Man Sued For $15k Over Negative eBay Remark

[The Straight Story]

Man Sued For $15k Over Negative eBay Remark

POSTED: Sunday, April 11, 2010
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Can posting your opinion on eBay cost you in real life?

So far Michael Steadman has spent $7,000 for his, and he isn't yet done defending himself in a $15,000 defamation lawsuit brought by the man who sold him a reportedly defective time clock.

Steadman bought the clock for $44 in 2008, and said it arrived in three pieces that didn't fit together or even seem to be the same model. He got a refund through PayPal's buyer protection plan and sent the merchandise back, but wanted other potential buyers to beware.

So on the profile of emiller1313, he wrote: "Bad seller; he has the ethics of a used car salesman."

Steadman thought that was the end of it until a process server arrived with a court summons.

It turned out that emiller1313 was a Miami Beach lawyer, and he wanted damages for ruining his 100 percent customer approval rating and "commercial reputation."

"The laws don't work for us. Because I don't have the money to fight them, I'm losing," Steadman said. "It's not right. I'm speechless."

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/23118046/detail.html

[ecstatic]

1. hopefully the judge will order the seller to pay back all the legal fees

He might have behaved like an asshole (by posting negative feedback before confronting seller), but being an asshole isn't illegal... and rarely does a seller keep a 100% positive rating indefinitely.

[walldude]

8. If he got a refund from pay pal then he did contact the seller

Pay Pal doesn't just hand out refunds you have to try to get the seller to make it right first..

[MUAD_DIB]

9. This would not be the first instance of a lawyer going overboard w/ revenge.

Do you remember the lawyer that sued a dry cleaner for millions of dollars for ruining his lucky trousers?

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LegalCenter/story?id=3119381&page=1

[joeybee12]

2. What a surprise! A lawyer is being a dick!

I don't use e-bay, but I would assume everyone who buys and sells agrees that what they sell can be reviewed...this lawyer is just trying to wear the guy down...far too many lawyers like this out there.

[brentspeak]

3. A big part of the problem is Greed-Bay's CEO

who has removed the ability of sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, as well as creating a rating system where even one negative rating can destroy a seller's business.

[rcrush]

17. +++++1 I cant stand Ebay right now

So many ways to get scammed and no way to protect yourself.

[zorahopkins]

4. Steadman Might Have Done This Instead

Steadman posted this on emailler1313's profile: "Bad seller; he has the ethics of a used car salesman."

Here's what happened: "Steadman bought the clock for $44 in 2008, and said it arrived in three pieces that didn't fit together or even seem to be the same model. He got a refund through PayPal's buyer protection plan and sent the merchandise back"

Steadman "wanted other potential buyers to beware."

Instead of posting something about emiller1313 being a "bad seller" with "the ethics of a used car salesman", Steadman might was alerted other potential buyers to beware if he had simply posted the fact -- he bought a clok that arrived in three pieces that didn't fit together or even seem to be the same model.

Instead, Steadman chose to post something rather incendiary. <"Bad seller; he has the ethics of a used car salesman.">

And now Steadman says, "It's not right. I'm speechless".

[pnwmom]

7. I agree. It would have been better if he had just been specific and factual. n/t

[michreject]

5. He has another negative

from a dmjohnson30025. dmjohnson30025 left this feedback "Seller suggested we unload obviously broke unit on another unspecting buyer."

[madokie]

6. I was just taken for 25 bucks

on a product that no way the guy who I bought it from could not have known that it was defective. I settled for half of my money back but here I am with junk and have been out 25 bucks, I went through the ebay, when you have a problem with a product process, and that was the best i could do. I'm still a little pissed about it. I didn't leave any feedback but I sent ebay an email complete with pictures telling it all and hope that they have taken the correct action and that is to not let this person use their site for any more fraudulent sales.

[Walk away]

10. He should have married Oprah when he had the chance and quit....

slandering people. He received broken or incorrect merchandise. He got a refund. He's lucky that the Used Car Salesmen of American haven't brought a class action suit against him.

[Lucian]

11. Um, the point of ebay feedback is to let buyers know what the seller is like.

And if the guy got defective merchandise, the seller deserved a negative feedback.

The judge should throw this out of court.

[ManiacJoe]

13. You are on the right track, but not there yet.

Negative feedback would have been appropriate, but the feedback needed to be accurate. The inaccurate feedback is what opened up the buyer to the lawsuit.

[sendero]

16. If the seller refused to .

... respond to inquires from the buyer (which is almost certainly true if the buyer got his money back), then I'd say that the buyer's characterization of the seller is pretty much correct.

[Recovered Repug]

12. It's a good thing that Mr Steadman did compare the seller's

ethics to a slip and fall, ambulance chasing lawyer.

[TexasObserver]

14. That's what happens when a guy thinks he can slander others.

This guy sent the clock back and got his money back.

Maybe the slanderer is just a jerk.



Lesson: don't think you can bad mouth others in business and always get away with it.

[ThatPoetGuy]

19. This thread is fascinating.

What makes you so certain the buyer is a slanderer?

There's no evidence to support your assumption that the seller returned his money. Most likely, Paypal refunded his money, not the seller.

The seller's description apparently said the clock had been tested and proven to work; but the description also included the lines, "we can not give you any guarantees and must offer it on an as-is, where-is basis only." That does sound like used-car salesman ethics to me.

[TexasObserver]

21. And now Mr. Big Mouth is getting his chance to prove he didn't slander the man.

There's such a thing as business slander, and this case is a great example of it. If you make it a point to interfere with the business of another by disparaging their business ethics, you can expect to get sued.

Your assumption that the seller didn't refund is the one that is suspicious. The seller, being a lawyer, knows that his best case for slander is one that eliminates as an issue the paltry $44 at issue on the purchase. The filing fee on the lawsuit was more than that. The fee for service of process was more than that.

You're arguing that the truth is always a defense. That means the slanderer has to prove that his statement about the seller is true. When he can't prove that, he'll pay damages.

Unless this dummy retracts his comment, gets ebay to expunge it, and publicly apologizes, he's going to keep getting his ass kicked. He could have settled this the first week, but he didn't.

[MadHound]

24. If this is business slander, then places like Angie's list are liable as well.

As are other consumer review groups.

[TexasObserver]

26. Business slander (or libel) exists when the elements of business slander are present.

I am not concerned with any other site, or any other example. I'm focused only on this fact circumstance.

Selling something "as is" doesn't make anyone a used car salesman or say anything about the ethics of the seller. It says "this is used, and you're taking it as is."

The libeler has a problem. He cannot prove the thing about the lawyer/seller he said in his comment. He's going to lose, and his pride is the reason he's getting his teeth kicked in. Why to you think this whiny guy's story is in media? He's a crybaby who thinks he's been wronged, and instead of gutting it up and backing off, he wants to win. Well, let him go for it. This will look like one of those scenes where an extraction team goes into a cell to get a prisoner.

If he doesn't apologize and get out of this, he'll suffer the judicial equivalent of a jail house beat down.

[pipi_k]

15. Personally, I think they're both assholes

If a buyer has to contact eBay for resolution of a problem instead of the seller doing whatever he can to make it right, the seller is an ass.

If the buyer leaves negative feedback that goes beyond the bare facts, then the buyer is an ass.

And if the seller gets pissed off about his 100% rating being ruined because he didn't take care of his buyer, then he's an ass.


Two idiots met on eBay and acted like assholes. Unfortunate, but they deserve each other.

[TexasObserver]

22. That's exactly why they're locked in this battle.

Mr. I'm the One That's Hurt Here says he has spent $7000 defending himself. That's a lot of money to spend instead of saying "I was hasty, I overspoke, and I'll withdraw my comment."

This guy may have pulled this kind of personal attack many times, but this time, he did it with the wrong guy. That's what happens when you mess around with people strange to you. Occasionally, one of them beats the daylights out of you.

[wordpix]

18. totally agree with Steadman in statement about money & legal fights

I live in a small town that is ruining itself over development and I've had some good reasons to sue but cohorts and I don't because no one can afford a lawsuit; contrast that to the town fathers, who consider the taxpayers' money theirs to blow and if it's on a lawsuit, so be it.

Government admin. hearings in places like planning and zoning commissions are full of such dilemmas---you've got a good case to make, but you can only take it so far without a lawyer and money. Therefore, you lose if you don't sue, and you also lose if you do sue b/c you're spending your own money on lawyers and work time lost, with no guarantee of outcome.

There's gotta be a better way.

[Hawkeye-X]

20. Dumbass. But I will tell a eBay story.

We have an Absolut Vodka lava lamp with a very bad bottom heater. We put it up for bid with the disclaimer that all sales were final. Soon after that bid was complete, I shipped it to an Army PO in Okinawa with insurance and stuff. She tried it, of course, but claims it doesn't work (of course, the lamp is probably not the correctly sized one when we first bought it), and demanded her money back. We pointed out that the sale was final, but she threw me a negative remark - back then when feedbacks meant something. I had to take to SquareTrust or whatever they had back these days, paid $25 to get a resolution. Resolution? Remove the feedback, refund the money.

What an ass.

SquareTrust is no friend to anyone and I lost money as a result of this bad deal. Epic Whitman.

Hawkeye-X

P.S., I still have the lava lamp, and will sell it to anyone, price negotiable. The bottle itself is the real thing (vodka and blue wax inside of it)

[moondust]

23. I have a similar story.

I sold a barely used video card that had no problems to a guy who paid my BuyItNow price. I sold it as a NO RETURNS auction because I didn't want to deal with the return, depreciation, potential installation screw-ups by the buyer, etc. I found out later that between the time the guy purchased it with BuyItNow and the time it arrived at his place he saw a different video card that he liked better and he bought that one, too! Since my auction was NO RETURNS the guy knew he couldn't return it so he had to claim it was defective in trying to get his money back. PayPal ruled in my favor but that didn't stop the guy from smearing me with a bunch of negative feedback. And then I found out that sellers can no longer give negative feedback to buyers. So I'm stuck with the negative feedback from the lying bastard and I'm not willing to spend 25 bucks to try--and possibly fail--to get it removed. I tried the Square Trade thing once a few years ago and $25 got me nothing. Ugh.

[JCMach1]

25. I got a bad report once because the shipper mangled the item...

It was insured, but the seller refused to file for the insurance. Instead they gave me a bad comment.

[LeftyMom]

27. I had one ding me once because I refused to give him free shipping after the sale.

The shipping price was on the listing, I never charge more to ship than I pay, but this idiot thought I was going to ship the book for free if he whined about it long enough, and when I said no he gave me negative feedback, which ebay wouldn't remove.

After that all of my unwanted books went on paperback swap or to the Friends of the Library instead. I wasn't making enough selling them to be worth the hassle.

[BlueIris]

28. Wow. One of the dumbest lawsuits I've heard of. Sad. nt