Some of could be greed, but i would bet that he manufactures are all competing for the same resources. Then the distributors mark up a bit due to supply and demand. At the retail end, the purchase price reflects the markups along they way, and the selling store has the same margin = higher prices. Of course, there is flat out gouging on some items, such as cheaper then dirt seling the Pmag for $60 for a short while. While I was interesting in building an AR this summer, but my desire to own one at this time does not exceed my desire to part with cash.