Should have been more clear. I contacted eBay and PayPal after suspecting the seller was fraudulent (10 years experience buying on eBay). PayPal quickly (within 1-2 hours) stopped the transaction and reversed the payment. Little did I know this would count against me in the eyes of Amex. How do I know this counted against me or this was the trigger?The Financial Review agent discussed the magnitude of the charges and returns. Sadly he went off a summary snapshot instead of looking at actual transactions.
Lesson 2: there is a lot of fraudulent activity on eBay. Accounts get hacked and used to sell goods that do not exist. Yes, buyer protection helps, but fraudulent sellers hope to take the money and run.
I'm resigned that I will be moving away from Amex, following 10+ years of being a solid customer who paid his bills on time. Plenty of other cards out there, and I hate poor customer service recently, intrusiveness, and their ability to just cut me off without notice.
BTW, I called several other departments at AMEX to get an explanation (Customer Retention, and Fraud). Both occasions the Amex reps knew nothing about Financial Reviews, expressed shock, and even went so far as to say Amex does not do this, does not ask for tax statements, and calls to me to obtain such information were fraudulent. This is what a mess AMEX has become!