By the looks of it, the DT members disapprove of this practice, and your trust just took a hammering. How could you not predict that this would happen? In any case, do you actually think 26 merits would be worth $50? Merits.... $50? Doesn't compute.
If people really wanted merit, they would post highly quality material here on the forum, the merit sources aren't exactly stingy with their sMerit. If you post something worthy, you'll be merited. Anybody receiving merit suspiciously (e.g. indicating it has been purchased) is likely to take a hammer just like you.
Anyone who will buy or sell sMerit will probably get negative trust rating and if I were the admin like Theymos I will ban those account doing that.
Look like thread starter already banned.
It can be a problem if this guy give someone merit. Forum admin can punish merit "receiver" even if they didn't paying for them.
Ban merit seller is the best decision.