Brokers have no reason at all to not be 100% trustworthy when it comes to selling the items for real $. That's the whole point of brokering a game. The only thing people seem to be squabbling about is the "e-reputation" yes, i just made that word up, on how they obtained the said items. Whether it be duped, commissioned sales, stolen, legit, or whatever a broker is just that, they broker when it comes to dealing for real profits I would expect nothing except 100% professionalism from any broker. The very thin line you're all treading is if the seller is a duper or not, and that's your choice to decide upon and whether you want to buy from them or not.
He posted a 100% true statement as to every single dealer here who tries to hold their head up high has dealt with a duped item somewhere along the line. I've tried to hold myself as being e-moral in my gameplay and never duped and all that stuff. What exactly did that do for me? I get a nice reputation of great, he doesn't dupe but he has item blessed stuff so it doesn't matter. When it comes down to it, this is a game and I'm tired of trying to compete with all sorts of players. I'd rather quit than cheat, but that's just me. Other people who find cheating in an MMO as not being any different than using a gameshark for a nintendo make serious cashflow from this game and more power to them. I'm now to the point where I'm fed up trying to stick up for legit players in this game. We report bugs, exploits, loopholes right when they're found, and clearly EA doesn't give a damn about it. So I'm done being pissed with the dupers because clearly all the hatred and disappointment should be directed at the game makers who clearly don't care enough about their game to police their rules.
So congrats to any broker regardless how you've acquired your wealth, grats on the supplementary income. People should just stop really caring about this stuff because for one thing, it's petty. Secondly, EA doesn't care one bit. Lastly, all you're doing is trying to deny the fact that UO is only played by many to make real $ in addition to their real job(s). The likeliness that there won't be any bad apples in an MMO is expecting there to be no corporate criminals out there.
Just enjoy your gameplay and make the best of whatever time UO has left in it before all the old players are replaced with new ones who quit in a week.
If you noticed, many of the old collectors have already sold out their entire stocks. In the past there would be at least 50 people bidding up a frenzy buying them up where nowadays, only 2-5 people seem to really buy the bulk of any auction. Just look at the pattern of collector auctions on stratics and see who's been buying. Life is too short to be posting petty things like this on game forums nowadays. Maybe I'm being pessimistic but that's how I feel now. The game we grew to love over the past decade has had its ups and downs, and finally the downs just keep getting lower for me as well as many others.
I'm just ranting pointlessly now so have fun selling whatever it is you're all selling. If people don't want to buy it they shouldn't even bother posting. No point in stating the obvious facts that everyone knows about already. People who can afford to buy this stuff already know the reputations of all the players selling them so trying to hint at things is futile. If you don't like the person, don't buy and don't post. If you don't care, then buy away. Clearly the majority of the people don't care because the brokers are all still in business.