"I think sometimes these thieves just think they're dealing with a big conglomerate that's got money to burn," he said.
"A lot of the time it's locally-owned businesses, it's a family that lives around the corner that are trying to make a buck."
Detective Senior Sergeant Damon Wells said it is not uncommon for people to sell stolen items on Facebook Marketplace.
He says some people even take the money paid through online transactions without handing over the items they advertised.
Wells said Facebook co-operates with police when they ask for information on who sold stolen goods, but because it is United States-based it can take weeks or months for its staff to provide details on who has sold stolen items.
He said Canterbury police receive reports almost every day about people selling stolen goods on Facebook Marketplace but it is hard for them to follow up all of them.
"On Facebook, we often say, well, I'm sorry, it's just in the too-hard basket," said Wells.
"We've got 100 other files to deal with. If we spent a week dealing with your one, we can't deal with many other files."
