GameBanshee Forums

I had been roaming around for leveling purposes... and I happened to "sleep" in someone else's bed (5 gp fine) - well I never paid it and I never had it 'fixed' and so, many game hours later, I am attacked by a sleeper in a Mar Gaan, and I was surprised by a guard and I accidentally 'talked' to him - he thanked me for turning myself in and the game said he took 5 gold peices... well a bit later I noticed I had no pants on... and I was missing all my filled soul-stones, several weapons, Lots of Stuff! So, I searched this forum and found out about the 'evidence chests' and I did an intervention to the nearest fort... found the chest in the prison and snuck and snuck and snuck (2 guards and a guard captain) and I finally got my stufff and Man! they took a lot of stuff! I got it all back, and I want to thank the forum for the help! and remind everyone to keep their bounties clear... no matter how small... cause the man will steal you blind! (just like in the real world!)

This is true in all ES games: if you steal anything and are caught later, somehow the guards know everything on you that is stolen, and confiscate it. I could understand that if it were a weapon or armor; there always has been such a thing as craft embossing to mark an item by its maker, and sometimes its owner. But some of these things are ridiculous.

In any case, glad to hear you got it all back. And remember, the Thieves Guild can help you escape bounties; so can a console command, if you're on a PC.

Its the same with shops - if you steal an item from a shop then everytime you sell an item the guy in the shop will say you stole it from him (even if you have 5 of the things in your inventory he will say the whole lot were stolen from him). Its stupid really but its easy to avoid little things like this once you are aware that they happen. Its the same with enchanting - steal the soul gems from the girl in balmora mages guild and everytime you use her to enchant she will say the gem belongs to her even if it is one you filled yourself.

That's why I don't steal from merchants, at least not the stuff that they'll buy. No qualms about robbing weapons from alchemists, of course.

i've also discovered another way to get in trouble for stealing from merchants without stealing anything. if you store items to sell to the merchant later after their money returns, don't store the items in the merchants containers. when you take it out and try to sell it to them, they will accuse you of stealing them. so i killed the merchant with a kitchen knife or a fork or something. i had found one enchanted and useable as a weapon....somewhere. long time ago. anyway, yeah, don't use the containers in the merchants shop to store items to sell to them later.

You can just drop them on the floor though and they don't vanish - thats what I usually do. Either that or just use the wait function to wait 24 hours.