eBay sued over $1.50

A class-action law suit was filed last week in Santa Clara County Superior Court against online auction giant eBay. The suit claims eBay forces bidders to bid against themselves, a tactic called shill bidding. The lead plaintiff claims eBay raised his $111.00 bid to $112.50, even though he could have won the auction at $111.00. This $1.50 seems pretty insignificant to a company that did $3.27 bln of net revenue last year, but the suit proposes eBay has created sizeable unlawful profits using these tactics over the last four years. The lawsuit claims the required restitution to be in excess of tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars. (SmallCap Network)