It is really dumb how NPC-s in MW and OB recognize their stolen goods (like apples) when you are trying to sell them. What do they do? Carve their names in the apples and stuff??? Devs should change that.

Imagine a single apple being sold to several merchants... It would be carved all around! xD

It's not dumb at all. People know the products they're selling so they recognize if you just walked around a corner, stole something, and are then trying to sell it back to them. It would also make it too easy to exploit things as a gameplay mechanic.

It adds to immersion for me, it does not detract from it.

I think Dumbo should be included in the game. And he should spit fire out of his nose.

Ok, but if you sneak into a shop and steal an apple. Then, you wait a month, a year... shopkeeper still recognizes "his" stolen apple. Thats really Dumbo the Elephant! He should recognize a piece of armor but an apple or anything like it is just Dumbo the Elephant!

Setting recognizing one's own good aside,let's get rid of a merchant not buying a plate from a house I found in the wilderness,having killed the owner prior to the theft...Just WTF...

Than let's discuss this again -and I'll agree-

Are thieves people who gain from stealing or people who use daggers and light armor?

Well...I guess...sure. But by that time the apple should be rotten and then who wants to buy it anyway?

Some vendors take in only the highest quality products. Maybe they were very selective about their apples specifically and know what they're like and would recognize them. Maybe the shipment just came in the day before you arrived in the store and so the shopkeeper handled those apples specifically. It's not the most ridiculous idea. I'm more upset that vendors in Oblivion can recognize stolen items from the stores of others when there's no way to tell if I paid for it or not.

I'm sure they've worked it out by now. I think it would all depend on the npc individual and the exact goods their selling. A stolen apple being sold back wouldn't be recognized, but it might raise suspicion(A new game mechanic perhaps?)

On the other hand selling a stolen sword forged by hand right back to the smith who made it would be pretty easy to tell.

Either the smith could tell right off the bat or maybe after you sell it to him/her and as you stroll along they start anolyzing the craftsmenship of the sword, realize they made it, and run after you/call the guards.

You are right about the decay. They should add fridges, but then again its skyrim and its cold...

And, about other shops... next time present a bill! xDD

I agree, it is a serious issue.

That's an interesting idea. I think after a certain price range, like 50 or 100 gold, they should recognize their own product, since it's of much greater value and they're more likely to care about it, whereas an apple is like 5 gold at most and easy to come by.

Well, most smiths in reality and in fantasy literature wouldn't let an item leave their shop without putting their maker's mark on it, much the same way artists sign their paintings. So I don't think identifying any smithed item (yes, down to and including knives/forks/spoons) would be particularly difficult. :shrug:

That's what I was thinking, and what I think is dumb. Morrowind wasn't like that. You would get caught if you tried to sell a vendor their own stolen item.

I don't think its dumb. I think its the most [censored] thing ever. "Hey! Out of millions of iron swords that look exactly the same, that one looks kind of like mine! Thief!"

I think some things, such as armor and weapons and all the really expensive stuff, should be marked by merchants.
However, tiny things (like apples and forks) shouldn't matter.

Morrowind got it -partially- right. However, one problem with Morrowind's system was that once you stole an item from a merchant, EVERY item of that same type was subsequently (and permanently) marked as owned by that NPC, so say you steal that grand soul gem from that wood elf enchanter in the Balmora Mages Guild. If you stole that from her, brought it to another enchanter to use, then came back with another grand soul gem for HER to enchant your stuff with, she would attack you. It should not be like that in Skyrim. Merchants should be able to tell whether a single item is theirs or not, however on the other side of the coin, an apple should not be known as stolen to a merchant on the other side of the continent as the merchant you stole it from.

Thieves are people who use daggers and light armor and therefore are not as good at ransacking dungeons, so they ransack homes instead.