So by that logic we should have perma death, and able to loot carts, and no permissions on baskets in a tribe either.

Let's not try to make everything about being 100% real and think of what would make it more fun? I don't think sending info to another totem to display what is for sale in another tribe is going to break anything. You still have to transport the goods from that totem to your own totem as well as get the currency to the totem you are buying it from.

What it does help is the hassle of walking around aimlessly in hope you run into a trade totem with the goods you might need.