Two EBay Users File Suit Against The Company In California

Two eBay Inc. users who say they've been repeatedly overcharged by a faulty computer billing system have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company.

Robert Ceretta and Nancy Spaulding filed the suit July 2 in Santa Clara Superior Court in California against the online auction company on behalf of other eBay users they say have been overcharged. In April, eBay installed a new billing system that customers say has been double-billing them and rounding up charges improperly. The suit seeks damages and penalties against eBay for, among other things, violating the Unfair Competition Law, negligence, and unjust enrichment. It also claims that Spaulding was threatened with jail time for protesting outside the company's eBay Live developers conference in New Orleans last month. The company "has retaliated against customers who become too vocal with their protests," the suit states. The suit also says eBay users have had their accounts suspended for complaining about the billing problem.

An eBay spokesman says the company hasn't decided how to respond to the suit and adds that customers are mischaracterizing the events. "No user has been overcharged or overdebited," he says. "In the end, we feel it's just been confusion."