I agree with most of what you said and think the same way many times, but a shucked usb drive is also out of warranty (hence why I consider them somewhat equivalent to a white label drive without warranty). And yea, you aren't going to pay me the same price as newegg for a usb drive, but I'm also not going to sell it to you for a loss either when I can use it. If I have drives that I don't need right now and others need drives and I can sell for less than the market but still make a profit, I will. people can choose that its not worth the risk to them or find an even cheaper place.
But yes, I understand the pain as well. I once bought a usb drive on ebay, only for it to not work, was stupid, sent it into WD only to be told by them that it was counterfeit of some sort. ebay/paypal refunded my money but I lost because I was further stupid and did an advance exchange.
when I called the shop that sold it to me, the guy just hung up on me when I told him what WD said.
I was also further stupid, as it in retrospect was obviously resealed (not the circular seals they use). lesson learned about that, order something on ebay, have any single doubt, return it. but I'm lucky to be able to say for many of these stupid mistakes "it's only money".