Growing up, my father never let me buy anything on eBay because he believed it was infested with stolen goods. As it turns out, he may have been right all along.

The shoplifting epidemic in New York has fueled a resale economy for websites like eBay, as retailers in the state are losing $4.4 billion a year.

According to The Post Millennial:

It has been revealed that the shoplifting epidemic in New York has led to the formation of a black market wherein networks of thieves are selling stolen goods to unsuspecting members of the public.

While ill-gotten merchandise is typically sold online via sites such as eBay and Facebook Marketplace, some criminals have engineered sophisticated schemes involving cross-border "returns" and other shady practices.

According to the New York Post, the process begins with those who do the shoplifting. Once the goods have been acquired, a middleman buys them for a fraction of the sticker price and sells them on eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

Everybody gets paid, and the cycle continues.

In some cases, higher-ups even go so far as to give their thieves "shopping lists" detailing exactly what they'd like them to steal.

An April 2023 report conducted by the National Retail Federation in coordination with a private security company K2 found that in New York, 26 percent of listings on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for items listed as "new with tag" as well as Tide Pods, diapers, makeup, and baby formula were suspected to be linked to organized crime.

Of course, the worst place to be hit by this mess in the state is New York City.

Decriminziling theft while law-abiding citizens suffer from the increasing cost of living is a common phenomenon in progressive-run areas. Not only do you live in a dirty city with a bunch of woke liberals, but you pay higher costs than the rest of the country.

Because only Progressives can turn San Fransico into the third world while also making it one of the most expensive places to live in the world.

The funny thing is that New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are some of the most expensive places to live on the entire planet. And the ironic thing is that New York City (tied with Singapore) is the most expensive place in the world to live.

It is clear that once progressives take over a thriving city, they turn it into a dystopia while exponentially increasing the cost of living. That is because progressives are dangerously jealous people who are so incompetent they cannot create anything. And since they cannot create thriving cities, they destroy them out of envy.

On top of that, rather than arrest shoplifters, cops seem to be more concerned with getting property owners who dare to change the locks on their residences.

When no human is illegal, when housing is a right through eminent domain, when severally mentally ill people go on manic episodes on the subway, when a rat infestation is the status quo for all apartments, and when you - a law-abiding citizen - suffer because of all of that, you get: The Empire State.

And I wonder why so many New Yorkers plan to move.

Jewelry Store Thieves DECIMATED by Employees | Louder With Crowderwww.youtube.com