> You can find most these items for normal prices on amazon too so this seems a bit like making a story where there may not be one.

My understanding is that there are generally 2 reasons for "outrageous" prices (in normal times).

1. Some vendors specialize in being the seller of last resort. They price their products high and wait out the market until they're the only game in town. This definitely happens with books, although I'd hope that with the advent of ebooks, this will be less viable.

2. Algorithmic pricing gone wrong. Sometimes multiple companies will set their prices on each other's current prices, resulting in gradual price drift.