Sellers lose suit against eBay

[knittieguy]

NEWS REPORT:

EBay Wins Dismissal Of Sellers' Antitrust Action


Following nearly three years of litigation, a federal judge has dismissed a putative class action alleging that eBay Inc. monopolized the online auction market and charged sellers supracompetitive fees for its services.

Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment to eBay on Thursday, concluding that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that they been injured by the alleged anti-competitive acts.

While the plaintiffs presented a triable issue relating to eBay's market power, they were unable to survive the summary judgment motion because they offered no evidence that the alleged monopoly enabled eBay to overcharge them for its services, the judge said.

"Evidence that eBay has raised prices over a period of years, and that several of its employees believe that the company may have raised them too high, proves nothing with respect to whether the prices are supracompetitive," the opinion said. "Plaintiffs have provided no evidence of either restricted output or supracompetitive prices, let alone both."

Mary Huser, eBay deputy general counsel, applauded Judge Fogel's decision to drop the curtains on the case, noting that after two and a half years of exhaustive discovery, the plaintiffs couldn't produce evidence of harm.

"We are gratified that the court rejected plaintiffs' claim as baseless," Huser said. "With this meritless suit behind us, we can continue to focus on our core business of providing platforms that bring buyers and sellers together to transact online."

Filed in April 2007, the lawsuit alleged that eBay bought up rivals to gain a monopoly in the online auction market and abused its market dominance to overcharge auction sellers.

The plaintiffs accused eBay of an array of anti-competitive acts, including requiring auction sellers to use PayPal, which the company acquired for $1.5 billion in 2002, when carrying out their transactions.

The lawsuit sought to establish a class of all auction sellers on eBay and a subclass of all auction sellers who accept PayPal.

While not enough to save their case, Judge Fogel did find that the plaintiffs had presented evidence sufficient to raise a triable issue of fact as to the market definition for eBay's auction services and its dominant position, which accounts for between 80 percent and 99 percent of the online auction market.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs could not be reached for comment Thursday.

 

[onix]

This is good to hear.

After all, if you don't want to pay for it, don't use it or else go to your local craigslists.

 

[lee_44106]

Originally Posted by onix

This is good to hear.

After all, if you don't want to pay for it, don't use it or else go to your local craigslists.

+1.

This ain't some "vital" service where without it one would die or be seriously injured.

Don't like the rules, take your sh*t and GTFO!

 

[Pezzaturra]

Good news for B&S forum here

BTW, Ebay is still the stupidest company on the web. They charge 35cents to post your BuyItNow listing and allow you to make such listing :"Local Pick Up only". How do you intend to collect the final auction fees or PayPal fees if it is a local sale? marsupials has been ruining that company for the last 10 years.

 

[onix]

Originally Posted by Pezzaturra

Good news for B&S forum here

BTW, Ebay is still the stupidest company on the web. They charge 35cents to post your BuyItNow listing and allow you to make such listing :"Local Pick Up only". How do you intend to collect the final auction fees or PayPal fees if it is a local sale? marsupials has been ruining that company for the last 10 years.

But they still profit, that means those who use them must be even more stupid (since they let a marsupial like ebay gets money from them), no?

 

[Mute]

How the hell is high pricing conducive to a monopoly? If anything, that will give more room for competition. Are these people on crack?

 

[Pantisocrat]

Ebay has made quite a few changes to make the marketplace safer for buyers which represent the driving force in any one transaction. These new changes have made sites such as etsy and rubylane more viable, taking over a substantial portion of ebay's business. Unfortunately, I don't see a long-term future for ebay especially in the United States.

 

[KnowYourRights]

Good news for eBay.

 

[japhi]

Originally Posted by Pantisocrat

Unfortunately, I don't see a long-term future for ebay especially in the United States.

I disagree. Ebay still has tens of millions of potential users. Something like 20% of North Americans still haven't completed an ecommerce transaction, that represents 60MM plus potential clients in NA alone. Lots of upside.

 

[Metlin]

Originally Posted by Mute

How the hell is high pricing conducive to a monopoly? If anything, that will give more room for competition. Are these people on crack?

 

[BevisFrondFan]

Originally Posted by Pantisocrat

Ebay has made quite a few changes to make the marketplace safer for buyers which represent the driving force in any one transaction. These new changes have made sites such as etsy and rubylane more viable, taking over a substantial portion of ebay's business. Unfortunately, I don't see a long-term future for ebay especially in the United States.

I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that eBay's higher costs to the seller will eventually drive eBay out of business? I'm purely a buyer on eBay and prefer eBay because I am offered protection via seller feedback profiles and the dispute process. I realize a seller's added expenses attributable to eBay's fees, etc. are passed on to me, but I prefer hassle-free transactions and am willing to pay a modest premium for that experience. Furthermore, the sheer volume of offerings attracts my interest.

Truthfully, I've wasn't aware of etsy or rubylane. Presently these sites are dwarfed by eBay. What is going to drive their growth? Sellers leaving eBay? Sellers need customers and eBay is a pretty strong brand.