It doesn't matter if it passes your "sniff test" or not. It's a tried and true technique industry wide, retailers and manufacturers.

Y'all can bitch about PSA raising their price, and I too feel it's way too high, but no one has bothered to answer the question of who's to blame, the retailer for raising prices or the consumer "panic buying/hoarding" the over-priced product? Besides, I still don't see how M855 is something worth "panic buying" anyway. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes.