I am going to roll up a sleazy breed who sells Nenyuk timeshares.
I would buy that timeshare.
(Heh. In my mind, I'm imagining an elf who 'stands guard' at some broken down house, and just picks the lock for people who are "on the list" to get in. Until the real owners come to check, at which point they bolt).
This is actually a
beautiful example of elfish behaviour that nevertheless doesn't lead to the complete absurdity of no-one seeing any reason to ever interact with you because you'll just screw them. In this example, the elf is selling a real good, and the buyers are buying a real good. The people the elf is screwing are not directly part of the transaction, and the buyers know (or probably suspect) what they're getting into - but have a real incentive for going with it anyway, because otherwise they'll never get into those nice apartments on Merchant's.
In my mind, elves aren't Snidely Whiplash and 'curse your unforeseen but inevitable betrayal!' Instead, most of the time they're like sleazy pawn-shop owners. A sleazy pawn shop will sell you a real good that probably does work as advertised, and so you'll really want it. You're not informed of the whole story, and that
might come back to bite you, but then again, it might be worth it. A hot gun still works as a gun. A Rolex is still a Rolex, even if it came off the wrist of a lawyer with a gambling habit and bad taste in friends.
And maybe the elf runs an honest front - a real pawn shop - while also acting as a small-time fence for less-than-savory clientele. If you walk in off the street, you aren't going to get screwed - he'll cut you an honest (though hard) deal if all you want is that vintage N64 in the window. He's just involved in darker business, too.
So an elf will sell you a nice necklace for cheap, and just omit to mention that he got it from one of his East-side buddies who ganked a merchant and needed to move his stock. Or an elf will carry out a robbery for you in order to hurt your political rivals, and just carry off a little for himself, too. Or an elf will faithfully and accurately spy for you, and just also pass the info on to his family. None of which makes elves untouchable; it just means you don't
trust them. But you still might hire them to do the job.
It's a much better model than, "I'm an elf, which means I have to try to rip off everybody always regardless of the upside."