Rightio's i have a new account. Have robbed 6-7 shops in IC. But does the stuff on tables actually ever come back? :/
I don't want to find out, i've robbed red diamond jewerlly and the gems never come back :/

not to my knowledge!

Damn
Looks like gotta go raid tonnes of dungeons then. Ta anyway

Dont seem to, If you want to get a great start to your theifs guild corear then just break into the jewlrey shop in impairal city market district, kill the shopkeeper and then steal all the stuff over 50 gold, then join and sell to your first fence.

Cookiemaster08, don't listen to him. That's the way to the Dark Brotherhood, real thiefs pickpocket shopkeepers of their possessions and keys (save often if sneak is low).

is there an in-game system to remove the "stolen" status off the the goods you want to keep, I was thinking of taking some gear from a fighter's guild hall but my char isn't a fighter type.

Not a reliable one, at least. I once tried selling items to black market dealer and buy them back. Their stolen status disappeared, but returned once I dropped them.