Unfortunately price does have something to do with it. It's a big problem in the iguana market, people pick them up from the pet store for 14.99 and then don't bother to take proper care of it because hey, it was cheap, who cares if it dies?
With normals going for 20 bucks, we're going to see a lot more people buying snakes who are unprepared for the care they require. It's already happening because as someone said earlier, normals are seen as somehow 'lesser' than more exotic morphs, and people don't care who they sell them to. This breaks my heart, because my normal may not have COST me very much, but his WORTH is more than any other snake in the world, to me.