I sell hot sauce online, and I actually sell some for well under the MSRP. Is it illegitimate? Nope, I buy from a wholesaler, and I made a big order to put me in a better class to get a better price. My wholesaler doesn't do retail. My 'backup' wholesaler does, sometimes their resale prices are better than mine, usually not. Some other resellers actually are even higher still. My best seller is $6.75 by my site. Other prices I see it online in the range of 7.95~10 bottle, up to about 33% more than I do.

Comparing the most expensive place to buy and from me, if you buy from the Manufacturer, you pay more, and that money goes to them, and where they get their stuff from. Buy from me, and I get a cut, the whole-seller gets a cut, and the manufacturer gets a cut.

But the manufacturer has only their brand, which are all adult named. If a person wanted a nice dessert sauce and my best seller (it has the f word in it's name) they would have to go to a reseller vs the manufacturer.

Look at Rocky, I suspect he gets his tartan material from a few different sources. He might be getting his sporrans from a few different places. If I ordered from the same place he gets his tartan (ignoring that it doesn't come as a kilt, for sake of discussion) then I might well be fine and dandy, but I would still need to go find a sporran, and maybe a belt, and so on. Still, another site might spring up that specializes in a certain make of sporran. They might just get the quantity to stomp Rocky in the ground for sporrans. You still need the other things, but that price might be legitimate. Perhaps the lower seller got a cache of them from some going out of biz sale, or similar.

Last comment, before I say anything else dumb, but...

Have you ever had the Burger they show in the menu? In food photography, a common practice is to get a dozen (or at least a few) of the item, and they pick out the 2 best. The second best gets put under the lights for the lighting test and so forth, and the best is in the spotlight for a second, where it is eaten. Stolen pics are deceitful, (and stupid when watermarked) though one might argue the plastic sandwiches in the displays at restaurants are as well. If they are cloning the item, how will you know from the pic the real quality of the item at times? I am missing number of pics on my site. I could probably just 'take' them from my whole-seller or the manufacturers. I refuse to. I'd rather have a crappy pic on my site than a pro one that someone else took. (my $1000+ camera equipment isn't geared towards product shots, go fig.) Its all morality. And its touchy. What if the website was deluded by a third party into thinking that they were truly getting the same item. What if they were setting up shop, got the email mentioned earlier, and in talking with that group, was told the items were really the same? What if their whole-seller overseas gave them those pics to use, and told them other sites with the pics had gotten them from them as well? Do we dare even consider that these people are actually good people with bad distributors, who think that the angry emails from the © owners of the pics are just angry competitors who don't like someone selling the same thing for huge amounts less? Sure, it's not likely, but I know people that are that stupid. My mom just got a banner for her restaurant being open 10 years. She was quoted locally @ over $300, and she found it online for $45. I am not sure which she ordered from (knowing her, the $45 place) I pointed out to her that the cheap one might be a lower quality plastic that might melt over her grill, might have the ink smear if it gets wet, etc, but in the end $$$ is all she ever really sees....