eBay service provider Ethical Technologies appears to be out of business. The company's tools have not been working and the website has been inaccessible since mid-March. Several online-auction industry discussion boards are now reporting that Scott Samuel, Ethical's founder, posted a message on a private discussion board that Ethical Technologies was ceasing operations permanently.
AuctionBytes had reported on Ethical Technologies' financial troubles in late January when Samuel said eBay had threatened to pull Ethical Technologies' access to the eBay API for failure to pay its bills (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m01/i31/s01).
Things began going downhill for Ethical Technologies last summer after a funding deal fell through and a disagreement ensued over the direction of the company (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m07/i08/s05).
AuctionBytes tried unsuccessfully to reach Samuel for comment on Tuesday. Samuel founded Honesty.com, which he sold in 2000 to Andale, where his auction counters are still offered for free.
