Update: No responses from Airbnb throughout the whole day so I gave them a phone call and the customer service representative took about 20 minutes looking into it, realized she couldn't do anything, and said she can have a Case Manager respond to me through Airbnb Inbox.. I asked about the unknown payout policy mentioned above and she said she'll send me an email regarding that information, but I didn't receive anything. Feels like they're just playing ping pong here...
All this trouble is definitely not worth $5, but the idea of a large company like AirBNB taking some $ away from hosts here and there just isn't right, and I hope this thread serves as an example of some of the many flaws in AirBNB's business