For the past week or so, Shinwa hasn't given anything out of any worth, it's just been the junk items. On one round of her quests, I kept a shard of the bracelet, and made more of a profit than I would by giving her the whole bracelet. Just today, I gave her all the pieces again, and she once again gave me crap, so I think I may have to just keep the piece that looks like it's worth something, and sell that in the SS. Is this just my rotten luck, or has anyone noticed the increase in rubbish items?

You make profit on each individual quest you do though, if you do those properly at least. There is no increase in rubbish, it's just sheer bad luck.

Unfortunately, it's just bad luck. I have had a string of bad items from Shinwa myself, but sometimes I also have a string of good items. You could use the junk as Fragmentizer fodder or for the Recycle Beast!