This is very common with all kind of components. There are economies of scale your vendor can achieve when they sell someone a million of the same thing. Also the company buying a milion of the same thing is going to pay the vendor a significant sum, even if they get all kind of discounts, and that puts them at a much better negotiating position than you buying a single one.
Hobbyist buying a few units of a component, even if they are buying it with a significant margin, will net the producer peanuts. So not surprising they don’t worry much about serving them that market.
Yes, I'm aware of that. That's why I added the bit about bulk pricing.
In my case I was looking at buying quite a number of units, outside of a hobbyist application. In fact, I would say it was a higher number than the cheaper China-made products could possibly sell (different market sizes).
It seemed to me that they didn't want to sell for any price really but would make an exception if they could really, really rip me off.
Hobbyist buying a few units of a component, even if they are buying it with a significant margin, will net the producer peanuts. So not surprising they don’t worry much about serving them that market.