Rob & Melissa Stephenson from Flea Market Flipper talk about the time Rob went to jail for selling an item on eBay.
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Reseller Hangout Podcast - That Time I Went To Jail For Selling An Item On eBay
Rob: What's up guys, on today's episode, we are talking about the time I went to jail for selling an item on eBay.
Melissa: I'm so excited for this episode. It's gonna be so much fun.
Rob: So guys, this is the story of how I did go to jail for selling an item on eBay. And we're gonna dive into that.
Melissa: This is, a I wanna say fun story now that we can talk about, and we haven't really shared it much anywhere, but it is a pretty interesting story that you did get arrested yeah, for an item that you sold on eBay.
Rob: So, and you heard, right. This was not almost, I almost went to jail. I went to jail, jumpsuit and all. So we are gonna dive into that and kind of give you guys a little look behind the scenes of this was 18 years ago.
Melissa: Well, so the year was 2004, right?
Rob: 2004, very memorable for me, my one and only time going to jail. And yeah.
Melissa: I think that the reason why I think it's so funny is because, and any of our friends, like if, you know Rob, you know, like he was not a troublemaker kid, like he was like a pretty good kid. And so the fact that he went to jail was pretty funny.
I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't do drugs, none of that stuff, but I did go to jail and a lot of people can't say that, but I can say that.
Alright, so let's set the, kind of the, the background. So it's 2004. How are sales done on eBay back then?
Rob: So, yeah. So eBay started up, do you guys know, I think it's 2000 or sorry, 1996, '97 '96?
Yeah. Or 95. So yeah, when they started out, it was an online platform and you gotta think back in the day when they started, you didn't have payment processors, you didn't have credit cards online. They were the, this is like cutting edge. Hey, there's items you can buy. You can buy 'em online.
So how do you pay for 'em? Well, back in the day, you had to, send a personal check, a cashier's check. And from one of our last episodes, I mean, cash, you could send cash in the mail to pay for that item. Once the seller received a payment and it cleared whatever it was, then that's when they actually would ship the item out.
Melissa: So, so you would get the, in the mail, the check, or?
Rob: Win the auction, win the item auction on eBay.
Melissa: How long did the buyer have to send you that when you still had to wait on the mail too?
Rob: Exactly. So it was all in your terms and conditions on, hey, you have seven days to pay for this. Buyers could overnight it if they wanted it bad enough, you know, that kind of stuff.
So it was up to the mail though. That's how you got your payment was through the mail.
Melissa: But you wouldn't ship it before you got the payment?
Rob: Never.
So never.
Melissa: Had to wait to get the payment.
Rob: That was one thing you could. Yeah, and I mean, it, it was more risk.
Melissa: So the buyer would wait like two or three weeks to get the item, maybe?
Rob: Exactly.
It was more risk on the buyer back then, because if the seller wanted to skip town and do something, they could, I mean, eBay had names and addresses and registrations for all that. So, it wasn't likely, and most people were just trying to sell their stuff. So it was legit.
Melissa: Yeah. But you had to wait for the money.
Rob: That's it.
Melissa: So gone are the, or way before the days of Amazon that you order it and it's there at your house that afternoon. Yeah.
Rob: So yeah, you're talking, an eBay transaction taking, could have taken up to a month to get your item that you bought on eBay, but typically, yeah, you're talking about the timeframe of the buyer sending out the check, you receiving the check, and if it's a personal check, it could be a bank in another state.
You had to wait for that check to clear it, your bank before you'd ship the item out. So, and the good thing about back in the day is you kept communication open with the buyer. Hey, I received the check today, deposited it. It's gonna clear in, you know, three days, whatever my bank's gonna clear it in three days, they would know and expect the timeframe of when they were gonna get the item.
Melissa: So was eBay your primary, income then in 2004?
Rob: No, it wasn't.
Melissa: You were just doing it on the side.
Rob: Yeah, I did eBay on the side, but we also, I say we, my mom is the one who kind of helped me birth this whole business, back in the day. But I also sold stuff on, a classified section in the Orlando Sentinel, for us we're outside of Orlando.
So I would list stuff in the Orlando Sentinel and sell it. That was another. That was really the only other platform that you could sell stuff besides little like mom and pop magazines, but the Orlando Sentinel was big. So you could buy stuff locally from flea markets, yard, sales, thrift stores, and then you could turn around and sell in the Orlando Sentinel.
Melissa: And reach a lot more people.
Rob: Exactly. I did that. And at this time, that was my sole, my full-time income was doing it. I was flipping . So flipping was exactly, but not just solely on eBay. We were I was doing it where I would buy it and sell it in the Sentinel.
Melissa: And that was probably also, people were not as comfortable buying online.
Like they, it was still kind of a new thing. It, I mean, 2004, not that new, but still people were a lot more skeptical than are now. Very much. Now it's pretty common..
Rob: And, and eBay, I mean, and PayPal was already introduced into eBay, but still it's one of those things. PayPal, if I'm not mistaken was the first like online.
It was this first, way that people could put their credit card in something and pay for it, transaction and then get it. If I'm not mistaken. I think PayPal was the first to the market on that. Not a hundred percent sure. I know they were the first to eBay doing it.
But still people were very, very skeptical about throwing their credit card online and trying to pay something. So you still had people, even though it was introduced to eBay, you still had people going the old route of, hey, I'm gonna send you payment when it clears you mail me out my stuff and yeah, that's kind of how it was so.
Melissa: So you didn't have to require PayPal.
You could require, I mean, people weren't required to pay by PayPal. They could pay however they want.
Rob: Even nowadays you could still say, hey, I don't accept, payment through eBay managed payments. I want to send you a cashiers check. A lot riskier nowadays to do something like that, but I think you still have that option.
You can actually click on, you know, this is what I accept. No everybody does online because online it's, it's like everywhere. That's what, yeah. That's what everybody does. So.
Melissa: Okay. So what was the item that you sold and how much did it sell for?
Rob: So it was an outboard motor in multiple pieces. I received when I was 15, my dad gave me a 21 foot ranger bass boat, for my 15th birthday. I live, yeah, I grew up on a lake. Yeah. Anyways, it wasn't anything spectacular to give you background when I was 15. What year was that? 1995. Yeah, 95. My dad, this bass boat was not brand new. It was a 1980 bass boat. So you're talking same age, yeah, same age as me.
I was born in 80. I just put that together. Anyways, so he gave me this bass boat for my 15th birthday. It was cool. I had tons of fun with it, with my friends, nothing. Like I said, this was not a show bass boat. It wasn't like super crazy, crazy.
Melissa: Cuz your family always bought you stuff.
Rob: Always, always my dad got it from a yard sale down the street.
That's where he got it from. Yeah, he gave it to me for my 15th birthday. Anyways, that was where the boat, the motor came. I had a problem with that motor. I took it apart, and ended up selling the motor in whole, but it was pulled in pieces so I could ship it out in boxes and it wasn't a big, huge thing to be able to do.
So I sold that bad boy on eBay for $1,750.
Melissa: Was that your biggest sale to that date?
Rob: It probably was.
Melissa: I know you sold a Nordic track for around that too, at some point, but I don't know when that was.
Rob: But yeah, I'm not sure on the timeframe of that either if I did that before, but it was one of your bigger sales. Yeah, no, I think the, the Nordic track was before.
I, I don't remember. Don't quote me on that. I just know. Yeah, definitely the Nordic track at the time was the highest that I had sold to, at around the same price, $1,750.
Melissa: And it was at that point, eBay was mostly auction, right? Like it was not really by it now was that buy it now? Or was that auction?
Rob: I think it was auction, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. I can't remember. Yeah, you're talking 20 some years ago and I don't remember. I know they, they started out as an auction website and then they knew that people wanted it immediately. Then they went to buy now.
Yeah. And I don't remember. I don't remember that, but I do know the price was $1,750 and I received a cashiers check for $1,750. So they won the auction. They mailed me a cashier's check, which I had to go into deposit it at my bank. Still remember the bank. I probably shouldn't call out on this, but still remember.
Melissa: They were bought out anyway.
Rob: They were, they were bought out. So they, I don't know if that's considered, went out of business or what it was. Went and deposited at my bank. They told me 10 days to clear this cashier's check, which means you can't ship it out for 10 days. So I waited the timeframe for this cashier's check to clear the 10 days.
Once it cleared I got the money into my account. They gave me the money. I actually shipped the item out to where it was going. And then you paid your bills. I did. I wrote my check. I, hey, this was exactly how I made money. It was my full-time income. So I paid my bill. I, I had two vehicles at the time. A Tahoe, a black Tahoe, a four door Tahoe, and a convertible Volvo is what I had and I had to pay my renewal for them at the local DMV. I had to pay a check for, I went in, I got my renewal, wrote a check for it.
Melissa: Everything was checks back then.
Rob: That's it, wrote a check for it. And, sure enough. So I got my stickers. And I got all that stuff replaced after.
Melissa: And you paid a couple more bills too?
Rob: I did. Absolutely so. And I don't remember what the other bills, I'm sure.
Melissa: You wouldn't remember.
Rob: No, this was the most important one. Yeah. So, that's why it comes out in my mind. So anyways, so we, I wrote my checks. I, I got the money cleared, shipped the item out, wrote my checks to multiple places. And another caveat that I'll add into this, this was the time that I went from living with my parents.
I was 24 years old to moving to my own house. I rented out a house.
Melissa: They said, you're done. They're kicking you out.
Rob: Yeah, well they told me they were selling a house. You got two weeks to get out. The house is being, we sold it and you got two weeks to get out. So that's how I end up leaving my house. So all that that comes into play in this whole matter as well, so.
Melissa: So then you're on your own, you're, you know, paying bills for your house too, or wherever you're living and then you get a knock on the door, yeah, one day. Yeah. So how many days later, from selling it yet?
I don't remember the whole time.
You got a knock on the door.
Rob: Get a knock on the door and it is a police officer. I come to the door, I'm sitting in the house, watching TV. My dog's in the house.
I come to the door, no shirt, no shoes, just a pair of a board shorts. I come to the door and I'm like, hey, yeah, what's going on? They said, yeah, we have a warrant here for your arrest. And I was just like, serious? You gotta remember, I'm not this crazy kid. I'm, this is not normal for me to see a cop at the door, but it wasn't just one, right?
No, four, four cops at the door, to arrest me and it's like, okay, this is insane. So what, is there a warrant out for my arrest? And they said, it looks like you have a, you wrote a bad check to the DMV. And don't quote me on it. I think it was around $300, $307, something like that, but they said, yeah, Anyways.
It's crazy. So I said, come on guys, are you serious? I wrote a bad check. So I said, I have cash in the house. I'll give it to you right now. And they were like, yeah, no, let's pass that. You have to go to jail. And I was like, you are kidding me. And I said, can I go back in and get my shirt and my shoes? No, you cannot go back in the house because
Melissa: You cannot pay it. You cannot get your shirt and shoes.
Rob: If you shut the door, we can't come in your house after you get you. And I was like, come on guys, I'll just go get it and come out. They said, no, we have to take you exactly how you are. So they put me in handcuffs at my front door and walk me out to the cop car and put me in the back seat, to where they proceed to take me to the local jail, which is, it's not like the old days of this little Barney five jail. I mean, it's our it's Orlando's jail. It's huge. So they take me there and
Melissa: Scared little 24-year-old kid.
Rob: They book me, they, they take me inside and first thing yep. The first thing the guy says to me, because I'm in handcuffs and no shoes and no shirt, they said, you're gonna freeze in here.
We have to give you a jumpsuit. They put me in an orange jumpsuit and put on, I had to wear these little flippers that I had these little slip on flippers and an orange jumpsuit and they put me into jail.
Melissa: I'm sorry.
Rob: So that was where I went to jail for this bad check that I wrote. Okay. So why now I have to re rewind a little bit.
Melissa: Yeah. So what exactly happened that you, that you wrote a bad check? So why did you write a bad check?
Rob: My bank cleared the check, they came back six it was either six.
Melissa: You said six days before.
Rob: I think it was six days after they cleared the check, the cashier's check, put the money into my account. I wrote my checks for my bills out.
They came back and said, hey, that was a cashier's check that was no good.
Melissa: Fraudulent. Right?
Rob: Exactly. And I was like, wait a minute, you guys had 10 days to find this information out and you're coming back after you've released the funds and telling me that it's good. And I went back and forth with this bank.
Melissa: But this was, which should have been their fault. And you should have, if you were older, you probably would've been able to go out.
Rob: Absolutely. And this is all after the fact, after I get arrested and figure out exactly what's going on.
Melissa: Cause you got out.
Rob: The big thing was I had moved from my house that I grew up in to my own house. My mail did not get forwarded to my new house. So they said they sent me letters and all this kind of stuff. And now I, I knew that I had issues, but I didn't know what checks I wrote out and that kind of stuff. And I'm a kid guys, 24 years old, I'm living week to week, I'm making money. So it's one of those things that I probably did know that they, they had issues with it, but it's one of those things that it was not on the forefront of my mind. If you know how I grew up too it's different on that kind of stuff. But in that I digress.
Melissa: The bill's due, it's paid.
Rob: Exactly. That's right. Exactly. So this is how the whole thing played out. I ended up getting in fights with the bank after I got arrested and went
Melissa: Because they shouldn't have cleared it after 10 days.
And you waited a long time. Like that is a long time to wait for them to clear it and then say oops because you did say it was six days after that. Yeah. So it was a fraudulent check and they should have eaten it and you shouldn't have got arrested.
Rob: Absolutely.
Melissa: So you, that was an extra reason to go after them that you guys maybe get arrested.
Rob: Yeah. And I was a kid, like I said at the time, so I didn't really go any further with it, but the bank did get bought out or go outta business and then it was taken over by another bank.
Melissa: You left the bank right then too, right?
Rob: I did. Absolutely. I left the bank after that incident and I went to another bank, but, all that stuff happened and it was from a check that was cleared a cashier's check that was cleared by my bank, that they put the money into my account. Then they pulled the money back out. I had written, like I said, my bills out for that and had some of them bounce and I, I,
Melissa: And it still, didn't... going to jail still didn't stop you from selling on eBay?.
Rob: No, it did not. So now we have other ways of receiving money and we do not have to deal with those scammers who do that, but I was out my motor. I was out the money. So I kind of got screwed in that whole situation. And I went to jail for the whole thing, which was terrifying to this day. If a police officer knocks on my door, it freaks me out because I'm like, oh crap, what happened?
I'm going to jail. and one of those things, I've only gone one time for this, but it was definitely a crazy situation.
Melissa: You didn't have to stay too long, right?
Rob: No, it was yeah. Less than
Melissa: Your dad got you.
Rob: Yeah.
Melissa: Came and got you.
Rob: That's a good point too. And if you don't know somebody's phone number in jail, you're screwed. Nowadays we don't know people's phone numbers because of our smartphone. Everything is programmed in your phone. Know somebody's phone number, know your wife's phone number, know somebody's phone number because you gotta call somebody once you get in there. They don't say, oh, Rob you're in jail. Who can we call for you?
We'll find the phone number. It's like, okay, here's the phone. You gotta make a phone call to figure out who you're gonna tell that you're in here, in that kind of way. So yeah.
Melissa: There's your reselling tip of the day.
No.
Rob: Know somebody's phone number. That's my advice to you.
Melissa: But that reality is that would not happen these days, which is, it was just good because now everything is online and not writing checks.
Rob: It's laughable 18 some years later, but in the, in the heat of the moment, it was not fun. It sucked, it was horrible. So, but anyways, we haven't told that story to a lot of people, but that is something that happened to me in my reselling career.
Melissa: Well, one thing it kind of puts in perspective when you're upset at them holding the money for two to three days before it gets released into your account, things could be a lot worse.
Yeah. I guess if you look at it that way, absolutely. Sorry, I'm laughing so much. I just think it's hilarious. So.
Rob: It is funny now, but it was not funny when it happened, so.
Melissa: But so we wanted to share that story just cause it was a fun story. Not really many takeaways from it, except for you're still on eBay. And that could have been the one thing that definitely would've deterred you.
Rob: Pushed me off of it, for sure. So still one of the greatest platforms, definitely out there to sell on and we still make our living with it. Yep. So that's awesome.
Melissa: And thanks so much for listening guys. I know it's a little different than we normally do, but we would so appreciate it if you left a rating and review on the podcast, we're trying to grow the podcast and it would just mean so much to us. So thank you so much for listening.
Rob: You guys rock. Have a great day. We'll see you on the next one.