Why did Paypal force someone to destroy a pre-WW2 violin?

PayPal have become embroiled in a bitter war over the authenticity of a $2,500 pre-WW2 violin, after they ordered the owner to destroy it after it was 'deemed counterfeit'.

The violin in question belonged to a woman known only as Erica, who sold the instrument on eBay for a whopping $2,500. However, the Canadian buyer of the violin disputed its authenticity and demanded his money back from Paypal, demanding that Erica destroy the violin and offer a video of its destruction as proof.

Why the strong-arm tactics of having the violin destroyed? That's because in PayPal's terms and conditions it clearly states that 'PayPal may also require you to destroy the item and provide evidence of its destruction.'

'Rather than have the violin returned to me, PayPal made the buyer DESTROY the violin in order to get his money back,' the seller wrote to Regretsy.com.

'They somehow deemed the violin as 'counterfeit' even though there is no such thing in the violin world. In the violin market, labels often mean little and there is often disagreement over them,' she added.

'Some of the most expensive violins in the world have disputed labels, but they are works of art nonetheless. This is of course upsetting, but my main goal is to prevent PayPal from ordering the destruction of violins and other antiquities that they know nothing about.'It is beyond me why PayPal simply didn’t have the violin returned to me.'

Erica further claims that after contacting PayPal representatives, she was told that it is their strict company policy to ensure that items deemed fake are destroyed.