[Controversial] Purchasing anime merch from AliExpress or Wish hurts the anime industry

I recently joined a Facebook trading group, where members trade items instead of purchasing them. A user wanted to trade anime merch. They had about 50 items ranging from acrylic stands to figurines, and I had to ask why they wanted to get rid of all of them. <br><br>The user told me where they purchased the items from, which were Wish and AliExpress. They were disappointed with most of the items and thought trading them away for items with actual value was a better idea. <br><br>I looked at the pictures and noticed that they were actually official anime items being resold. The resellers were either bootlegging or purchasing the items at a wholesale price. <br><br>This caused me to wonder if supporting anime by purchasing merch directly from the official vendors is better than purchasing them at a lower price from unofficial vendors. Purchasing from official vendors likely means the anime creators are actually getting paid for their hard work, whereas unofficial vendors are not paying the creators a cent.<br><br>Yes, sometimes official vendors overprice their items, but the support is what matters. Purchasing from unofficial vendors may mean you pay a lower upfront price, but in the long run, you are harming the creators.