I guess 'arbitrage' has existed for generations, but was never this easy or ubiqitious for even the most regular internet user... If anything, as a consumer, i

I guess 'arbitrage' has existed for generations, but was never this easy or ubiqitious for even the most regular internet user... If anything, as a consumer, its created a considerable distrust in small retailers. I've started reverse image searching every online store to see if the same thing is available on AliExpress. The number of items represented fraudulently as 'made local' is staggering... At the same time, the factories manufacturing these products all stick to pretty common prefabrication templates and techniques, so the same designs are becomign quite ubiquitous — which I suppose if you are a discerning customer – means you can really differentiate by finding things which truly are not mass commodities. And I guess that's the advantage — these have to be mass produced goods or else the economics of drop-shipping would not be sustainable. But, considering how many goods are mass produced these days, both luxury and necessity, its hard to pick any product type and expect it to be locally made. I don't think its immoral, but I'd avoid any retailer selling drop-shipped goods.