The Conduit

Ina and David Steiner published EcommerceBytes from their home in Natick, Massachusetts, a small newsletter on online selling that did not flatter eBay. In April 2019 Ina wrote about the chief executive’s pay, and senior people inside the company fumed. Messages later quoted by prosecutors included “we are going to crush this lady” and “take her down.”

That summer eBay’s security department went after the couple. Under senior director James Baugh, staff anonymously shipped live spiders and cockroaches, a bloody pig mask, a funeral wreath and a book on surviving a spouse’s death, and tried to have a fetal pig delivered. They posted the home address online, threatened the Steiners through fake Twitter accounts, and placed Craigslist ads sending strangers to the house. In August, Baugh and David Harville flew to Boston to watch the couple and attempt to fit a tracking device to their car. David Steiner noticed a car tailing him and photographed the plate. The rental paperwork led investigators back toward eBay itself.

Seven former eBay employees pleaded guilty. Baugh was sentenced in September 2022 to 57 months in prison and Harville to 24 months, the last, Brian Gilbert, in July 2024. eBay entered a deferred prosecution agreement in January 2024, admitted the conduct and paid a $3 million fine. In July 2026 the company and three former executives settled the Steiners’ suit for $55.7 million.