$40.00 versus $1.70 ... Strewth!!!

[Ezookiel]

I've lost the foot that my 430ExII sits on when you use off camera flash.
I asked our local camera store if they sell a replacement item. The poor lady searched on the counter computer for ages. Then she went into their office and searched for even longer. In the meantime I sent my daughter out to get us a couple of take away coffees, and she went and bought them and got them back to the store, we had almost finished the coffees when the poor lady finally gave up on the computer and told me she'd keep looking and ring me when she had a result.
After a whole day of searching, she rang me to tell me that they are called a "mini stand" and to tell me she has found them, and that she will be able to get one in as a special order, but I'd have to give her my credit card details to prepay for it, because they're $40.00 ! ! !

I thought it seemed a bit ridiculous to pay that much for tiny plastic foot, but assumed that if she'd looked that hard, they must be really really scarce, so I told her I'd come in the next morning in person to pre-pay for it.
Thinking it over that night, I decided to jump on ebay and look for a 430ExII stand. It took me about 4 seconds to find a HEAP of different types, and they were as low as $1.70 with FREE DELIVERY!!

What the HELL?
That's a stupid price difference.

I honestly want to support my local camerashop, if I don't support them there won't be one to go to when I really need information, knowledge, experience, and a physical item to have a look at to try out. But it gets really hard to support them with that kind of a difference in price. Not to mention how hard they apparently found them to locate when they took seconds to locate on ebay. Hell, they could buy stock for their own shop on ebay, and then sell me one for $10 and still make a nice markup. Can it really be this hard and this expensive for a shop to locate a simple item at a sensible price?

I rang them today to tell them not to bother with the order, and will have no real choice this time but to the item online
I might even order a couple of spares in case I lose another. Hell I might order some for my local shop and take them in, tongue-in-cheek, and donate them to the store for the next poor soul that loses one and goes there to buy a replacement