services. There is no legal requirement to follow "policy", any more than Amazon has to follow my policy of selling me everything at a 99% discount.
Forgive my cynicism, but... (Score:2)
This seems to me like a shouting match between streetwalkers, with each one screaming that the other is a "Ho".
Streissand Effect ? (Score:2)
Really Ebay should have just amended their TOS and then memory holed emails from Amazon's accounts.
Note to eBay (Score:1)
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The TNCs aren't law, but violating them and continually accessing the servers is "computer fraud and abuse" and illegal. Just like if you keep sending random usernames and passwords. The law doesn't distinguish those two types of acts... and if you think about it, it's hard to draw that line.
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The TNCs aren't law, but violating them and continually accessing the servers is "computer fraud and abuse" and illegal.
This is a dubious legal argument which is hinted at in an earlier article linked by the article: "might fall foul of Californian laws governing reasonable access to computer systems". This is especially dubious where the alleged fraud and abuse is using a feature of the website for sending messages to the seller to ... send messages to the seller.
It's worse than this - one contacted me (Score:3)
High fees are highway robbery (Score:1)
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Of course they're upset because the emails worked! And that's completely fair. If you go into McDonald's with applications to work at Burger King and a higher wage, McDonald's would tell you to leave. And when you came back, they could get you arrested for trespassing. Just stand off their fucking property. And don't use Ebay's internal mail system to get their sellers. Use literally any other method to reach out.