I now throw public festivals and it happens in meatspace too if you don’t actively prevent it. One minute that brand new themed festival is all vendors making cool clocks out of old vinyl, local glassblowers, local apiarists.
Three years later there are 18 guys selling the same glass bongs from Temu.
I see the same thing from "handmade trinkets" in tourist areas when I travel. All drop-shipped crap that you see multiple times, especially if you go to multiple cities.
Now I just find a fridge magnet and not care where it's made.
Funny enough I’ve actually just started ordering those on Amazon or AliExpress. What’s the difference if I get the Florida keys magnet actually in the Florida Keys or online if either way it’s coming to me from China?
(I mostly try to get something handmade or locally made if possible, in the rare instances, I buy trinkets, which is pretty much just that I buy a refrigerator magnet from every city I take my RV to. But every now and then yeah there was nothing but the Alibaba stuff.)
Three years later there are 18 guys selling the same glass bongs from Temu.
Curation is the answer.