Yeah, I understand that some folks have access to really inexpensive gear. These are often under dosed or all together bunk. See, price wars are like nuclear wars, no one wins except the roaches. As everyone starts maneuvering to undercut the other guy, product quality goes south, infections go up and all that over (literally) a few bucks. Not to say that elite sourced juice doesn't exist... just that it's not good for the health of any industry, for everyone to expect wholesale prices.
That said, I agree with you on the point of keeping newbs from getting fleeced. The problem is, prices are so all over the place, and list price doesn't always factor in financial risk. So it's quite impossible to set price ceilings statically. For example, when customs cracks down, 1 in 5 packages gets snagged. That means that the price has to factor 20% risk of loss, but usually doesn't reflect that. Domestic sources are more expensive, because that risk was already assumed (along with personal risk) and factored in. So, you're not likely to get one of those nastygrams from Uncle Sam or win an all expenses paid vacation to club fed.