I was screen-shopping a few unopened Pixel 3a on eBay, and it was a good deal at 66$. I could have had them shipped to India, or bought them through my relatives, effectively bypassing the need to pay duty, delivery fees or taxes. But lo, it's Verizon-locked. And maybe I could be wrong here, but apparently, flashing international ROM or custom ROM can't bypass this. So annoyed by this shit, because factory-unlocked devices get sold quickly, or are deliberately expensive.
I feel like that's mostly on the person selling it. Any device bought outright won't be carrier-locked. People should not be selling carrier-locked devices. But that's probably why it's priced so cheap.