Ethics of buying from ebay?

[caesar novus]

Is anyone bothered by the possibility that ebay items could be stolen?  I've noticed a trend where some Amazon "free shipping" items have become quite pricey yet are increasingly cheap from ebay. Local stores may not have those items any more; what are the ethics of ordering from cheapest source?

On one hand, an "American Greed" documentary covered the FBI shutting down shoplifting rings that used ebay, and somebody supposedly keeps surveilling ebay for suspicious patterns. In some sympathetic cases things come from overstock and wanting to sell from an indirect source in order to not violate a list price agreement. On the other hand more modest shoplifting has become decriminalized, and sellers I deal with have suspiciously small quantities available altho may have started with many more.

I normally wouldn't deal with suspicious sources like ebay, but Amazon has gotten not only pricey and slow (non prime), but their takeover of delivery service is bad here with them dumping packages in insecure piles in public. On ebay if I order from a highly rated vendor I get faster, cheaper service with secure delivery. If these are greedy criminals some sure can be generous, like the one who let me have $100 shoes for free after some tiny dispute.

Edited March 20 by caesar novus

[guy]

20 hours ago, caesar novus said:

 

Is anyone bothered by the possibility that ebay items could be stolen?  I've noticed a trend where some Amazon "free shipping" items have become quite pricey yet are increasingly cheap from ebay.

 

Respectfully, many items sold on Amazon are also stolen from brick-and-mortar retailers.

I was buying a product from a “reliable source” that was using some strange packaging material. Then I realized they were selling stolen items. Now I try to buy directly from the manufacturer.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/07/06/amazon-sellers-suspended-over-stolen-goods-caught-in-crime-ring.html

Edited Friday at 02:20 AM by guy