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I ran into a similar problem in on of the recent games i was running. Where i had a badass monster orc who was using this pretty cool greataxe and the party wound up selling it, not because it wasn't optimal (it actually would have been much better for one character) but becasue they dont like axes. They all wanted to use swords cause they like the look/feel of them.

I dabble in char op, so to me this was baffling. And it happened with a few other items as well. So what i decdied to do was not award any magic items unless appropriate. For example if the monster is at least lvl 5 hes got to have one or two +1 items, so thats what i give him. I just look at the sheet and pick two items and give em a +1, i dont usually add the extra bonus to the monsters attacks but when it makes sense i give them some magic items. The only magic items my characters ever find are potions and gold/valuables.

I have found this to be very effective. Essentially i give them what they would have gotten in magic items converted to gold/platinum/stuff they can later sell. Then they are rolling in gold. And they can go shopping at the market. I also have simplified market rules, esseantially giving the market a level cap, so that they can find anything in that market up to that level. So they basically just go out and have cutsom magic items, whether they traded for them or commisioned them to be made. And they do this at home. Thats key for me. I hate wasting a lot of time in a session where characters are fiddling with their money and picking out items. I understand that on the one hand we're missing out on all the possible roleplay situations that could pop up, and they don't have the chance to make skill checks to get better (or worse) prices, but i found that there wasn't much of that happening anyway. This works for us.

My players always have exactly what they want and the ability to try something new, and i don't have to spend as much time handpicking items or staring at wishlists. And when they do see a unique item they know its important, usually connected to the story or its an artifact.