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EBay Inc. has agreed to pay a $4.75 million class action settlement that will resolve allegations the online auction site breached its contract by selling and promoting an advertising visibility service that did not work as promised.
In January 2012, plaintiff Custom LED LLC filed a class action lawsuit claiming that eBay’s Featured Plus! upgrade, an optional service that was supposed to increase the visibility of its users’ listings, did not deliver the promised results.
According to the class action lawsuit, eBay’s Featured Plus! service would place listings in a prominent “Featured Items” section of certain search results pages. The plaintiff argued that, despite paying $39.95 for the upgrade, their listings received no priority treatment.
The plaintiff said that eBay did not list Featured Plus! items at the top of the first page of search results that contained more than 50 items, and instead placed the listing at the top of a subsequent page. Second, he argued that the Featured Plus! system only worked in search results that were sorted by “Best Match” and did not function in searches organized by location, price or time. Finally, he argued that the Featured Plus! system only worked for items listed in eBay Motors categories if the search was initiated from eBay Motors.
EBay has denied any wrongdoing but agreed to settle the class action lawsuit to avoid the uncertainty and expense of trial.
Under the terms of the proposed eBay class action settlement, Class Members will include all U.S. eBay customers who listed items for sale on the eBay website with the Feature Plus! upgrade and incurred fees for the upgrade from January 23, 2008 until the present.
The parties agreed to split the $4.75 million settlement fund between two different time periods because “these two time periods involve significantly different facts and potential claims,” according to the proposed class action settlement agreement. The first period will include Class Members who paid for the Feature Plus! upgrade between January 23, 2008 and September 28, 2009. The second period will include Class Members who bought the upgrade after September 28, 2009.
Because their claims are allegedly weaker, Class Members who purchased the Feature Plus! upgrade during the first time period will receive a comparatively smaller award than those who purchased the upgrade during the later time period. If the eBay Featured Plus class action settlement is approved, eligible Class Members with active eBay accounts will not have to take any action to receive funds, which will be credited directly to their accounts. Class Members can also request to receive their compensation via check if they prefer.
A hearing has been scheduled for November 20, 20.13, during which U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar will determine whether to grant preliminary approval to the class action settlement. Top Class Actions will update readers when claim filing instructions become available. Keep checking www.TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter below to receive updates on this class action settlement and other class action lawsuit news.
Custom LED is represented by Keith R. Verges, Parker D. Young and Raymond E. Walker of Figari & Davenport LLP and by Shawn T. Leuthold.
The eBay Featured Plus Class Action Lawsuit is Custom LED LLC v. eBay Inc., et al., Case No. 12-cv-00350, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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12 thoughts onEBay Agrees to $4.75M Featured Plus Class Action Settlement
What is the final date to file a claim against EBay ? on the class action suit ? where do I send the information ?
EBAY suspended my account! I had over 2300 Auctions! I have a feedback of over 2900 with ZERO NEGATIVES in over 3 years and had a Low DSR month in November of 5.41% on November 23rd. I had to cancel a few Auctions due to the fact we had a flood and lost some items and refunded a few buyers with no problems! Never had a suspension or any problems and Ebay tells me on Dec. 2nd that I can no longer sell even though I thought I had 30 days to get my numbers to above standard! So on December 1st at 5.01% which is 1/100 of a percent below standard My entire Store and active listings were just ended with no warning! I am going to pursue this matter until I am satisfied!!!!!
Ebay & paypal are both ‘ripe’ for lawsuits because of their behavior .
My wife and I sold a lot on E Bay from Michael Jackson memorabilia to a Chevy Impala, I want to know if we are within the the time limit and a claimant for this settlement.
I received a check two years ago from one against ebay motors for $1400.00 plus. I was moving a lot of product, led lights, but the fees just got out of hand, listings, and they changed format, etc. I finally gave up and gave in… suked ! I got a post card on this one that I will receive a check or money into an acct. I am glad although it is little consul… after losing the business. EBAY should have done more to help customers, but as usual, no one cares anymore. They pretend too! Then get promoted or fired for caring. Once you have moved to your new position, it is not your problem anymore.
For those writing as if they had an acct. and want in… You should already be in. Doubt we see any real money, but then again, who knows what the division is these days on this one. I was spending 2K a month on fees. Again, you dont need to do anything to be involved. If you were selling and paying hefty fees, listing a lot, etc. i am sure it pays more if done by those %s. Could be another way, we’ll see….
Expect more lawsuits in the near future. There’s a great deal going on inside ebay that is of questionable legality. In the 10/26/13 User Agreement update, ebay granted itself permission to hide a seller’s item listing from site visibility using unrevealed criteria (Ina Steiner wrote a great story on this one can Google). That’s a violation of a seller’s REASONABLE EXPECTATION. The reason a seller pleaces a listing on ebay is because they they have the reasonable expectation that it will actually be shown in order to sell it. Ebay is also engaging in TORTIOUS INTERFERENCE between the seller and his potential customer(buyer). Then there is the double-standard ebay uses in terms of the the DSR (Detailed Seller Ratings) system whereby small sellers are penalized, restricted or suspended over 2 or 3 low DSR ratings while the big box retailers and Chinese are immune from this. This is almost certainly a BREACH OF CONTRACT (assuming the constantly changing User Agreement can even be considered a contract). Then there are the seller purges whereby thousands of small sellers were suspended from ebay over the past weeks and months (many were only out of compliance by 1 DSR star, and ebay has admitted to a glitch/malfunction on the automatic five-star rating on shipping which has existed for a year and not been fixed- Ina Steiner did a good story here on this issue as well one can also Google). It just goes on and on. Where is Michael Moore or John Stossel? Where are the government regulatory agencies?
Funny you mention all of those problems. It is like I say, no one cares anymore and if you are corp. material you move and past it, get youre bonuses move up again, then leave with a stellar reputation as sales are always going up. Why do sales go up ? Because they cheat where ever they can, rip -off, cheat again, lie, pay no attention, etc…. It is sad, but why should michael moore care when no one pays attention to him. You and I do, but no one else. The rich are burying all the real news under a blanket of advertisements for other things. It is the same with IP Patents now too. Watch and see notice how anyone with a patent and suing a big company like Googlee, Ebay, Facebook, etc are now called TROLLS. So you invent something, spend money patenting it, maybe start a buisness on it, close the business but hold the patent, someone breeches it and you ssue. Now your a troll. Facebook does it with the BASCOM patents. it is a big deal…. But DSS may not get a dime for it. (they now own the Bascom patents.
Really sad where our country is headed as it leans so far right now based on the rights way of making anyone that cares sound like a trouble maker. Meanwhile they are getting filthy rich. I would say there will be a rise up in 30 – 50 years. But by then they will figure out that if they pay the Govt. employees, including the services, the police, etc. enough to protect them there cant be a problem… What a mess….
Hi, this mom, read this.
I am definitely interested. I had an active account selling and utilized that enhanced feature on ebay from 2008-2010.
I also would like to know when I can open a claim
I would like to know when claim will be open to file?