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Robbed-Personal belongings sold on eBay- is penalizing me!
 

Four years ago I took in a long time trusted "friend" who was on the verge of becoming homeless. I had an extra room in the house as one of my kids had just moved out. I had been given support in the past during difficult times and was now in the position to do the same for someone else. I believed that I was doing the right thing. Life moved along very well for 2 years. I had valuable items that I was no longer using boxed up in the house. The "friend" suggested that I sell these items on eBay. My business took off immediately. I consistently worked 7 days a week 18-20 hours a day between my day job and eBay and built a successful eBay business that earned as much as my full time job.

Fast forward to the present. Things went horribly wrong 18 months ago. The "friend" beat one of my children badly in a fit of rage which necessitated his removal from the household. The "friend" had also been robbing my children and I over time, of cash from my bank account (he is a financial whiz and handled the household finances) and personal property with monetary value, removing it from the household and storing it elsewhere. He was also selling my belongings, clothing etc on his personal eBay account while he was still living in the house! I have a very extensive wardrobe and did not notice jeans, and off season clothing items missing. My work ethic borders on unhealthy, I was exhausted and worn down. I did not monitor his personal eBay account. This guy was slick. He never even raised so much as an eyebrow in the wrong direction, I never saw any of this coming down the road at me. When I reported all of this to the local police an investigation was done and the "friend" was arrested and charged with two counts of felony larceny a year ago this month, one of them directly related to his eBay sales.

Somehow, eBay seems to see me as this persons accomplice, and not the victim of the crimes that he committed using their platform. My once successful business has gradually all but dried up over the course of the past year. I have offered to provide eBay with official documentation from the District Attorneys office in regards to these events. Not only is eBay not interested, they allow this person to sell successfully on the account in question, as well as numerous bogus accounts created with items freely flowing back and forth between the account being investigated, and the bogus selling accounts created. How can this possibly be happening?

Re: Robbed-Personal belongings sold on eBay- is penalizing me!
 

Unfortunately, in your situation, eBay is a huge company and they do not have time to hear everyones story on why their ebay account was ran the wrong way and suspended.

Any sign of risk they just cut it out and will remove any accounts related in the household and move on

But you came to the right place. Best thing, as hard as it may be to accept at first, is to forget about the suspended acccount and learn stealth, u will be back to selling and create better accounts than the one u once had when done properly

Good luck

Re: Robbed-Personal belongings sold on eBay- is penalizing me!
 

So you let someone else pay your bills from your own bank account, WOW!!!!.

Sorry to say this, but you had that coming and have no one to blame. You never let anyone into your bank account, not even family, friends, and strangers. Esp. not family, they will be the first to hit you up for money.

You can always come back to selling on ebay with other accounts. Who cares about that selling account, its long dead. Move on...

Re: Robbed-Personal belongings sold on eBay- is penalizing me!
 

I do not understand, is your ebay account having problems? why, I thought you said this person had their own successful account. How would ebay know about the larceny he has been charged with, where they contacted about it by someone?

Re: Robbed-Personal belongings sold on eBay- is penalizing me!
 

My dad was like you, he was helped when he was young by people, he was self-made, but said everyone needs a leg-up, and he helped other young people to get on their feet when he was older, people actually referred struggling people to him...mostly these people were grateful, are now successful and were grateful for life....but he had a few bad experiences...he has no regrets though.

Re: Robbed-Personal belongings sold on eBay- is penalizing me!
 

I think together they had a business on ebay, and the 'friend' had his own personal account on the side. So some factor was being used to link them as being one user, same address?, IP? (since 'friend' was living at same address).

Anyway, I think advice given is pretty on point, dont let people manage your finances. Even if their a whiz at it, print everything out, let them work it out, but YOU make the final decision on whether anything goes out of your bank account, and the only way to do that is by not sharing any financial passwords.

Moving forward, grab the stealth guide and get to grips with how to bring your business back to life.

All has not ended, this shortfall will only build you back up bigger and stronger than before. :)

Re: Robbed-Personal belongings sold on eBay- is penalizing me!
 

Thank you to all. I would not say that I had it coming, but it was a risk that I subjected myself to regardless of the length of the relationship. I was naive in believing that I could trust this person who was not my spouse and was not legally tied to me. eBay is aware of the charges due to the fact that 1) a police report was submitted by the local police. 2) This person is now being tried in criminal court for the charges committed, District Attorney's office has subpoenaed selling records, etc.
Separate selling accounts with both parties having mutual access to both. I will be much more leary of offering help, and will NEVER allow access to any type of accounts again. In the past I was very much like a happy big, Golden Retriever. A personality disordered person and sociopath can even get past even the most well developed, (almost)always accurate intuition. Lesson learned moving on. Have Stealth in my possession. Thanks again, much appreciated.