I was aware of wild seed sellers on ebay. I initially saw photos of plants growing in pots and read their disclaimer that their seeds don't violate ebay policies or some such and purchased seeds, then as I explored the sellers account to add more seeds, I purchased several. I've purchased seeds from this guy many times. I don't usually read the description much beyond the harvest date, which I quickly realized would always be recent (whether the seeds were actually fresh or not).
It is only recently as I started exploring the possibility of attempting to grow highlanders in my very hot climate, that I realized that the seeds of highlanders were not exactly as abundant as say... ampullaria and got skeptical about the seeds on ebay - which, till then I was thinking I was buying from a reputed nursery - also the name implies that. Unfortunately, by then, I had already purchased several highland seeds - which are already germinating with me.
That said, I don't know that I would avoid buying most of them even after knowing they were poached. But I would think deeply before considering seeds of plants that are endangered in the wild like alisaputrana (which actually was another seller - tutsin_0) or kinnabaluensis and such.
Personally, I'm a big skeptic of conservation laws and how they are applied and think that the practices generally hinder the law abiding more than the actual problem, particularly in developing countries where law enforcement can be a vague thing. We've seen habitats of endangered species wiped out by our own govt in the name of "development" and the law prevents those wanting to collect those species to protect from doing so... Freaking drosera indica and burmanii and peltata are endangered in India because of climate change, contamination of water from overuse of chemical inputs in agriculture, illegal cutting down of trees, legal cutting down of trees, mining... etc and get this - if you collect them or their seeds to hopefully grow them safely out of their vulnerable stage to return to the location, you are breaking law. If you take them home to grow them in the hope that the few species indigenous to India survive, you are breaking law. All the drosera burmanii and indica I have are obtained from abroad/sellers in India (who also probably obtained from abroad) so I can show receipts in case someone targets me, when they grow indigenously here. Personally, I think in third world countries, if there are endangered species that can be protected out of reach of the govt, it isn't necessarily a bad thing. lol Just think of humans as one more way species propagate themselves far and wide.
So personally, I'm not so against selling of poached seeds. I don't trust govts to preserve habitats and it is impossible to take all the nepenthes seeds of any species out of a forest like this, because heck open *one* packet of nepenthes seeds under a fan and see them fly.
That said, I don't know about the laws for importing to the US, but importing seeds in small quantities for growing (as opposed to tons of wheat, etc) is not regulated here, so not a lot the law can do to prevent it. Importing live plants is more.... complicated. End result being most buyers from say... BCP from India are likely to be more in problem with the law than those buying poached seeds. The method for importing plants is so obscure and convoluted, that most people buying from India gamble and ask the sellers to just ship with the right documents on their end and leave it at that. Not even authorities are able to give clear answers on exactly what to do to import live CPs. On their part, customs consistently seems to let these parcels through as long as they look clean and are bare root. One of those don't ask, don't tell situations. One opinion from a professional import-export agent I asked was that such items that are obviously for personal consumption don't require anything, but he also couldn't be certain where the law says that.
If the law were strictly enforced in India, we'd all be reduced to buying the poached seeds instead of the fantastic plants from BE etc. lol So it is a good thing that they are lax.
This is one crazy country.