The mark up is outrageous. I know that most saltwater fish is marked up 3x the purchase price. Reptiles where about 2 to 3x the purchase price. Next time you go into a store and just look at what it is on sale for. That will give you a reasonable amount of how much they mark it up for. I seen when the balls are on sale for 29.99 orignally 79.99. So that alone is a $50 discount and they are not losing money one the snake.