That one time I got scammed by an eBay seller who sent me a random, unidentifiable piece of electronic equipment when I was trying to buy a backup camera battery doesn’t seem so bad now.According to NBC News, eBay has agreed to pay nearly $50 million to a Massachusetts couple who said former company employees mailed them a bloody pig Halloween mask, live cockroaches, and a variety of rather creative ways to get to the point of a death threat across without actually making a death threat.David and Ina Steiner are the founders of the e-commerce newsletter called EcommerceBytes. The goings-on of eBay were a part of their beat. According to their lawsuit, some company employees responded to that journalism with the mad mailings of a crazy ex.The harassment allegedly started with threatening messages online, and then quickly and terrifyingly escalated. Anonymous deliveries of live insects and spiders, a book about surviving the death of a spouse, porn magazines that were sent not to the Steiners but to their neighbors in David Steiner’s name, and it was found that the employees had plans to install a GPS device on the couple’s car.eBay Agreed to Pay Nearly $50 Million Over a Bizarre Cyberstalking CampaignIn 2020, seven former eBay employees were charged in what authorities described as a coordinated cyberstalking campaign intended to intimidate the couple over their reporting. Most pleaded guilty and received prison sentences or home confinement. eBay itself later paid a $3 million criminal penalty under a deferred prosecution agreement.And now comes the big, chunky civil settlement. The Steiners will receive $48.7 million, including more than $46 million from eBay itself, with former eBay executives personally contributing to the pot, seemingly as a way of saying sorry for all that harassment. Another $7 million will be donated to charities, including organizations supporting First Amendment rights. There are no confidentiality clauses in the agreement, meaning the Steiners can speak freely about the whole nightmare.The post eBay Paying Couple $50 Million After Employees Mailed Them Live Insects and Other Bizarre Stuff appeared first on VICE.