For the first time, a judgement by the Court of Milan establishes that eBay must reimburse users for the scams suffered when they buy online.

In the case analysed by the Court of Milan, 150 people had bought cellphones at bargain prices from a user on eBay, that were never delivered.

Some of them had finalized the purchase after the seller had already been reported to eBay by other users.

The judge was the first to correctly apply the law 70 of 2003 on the protection of consumers , according to which the provider assumes the responsibility of damages if the provider does not immediately act after having been informed by user. In this case, eBay took three months to close the scammer's account.

In dozens of previous cases, providers have always been considered not responsible because it was established that users should provide with a formal report, by registered mail. But the judge in Milan assessed that the normal reporting tool provided on the web by eBay itself was sufficient.

For its part, eBay has made it known that it will appeal the judgment and underlines how the judge limited himself to acknowledging the reimbursement but not damages and how he clarified that eBay cannot be considered responsible for the activities of the users.