eBay has accused Jeff Bezos’ Amazon of conducting an “unlawful and troubling scheme” to steal merchants from the auction and sales platform.

On Monday, eBay sent a cease-and-desist notice to Amazon, and the company also issued a statement of condemnation.

“We have uncovered an unlawful and troubling scheme on the part of Amazon to solicit eBay sellers to move to Amazon’s platform,” eBay declared. “We have demanded that Amazon end its unlawful activity and we will take the appropriate steps, as needed, to protect eBay.”

According to the BBC, eBay “found out in late September that Amazon staff were contacting sellers on the auction site via its messaging system,” and discovered fifty Amazon employees engaging in the practice– trying to convince sellers to switch platforms.

In March, President Trump expressed his concerns over Amazon, claiming the company was “putting many thousands of retailers out of business.”

“I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” declared President Trump.

In 2017, President Trump also proclaimed, “Amazon is doing great damage to tax-paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt – many jobs being lost!”

A July report indicated that Amazon was on track to capture fifty percent of the United States e-commerce market.

Update — An Amazon spokeperson gave the following statement to Breitbart News: “We are conducting a thorough investigation of these allegations.”