With the internet came a whole new way of buying and selling consumer goods. People no longer had to drive to their nearest clothe store, or electronics store to pick something up. Instead people were now able to shop online. This meant things become easier for the majority of people. 'eBay' being one of the largest online “auction” based websites one would expect them to have wonderful customer service and to accommodate for any type of issue. To make sure every legitimate business could handle any communication barrier, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was established. This Federal Law stipulates that businesses must policies, which allow access to all Americans with disabilities, including the Deaf and hard-of-hearing. At the time of this law suit eBay did not follow this guideline.
Earl was 44 year old, independent woman. She had decided to register for an account on eBay so she could sell her historic photographic print of the Rolla, Mo., First Christian Church members from the early 1900s. Everything went smoothly. She had uploaded an image of the photograph onto eBays website, picked a payment method for the buyer, and selected the method of shipment. Once these steps were complete she received a notification at the bottom of her screen notifying her that her identity would have to be confirmed before the item could be placed for sale. During this final step, it came to her attention that the only way to do this was through a phone call. Without this phone call Earl would be unable to receive her four digit identification number (PIN). This PIN was required to be inserted into a box so the item could officially be listed. During this entire process, Earl noticed a “live help chat” box. When using this chat service, she was told she had two options. Either e-mail eBay's Safety and Trust Department or have someone talk over the phone for her. Earl found this to be very insulting seeing how she was a grown woman completely capable of doing things on her own.
Despite these attempts to resolve the situation, Earl felt that eBay was not willing to budge on their phone call policy. In fact they truly had nothing in place to accommodate such a situation, such as in Earl’s case, a Deaf seller trying to do business with their site. When more attempts were made to resolve the matter, more road blocks formed. When Earl finally heard back from eBay, it seemed as if her e-mail was just another annoying message that they weren’t entirely concerned with. She was given a complaint identification number. After restating her issue in numerous e-mails she finally found an actual response from an eBay customer service rep, but this message had little or nothing to do with the issue at hand. This became a cycle, as if eBay was not concerned. She then resorted back to the “live help chat” only to be told that the