but when folks talk about paying say $40 at a garage sale for items worth $1000's especially if they are further monetizing by making online videos about that buying/selling then I do think it is exploitative and gets really questionable.

(I'm less concerned about the folks buying say storage lockers etc where they also have to deal with everything in the space & that's real work (and can incur recyling/disposal fees etc)

So I really like hearing a creator saying he plans on sharing w/seller

and back then I did a lot of selling for other people - not everything I bought places to sell was my own collections - and I made a lot of money for folks (and was well paid myself - especially for when I was in my 20's, I could make my rent in less than 2 days at a good show, and cover all my monthly expenses with just a few more days - for being in my 20's it was a lot of fun

but the ethics of trying to find that seller who doesn't know what they have and getting a "steal" are questionable

there are a lot of content creators who film themselves thrifting or buying at garage sales or buying bulk collections of various items from various sources - and frequently going on about how great of a bargain / deal they found (frequently inflating the prices they may actually sell things at while emphasizing how cheaply they bought the collections/items.

Very Very few seem self aware enough of just how ethically grey this can seem - I've long thought that many should be seeking the sellers

I'm no where near as published or "successful" as a writer as the author I'm alluding to (and in turn he is not the only one with these types of views)

But when I tell a story - whether it is fiction or narrative non-fiction, heck even if it is technical writing like a project spec for a client, it is political - I attempt to illustrate in the story multiple points of view, to consider perspectives from a wide range of diverse contexts and make sure the story works for a wide range of audience