You see, I buy used hardware. Mostly from ebay, sometimes from craigslist. I always walk if it smells funny. (if it seems fishy, I often offer to exchange ID, and if the other guy refuses, I walk. Once someone offered me a good deal on a laptop but wanted to meet me on a freeway offramp. )
Really, even just exchanging ID every time wouldn't solve the problem... you see, many people buy things used, use them for a while (or not) then turn around and sell them, either in hope of turning a profit, or simply because they got bored with the item; I can imagine many ways a stolen item could come to be owned by someone who had no idea that it might be stolen.
My question is this: Is there some sort of publicly accessible stolen goods serial number registry or the like that I can check my goods against? I mean, even after I got the thing, if it turned out to be stolen, I'd be cool with returning it and eating the loss. I buy enough stuff to amortize any losses... but both from an ethical and a liability perspective, I'd really like greater assurance that I don't have stolen goods laying about.
You see, I buy used hardware. Mostly from ebay, sometimes from craigslist. I always walk if it smells funny. (if it seems fishy, I often offer to exchange ID, and if the other guy refuses, I walk. Once someone offered me a good deal on a laptop but wanted to meet me on a freeway offramp. )
Really, even just exchanging ID every time wouldn't solve the problem... you see, many people buy things used, use them for a while (or not) then turn around and sell them, either in hope of turning a profit, or simply because they got bored with the item; I can imagine many ways a stolen item could come to be owned by someone who had no idea that it might be stolen.
My question is this: Is there some sort of publicly accessible stolen goods serial number registry or the like that I can check my goods against? I mean, even after I got the thing, if it turned out to be stolen, I'd be cool with returning it and eating the loss. I buy enough stuff to amortize any losses... but both from an ethical and a liability perspective, I'd really like greater assurance that I don't have stolen goods laying about.