eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is the world's largest online auction house but also houses more illegitimate goods than probably any other entity. From stolen to fake goods from every corner of the globe, it's staggering to think of the billions in fraud that occur on the auction network every day. The company downplays this, though -- but it's very true in my experience. Still, the vast majority of items sold and listed on the auction giant are from truthful people.

Still, you'll never know how many serial shoplifters are selling perfectly-good merchandise on eBay at any given moment to unsuspecting buyers. The goods may be in perfect working order, but were stolen in order to be sold. If there are serial numbers attached to those goods, let the buyer beware. In Wisconsin, 35 year-old Kerensa D. Davenport has now been ordered to stay off eBay completely as a condition of a $5,000 cash bail. This is the fourth criminal case filed against Davenport related to her selling stolen goods on eBay.

If you're a motorcycle fan, you'll be pleased to know that on a recent count of 99 listings offered by Davenport on eBay, most of the items were Harley Davidson items allegedly stolen by Davenport from a local Harley Davidson store in her area. Police combed surveillance footage and indeed spotted Davenport in the store stuffing goods into her pockets for later resale on eBay. How do you like those Harley Davidson leather gloves that you received from Christmas? Did they come from eBay?

Nathaniel Hawthorne may be dead, but his spirit still lives on at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), specifically in this store in Attalla, Alabama. You can recognize the store because it's the one with the two petty thieves out front, wearing signs around their necks: "I am a thief, I stole from Wal-Mart." The signs, ordered by a local judge (they were worn for eight hours on a couple of Saturdays) have received positive comments from shoppers, according to the store manager; signs that the 1800s are alive and well.

As William Faulkner wrote, in the south, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."

Surely the mainstream retail climate has moved past expending precious management time and justice department resources on the humiliation of those desperate individuals (or, as one of the punishees claims, victims of misunderstanding) who steal items of miniscule value. Most companies who own stores build losses into their forecasted income statement. But at Wal-Mart, the scarlet letter lives on.