Froze Tags

Hello,

Recently, I quit my job and started up my own eBay business. It had been a dream all my life, to own my own business. I started just a few months ago, and everything was going flawless. I have a great supplier, great products, and great customer service, etc. While we were new on eBay, they had set limits on how much we could sell and Paypal put 21-day holds on all our funds, till the customers received their items. It was just recently, that we turned into eBay Powersellers and received the status of "Top Rated Sellers".

Everything was going just perfect, up until recently. My mother-in-law needs a LOT of teeth work done. So, I decided I would list my cherished Jimi Hendrix poster online, to raise funds for her teeth work, because my business was new and not to the point of affording $5000 teeth work. I put it up for a 10-day auction and everything was going just fine. About halfway thru my auction, it was generating bids and lots of interest!

Then, the bottom fell out..... A gentleman from California was interested in our poster, and stated that he would like to purchase it. He said if we took the listing down, he would send us $3500. We agreed and took it down. He paid us within 10 minutes! We thought we had hit the jackpot. Not only was my business taking off, now I could afford my mother-in-laws teeth work! The very next day, I put his poster in the mail and we went to pay the down payment at the dentist and a few other bills off. Everything was looking good. Later that night, I received an email from Paypal, that the buyer had put a claim in! He stated that it was not as described, even though he had not even received it yet! It was still in route, thru the postal service. He had buyers remorse and Paypal froze my funds up.

No big deal, I am an eBay Powerseller, I should be able to make the funds really fast, right? No. When a customer buys something from us, we use their money they just paid us, to purchase their part and have it shipped to them. If my Paypal account is frozen and in the red for $3000, I am not able to sell anything or ship anything off!

Now, Paypal has paid the customer back and I am just sitting here trying to figure out what to do next. My dream I had started and finally got off the ground, is now ruined. I worked 20 hour days to get this off the ground, and now feel like a failure. I cannot do anything until the money is paid back. I have no way of doing anything.

I quit my job to do this and we are now struggling. It actually makes me sick, knowing I tried so hard to get to the Powerseller level, to have it all ruined because a customer wanted his money back on an item I had a "No Refund Policy" on. Paypal ruled in his favor without even talking to me.

My Paypal balance is a -$2741.79. I really need help getting it back to ZERO. Please consider a donation for a guy that is really trying to do something with his life. I am a 40 year old male and have been a failure all my life and now I have something that is working, and just when my family started noticing, my hopes were all dashed again. Failure surrounds me.

I could really use any help you can give at this time. I am a "Pay It Forward" type of guy myself. If I am helped out of this mess, I will Pay It Forward in the near future, to a charity in the same amount.

Thanks for your time,
Cody

8 years ago I went through depression and lost my job. I also lost my home as a result. Over the years I've held down different jobs until I found one that lasted 5 years when they eliminated the department I was in. It has been a year since I held a steady job. I sold for Avon for 2 months when someone hacked into my checking account and stole all the money. I filed a fraud report which froze the account, so I was not able to touch the money. I contacted Avon but they would not listen. They refused to let me return items to them and instead charged me and turned me over to a collection agency. I did find a weekend job but it's contracted so the jobs are scarce. Currently I'm $7,000.00 in debt from 8 years ago as well as the bills I can not pay right now. I have to move in 3 months as my mother is going into assisted living, but no place will take me with such poor credit. I don't want to live on the streets. All I'm asking is for some help to clear my credit and for me to be able to get back out on my own.

Thank you so much for your consideration and help.

Updates: September 11, 2011 - I have been able to get a part-time job which is good news, but the rest is just about the same. Thank you for your help Malum Designs
and Pete B.
Since my previous posts have yielded only four donations over the last five months I thought I would try this approach. My financial problems are quite real. If you find my fable entertaining please send a small donation.
- Fortuna vitrea est, tum cum splendet frangitur -

The Grasshopper and the Ant
A Classic retold by Joseph the Beggar King
Part One

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there were two friends, the Grasshopper and the Ant. Why these two became friends is a bit of a mystery. The Grasshopper was a dreamer and a drifter. The Ant was a believer and an achiever.

In school the Grasshopper would look out the window without thought and only learned the subjects he found interesting. Sometimes he would fall asleep in Math class, other times when a angry teacher would jump him with a pop question he would give the correct answer in way that would confound them.

The Ant was a teachers dream, he soaked up every subject the system taught him, gave the correct answers in the correct way and got straight A s. He would delight his Math teacher by doing compound interest in his head. The Ant believed that what they taught him would help him succeed and was very completive. After graduating High School the Ant got an Academic Scholarship and the Grasshopper got a Pell Grant.

Within four years the Ant got two BS degrees in Business Management and Engineering. The Grasshopper dropped out after the first year. He went to live with the Rainbow Tribe for a few years. On the way to the bus station he found an old fiddle in a trash pile along the road and when he got station he was able to panhandle his bus fare. That was the Grasshoppers first beg.

The Ant took the College like a fish to water. During open Rush some Greeks invite him to be a brother in their Fraternity. He earned his dues by being the Frat Houses Accountant and made beer money by writing term papers. One day while visiting the Tri Deltas he watches the girls play volleyball and is amazed that even though they are playing a vigorous game not one of them breaks a sweat. It is there he meets the girl of his dreams, Polly Fishbane.

While the Grasshopper was living with the Rainbow Tribe he never meets the girl of his dreams, but it does not really matter too much because they believe in Free Love. So free, in fact, that after what you might call the Honeymoon he found himself getting a little bored with it. From the Rainbow Tribe he learns to live off the fat of country and from his new friend, Buffalo with Runs, he learns to live off the land. Buffalo with Runs was an very old Indian that was adopted by the tribe. He taught the Grasshopper what wild plants were safe to eat or use for medicines. He showed him how to set traps and hunt small game. Then, during one winter Gathering four people froze to dead because they were too stoned to come in out of the cold. The Grasshopper became very sad and hopped away.

The Ant is recruited by a Aerospace firm even before he graduated college and goes to work on the Apollo Program. He and his new wife Polly loved the Florida sunshine and settle down to start the American Dream. They decide to have two and half children. Even though the third kid looked a bit odd the Ant loved him as only a father can. With easy money down and mortgage tax deductions compliments of Uncle Sam, they get a house with a two car garage. Next they get two cars and the Rat Race is on. The Ant loves it! Working on the Apollo Program is more than a job, it is being part of history. Polly loves it! Raising their kids and Keeping up of with the Jones. She starts selling Avon products on the side. The Ant buys the best bass boat in the neighborhood, but only uses it once a year because he too busy working. He sets up his retirement funds and a small stock portfolio. Life is Good!

After leaving the Rainbow Tribe the Grasshopper panhandles his way across the country. He sets up in parks and subways where he pretends to play his fiddle while selling jewelry made of deer anthers and beads. The noise he makes with his fiddle sounds like a cat being killed and people give him money just to make him stop. Before the Cops run him off, the Grasshopper usually made enough in one day of begging to cover his needs for the week. When he is hungry he goes to a Soup Kitchen and when he needs clothing there are the Sharing Centers. Every now and then he lets some good hearted woman try to save him. Life is Good and he hops away.

The Apollo Program ends and the new Shuttle program does not start for a couple of years. The Aerospace company were the Ant works at does not win any of the new bids. They offer him a job in California at 20% less of his salary. Polly and the kids are in a rage. Nobody wants to move and leave their friends. The Ant sells his house at a loss because the real estate market in flooded by the laid offs. The one car and the boat are reprocessed. He sells off his stock portfolio for the down payment on the new house in California and even though money is tight the Ant decides to take the family on a short vacation to Key West to uplift their spirits. He finds the Grasshopper selling deer antler jewelry at the Front Street Market. While Polly and the kids go shopping, he and Grasshopper catch up and have a couple of beers. The Ant tells his friend about the laid offs and the move. The Grasshopper asks him - Are you Happy - ? The Ant says - Yes -. His friend says, - Good - . They watch the sunset and see a green flash on the horizon.
To be continue.

I had trouble picking a category, because my plea falls into multiple ones. Help pay bills, save our home, family crisis, money for travel... My husband and I live and work in RV parks full time. Our home is a 1964 Airstream travel trailer. In December, in a fit of horrendous lack-of-judgement, I accepted a job in the north-east. We had weathered semi-cold winters before, and I thought that with a little preparation we would be ok. We weren't. It got so cold and the snow got so deep we finally had to leave for a warmer location. Unfortunately our trailer, our home, was so deep in snow we couldn't get it out, we had to leave it behind.

To make matters worse, we drained our accounts with the driving back and forth. We are currently living in a camper van in SC. We have food, and just started a part-time job, so we are mostly ok, but the grim reality is: we are facing over $1000 in fuel alone just to go retrieve our home, plus a nearly $300 electric bill we left behind that we need to pay before we can pick it up, plus whatever cold damage may have been done because everything froze before we could winterize properly. (frozen and cracked water lines, faucets, and maybe even the brand new hot water tank are all possibilities). If we don't pick it up soon, there will also be a $60 a month storage fee tacked on top of everything else. PLUS we borrowed around $1000 from family that needs to be repaid.

We could save up enough, but it would take most of the summer, spent living in the van, and then we would be completely tapped out again come fall/winter. It's been very depressing. Any little bit would really help.

IN MY ENTIRE LIFE I HAVE NEVER BEEN IN THIS SITUATION! I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SELF SUSTAINING,, VERY CAREFUL! HELPFUL TO OTHERS! WELL THIS HAS BEEN THE 3 YEARS FROM H_LL. MY ELDERLY PARENTS LOST EVERYTHING TO A PONZIE SCAM ARTIST.. THEY NEARLY FROZE TO DEATH IN THEIR HOME LAST WINTER..
THEY ARE FACING ANOTHER WINTER.. I OWE THE IRS 10 THOUSAND OR MORE BECAUSE MY BOSS MISLEAD ME.. I GUESS WE AS A FAMILY ARE TOO TRUSTING..AND NOW LOOK WHERE WE ARE AT! WE NEED AT LEAST FIFTY THOUSAND TO GET US OUT OF OUR DEEP HOLE.. WE WILL BE HAPPY TO GET WHAT EVER THE LORD GIVES US! BUT WE NEED BIG TIME HELP.. IMAGINE KNOWING YOUR PARENTS ARE GOING TO BE LIVING IN THE WINTER AND HAVING NO HEAT AND NOT BEING ABLE TO DO ANYTHING TO HELP THEM....OUCH! THATS ALL i CAN SAY