It is not always possible to spot ripped mesh but there are some clues. Below is a post in the huge SL Universe thread about ripped meshes, and gives an overview of how to analyze the overall characteristics of a marketplace mesh store.
I would like to add that many of those well known merchants selling ripped mesh, were not so long ago selling mostly things made from sculpt kits, because they did not have the sculpting skills. When mesh is introduced, they suddenly are turning out all this professional quality mesh. Except what they are doing is not making it but uploading it.
I've been a mesh creator at a hobbyist level for years now - I'm still learning the craft in its myriad forms (and enjoying its many challenges). To create meshes of the high quality that the rippers are throwing onto the Marketplace or selling inworld require many hours / days / weeks to produce, depending on the level of complexity of the items.
A basic low-poly T-pose game-quality mesh would probably be created in a matter of hours by a professional game artist working in the industry (texturing with diffuse/normal/specular maps to a game asset level would also add to the timeframe required).
Something like a highly detailed, render ready (ie: NOT game asset) model of a vehicle would probably require days of work for a professional; for a hobbyist like myself it would take weeks of work depending on skill level. The UV-mapping work alone (the technique where 3D shapes are broken down into 2D flat shapes in maps to allow for texturing) would be a huge task in itself.
Basically, to create high quality meshes requires WORK - lots of it - which is something that rippers are far too lazy to bother with. They steal these meshes from various sources, and sell them for stupidly low prices (L$100 to L$250 seems to be the average, full perms). Most artists who actually CREATE meshes from scratch at this level of quality sell their items in SL at a much more realistic price for their time invested. Generally, mesh creators looking for a real-world income would probably be better off selling on a semi-professional level elsewhere at 3D brokerage sites (Renderosity, DAZ3D, Turbosquid etc) where they have a far better chance of getting a decent return on their work.
There are a handful of reasonable quality template clothing sellers on the MP selling their work for around $L250 full perms, but frankly they are throwing their hard work away for peanuts.
When you see a ripper's store with page after page after page of suspect meshes, there is no way they could be creating these themselves from scratch - not without working 24-7 (or having a bunch of third-world mesh creators locked in a factory working for them LOL).
Another pretty obvious giveaway is how well (or NOT) these ripped meshes work inworld. Either they have a stupidly high LI cost (usually nothing like their stated "1-prim" or similar on their product listing) and will lag the hell out of your viewer, or DO have a low LI cost, but rapidly break up into random triangle vomit as you cam away from them - usually as soon as their first LOD (level of detail) mesh kicks in.
These LODs are generally a useful way of helping to confirm if something is fishy. Genuine SL mesh creators - or rather, those who are committed to proper quality - will work hard at creating lower detail LOD meshes - which are designed to kick in at various camera distances. When done properly, these LOD meshes help to maintain a decent, recognisable shape at all distances whilst keeping LI costs down and being realtime render friendly. These LOD meshes are uploaded WITH the original main mesh in the upload process.
So yah, it just makes my blood boil when I see these rippers stealing other people's hard work. Many times it's the work of hard working hobbyists which is stolen (not just the big game companies) - which is heartbreaking for those involved, considering the time and love put into their projects. Not to mention the innocent buyers who unknowingly purchase full perms meshes from these rippers on the MP, and use them in good faith in their own products - potentially getting themselves and their customers burned by these rippers' thievery when/if the original stolen content is suddenly removed by LL.
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