And to what unethical inventory games are you referring? That seems like a pretty serious accusation you’re making.
The main thing to look out for is that it doesn't have HDMI out, only two headers for composite out. I imagine most people plan to run them headless anyway, but unless you have something that can display composite video, it can be a pain to set up at first.
Another option is that when you buy from Adafruit, you can buy one of each version. One Zero, one Zero W, and one Zero WH, for $29 plus shipping. You can then buy a USB WiFi adapter off E-Bay for about $1 shipped, and as many USB OTG adapters as you need for less than $1 each. Depending on shipping, that puts you in the $11-$12 per board range.
Microcenter often has the Zero W also discounted to $5 for a single and then $15 for every one after that. Right now, they have them discounted to $10 for 1 and $20 for every one after that. https://www.microcenter.com/product/486575/raspberry-pi-zero...
Forum post from a member of the Raspberry Pi team: "They will never be available in bulk amounts at the $5 and $10 price points, it's not cost effective to sell at that price. But they ARE available for bulk buys - i.e. demand no longer outstrips supply.
But we can sell individual items at that prices, for educational needs - i.e. those who cannot afford the higher price of the Pi3. Call it an educational discount." https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=201916#p1...
From the above, I agree with the other poster who claimed that $5 is not the real price for the Zero, but rather a limited quantity specially discounted price.