The one I bought came delivered in a plastic baggie in a padded envelope. It could have been stolen for all I know.
Is there a way to check which serial numbers were stolen? Can I demand a seller post a picture of the device with the serial number so I can check? How can I be sure they won't lie?
There isn't really a centralized or standardized way to do this, though. I guess if I'm buying some smart-ish hardware, I just have to google around for the company and hope I did a good job.
If you buy stolen good, you don't get to keep them. These are stolen goods, why would you ever expect the company to simply allow you to use it?
But you're right, in the end they are stolen goods.
What? How does that make any sense. Someone stole their property, it's still theirs, of course they have a say in what happens to it. "Finders Keepers" is not how the world works...
Does that mean they'll unbrick their hardware? That's about the only sympathy I'd expect after purchasing a product in good faith, and discovering that it was bricked or disabled by the manufacturer.