you should've said where you were searching for price quotes, many of us here have already asked those guys for quotes, I could've told you myself those prices.
I too did some searching and received one response - don't remember which distributor it came from, and that was before my disk crash - but the prices were astronomical even for lots of 1,000.
here is what they quoted me last just last week. The 635nm might be interesting to some.
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We really appreciate for your contact. We would like to be your long term laser diode supplier.
I would like to inform you that we always keep the Sanyo DL3147-060 and DL3147-260 laser diodes in our stocks.
As per your request, we are pleased to submit the following quotation for your reference.
I don't think I'll be getting a LD for >$400 nice of you to try though. Is it really fair to call the dealer names? I doubt he has a lot of control of the cost. Eventually, the cost will surely go down.