rationale for no perms at all

I was disappointed to see that a very interesting set of prim based sci fi armor consisted of prims that were all no copy no mod and no transfer (I peeked at the contents of the vendor signs). What would the rationale be for someone to disable copy and mod on items that lose out on their marketability exponentially because they cannot be customized to fit a particular avatar shape? I decided they were not worth buying because of it.

Contact the creator and ask them what perms they're selling them with, it may be that not everything is no copy/no mod/no transfer but using different items to make another item can give the appearance of something being no copy/no mod/no transfer.

I didn't think it was POSSIBLE for an item to be no copy/no mod/no trans. Is it??

No it isn't. What the OP found is no doubt a combination of object and contents.

well, strictly speaking, yes, an object, whether that object is a single prim or several linked prims CAN be no perms. Sinply make it copy only and insert an inactive no copy script in one of the prims. The script can be active, but if it's not required in a scripty sense it can be used to make the object itself no copy without adding lag.
I hope that clarifys matters.

If you looked at it *in the vendor box* as opposed to rezzed in world, the perms could be decieving. The entire outfit may be +copy, +mod, and NO transfer, while some component script inside it might be no copy, and another might be no mod. So while actually you *could* copy or mod the outfit, It might appear otherwise.

Most likely it is an error in permissions settings. Certainly there can be no rational reason I can think of to set the perms as you describe, on that type of item.

Good point, however if the object is set to buy, whether as contents or copy - note this will not work if it is set to PAY - if you examine the contents in edit the perms will not be correctly shown. You need to click on buy and wait for the contents to load. They will then display with the correct perms. If you don't want to complete the purchase, click on cancel.

This is why I show the permissions on my vendor graphics.