An eBay vendor shipped their customer’s package with insufficient postage by mistake. That’s not ideal, but it happens. The customer, upset that she owed extra postage, left negative feedback on eBay. That may have been an overreaction, as she could have asked for a refund instead. Again, not ideal, but that happens. What doesn’t usually happen is the seller filing a lawsuit seeking damages from the customer and eBay.

Specifically, the plaintiff seeks compensation for the damage to their business from the single negative feedback, along with punitive damages, and attorney’s fees. What they really want, though, is to shut up an unhappy customer and force eBay to take down the feedback.

It doesn’t matter that what the customer said in the feedback is true and that it’s generally not illegal to post things that are true on the Internet. That’s why consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and the law blog PopeHat have taken up the customer’s cause, and are looking for an attorney located in the same area of Ohio as the eBay seller to take on this First Amendment mess pro bono.

The Popehat Signal: Stand Against Rank Thuggery In Ohio [Popehat] (Thanks, Steven!)

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