Amazon’s secret tactics to poach eBay sellers

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Amy
Harris/Invision/AP

eBay is
suing Amazon for allegedly infiltrating eBay’s messaging
system in order to poach high-value sellers.

In
a suit filed on Wednesday, eBay gives examples of the
messages that were sent to its sellers in an effort to lure them
into becoming third-party shops on Amazon.

According to the messages cited by eBay, Amazon operatives were
open about their motives. “I am part of what you would call a
hunter/recruiter team which actively searches for sellers we
believe can do well on the platform,” said one.

eBay claims that many of the messages followed a similar pattern,
or in some cases were “literally identical.” eBay cites this as
evidence that Amazon HQ coordinated the scheme.

One such message, carried in the suit, reads:

“To whom it may concern, Good afternoon. My name is Adam I work
in the shoes category at Amazon. Came across your store and
really like the selection that you offer and your fantastic
feedback. Have you ever considered selling on Amazon as well? If
so, I’d like to chat with you about the platform. Hope to hear
back from you. Best regards, Adam.”

eBay claims that Amazon representatives were aware they were
breaking eBay’s rules by soliciting business over its messaging
service. It provides examples of what it calls “creative ways”
sellers tried to get around the ban on sending contact details
over the messenger.

Creative ways to poach sellers

One representative wrote their phone number with spaces between
the numbers, adding: “The funky typing is
because eBay doesn’t allow for info like this to normally be put
into messages.”

In another message, the operative broke up the number by
inserting the words “phone” and “number,” and explaining “(read
between the words) since eBay doesn’t allow phone numbers in
these messages.”

Another rep explained the need for such methods to the seller
they were contacting. “eBay does scan for key terms
and they don’t exactly like us poking around,” they said.

eBay said that the scheme was systemic, and in some cases
effective. “Amazon’s efforts have borne fruit. Its
representatives have discussed the success of their scheme with
eBay seller prospects,” the suit claims.

Amazon declined to comment. Elsewhere, it referred The Wall Street
Journal to a previous statement in which it said it was
carrying out a thorough investigation into the allegations.