Years ago...(decades, actually!), when I was in college, I worked part time at Woolworths...one of my duties was to take a shopping cart and load it up with all of the magazines that had not sold the previous month. We would tear off the front covers and send them back to the companies...(I think there was a refund or a credit system in place)...but the magazines were up for grabs by any employee that wanted one.
When I saw this on E-Bay..that's what I thought..these people probably have some connection through a store or market where they can pick up the out of date magazines.
I don't see anything wrong with this, as long as they are honest about what you're getting. The price is certainly right, and a pattern is a pattern...after all...people buy used or recycled things on that site every day.