About as bad as Columbine used to be....some nefarious players are selling it for 300 gold each. Scalping is evil and must be stopped....by order of the Sherrif.
It’s not been to bad to find just rng getting you but if you have done the dark brotherhood get the poison bag from the bequeather at the outlaw hideout I get a good amount over time just doing that
Don't like a price then don't buy it. This is how markets work. Less expensive listings may be getting snapped up as soon as they get listed.
I have not noticed a change in drop rates. Some items are hard to see without using the Keen Eye. The hard to see resources get passed over, seen many run right past some, then they start to think it's not dropping.