I recently sold my extensive U.S. Currency collection on e-bay. Opening up a paypal account was a prerequisite to being allowed to buy/sell on e-bay. Each time an item sold I was notified by e-bay that the funds were deposited into my paypal account. I verified each transaction. When i saw that the funds were, in fact, in my paypal account, I would immediately ship item same day. After approx. $80,000 in sales, most of which were paid via paypal, I attempted to withdraw my funds to be deposited into my local bank.
At this time I was sent an e-mail from e-bay stating that "based on information they have obtained from Equifax Credit Bureau in Atlanta, Ga., e-bay has decided to close my account and seize all funds in my account as per my user agreement."
I had already left positive feedback for each transaction thinking that the items were paid for and the funds were secure in my paypal account. I had only a few items that were paid for by check or money order. When I was unable to speak to any representative from e-bay I stopped shipping the few items paid for via check or money order. I hoped that by delaying shipment of these few items that a representative from e-bay would contact me if they had several complaints. I never intended to not ship these items, only delay the shipment. At this point I had over 500 transactions, with 100% positive feedback.
About two weeks later I got a visit from the City of Cape Coral, Fl. Police Dept. The officer told me that he was here to investigate a transaction that I made on e-bay, in which I sold a currency item and have not yet shipped it. I, in a very polite manner, gave the officer a brief explanation of my situation and further informed him that this was now a civil matter and not a criminal matter. At this time he commented the following, "ok smart a*, I am going to cite you for having your trash barrels visible from the street, which is a violation of Cape Coral ordinance."
When he asked me to sign the citation or face criminal arrest, I opened my front door. At which time he opened the storm door on my house and dragged me from my house, beat the tar out of me, and kept threatening me with his taser gun if I kept resisting. I never resisted as was witnessed by me next door neighbor. I was subsequently arrested and jailed, charged with three crimes. One of which was a felony called resisting a peace officer without violence. I have since paid my lawyer thousands of dollars to have these charges dismissed at trial.
It is against the law for one company to share financial information with another company, even though e-bay has recently bought paypal. However, was this a coincidence that e-bay knew when to close my account? I answer simply that they knew. Is it a coincidence that e-bay knew when I would have the maximum amount of funds in my paypal account? I would suggest that paypal exchanged this information with e-bay.
I have since learned that I can only bring suit against e-bay in Santa Clara County, Ca., as per my user agreement. Who's got the money for that?
Please understand that a currency collection valued at $80,000 sounds like I have means. I do not. This collection represents many years of collecting. I anguished with selling my only asset in the world. But I needed the money from this collection. The small amount of money that I did receive from these transactions, in check or money order forms, went to paying my lawyer to defend me against this e-bay originated false arrest.
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