1 merit = 0.05 ETH
3 merit = 0.15 ETH
They can't be seriously paying $25 per Merit, right? I'd say it's much more likely to be a scam.
At $25 per Merit, a Member account is valued $250, and a Legendary at $25000. It just doesn't make any sense.
Update: these numbers would mean I gave away approximately $10k worth of Merit
Crazy to think about, isn't it? But no, I don't think merits are going for that much. I think $5 is what I've seen them going for, and even that is way too frigging high. That just reinforces the point that having a high-ranked account is amazingly lucrative for a certain segment of the world. It's unfortunate that I'm living in a country where sig campaign earnings don't allow me to live like a pimp--maybe if I enrolled 20 accounts in campaigns I'd be onto something....
It's a good thing that merits aren't anonymous, else we'd have much, MUCH more abuse going on.