DOJ Says eBay Not Just a Platform? Meg Whitman Says Hello, and a History Lesson
This past week, eBay was sued in an environmental lawsuit by the DOJ, saying they sold unlawful pesticides violating the Clear Air Act, among other federal laws.
Key to the lawsuit is the age-old marketplace question of determining who is responsible for the listings on eBay -- the sellers, or eBay itself.
Back in the early days of eBay, Meg Whitman had a famous phrase. eBay was "just a venue" and not responsible for what went on with its website.
Is it any wonder why I watch what executives say? Saying you are just a venue sets the expectation that listing content is someone else's problem to solve.
Despite the best efforts of PR teams 🤣 , what executives say over time reflects their beliefs. Beliefs guide strategy, and strategy (among other factors) is one of the best indicators of a company's direction.
Even Marcus Aurelius said, "A man's life is what his thoughts make of it."
Why this matters is that another executive in Seattle, Jeff Bezos, had a clear thought that convenience was the key standard for the eCommerce world, and it should take care of its customers as if they were gold, waiving returns fees, and guaranteeing delivery of shipments, etc. Of course, there was always going to be some junk on Amazon, it was a marketplace, after all, but that A to Z guarantee was clear and unambiguous.
Consumers seemed to like that idea, perhaps you've heard of Prime?
As in many lawsuits, often both sides have a point. In this DOJ lawsuit, eBay is claiming that it works with the government all the time, and it stops 99.9% of listings which have issues. The Government claims it sold over 300k+ items specifically intended to defeat environmental protection laws.
eBay for its part, of course has already set aside money for lawsuits like this, and employees all manner of people, systems, and artificial intelligence to look for and solve issues like this.
I kind of laugh thinking that eBay believes percentages will help it make a case. It's almost like a murderer saying, I tried to kill him 100 times and failed 99. I shouldn't be thrown in jail because I only succeeded 1% of the time.
Tell it to the judge. There's gonna be a fine, the only question is how large.
