It's bizarre - I was surprised a month ago to discover that used 981HD's were still selling for full retail price, but couldn't get to the box until a week and a half ago. By then, the Amazon offers ranged from $500 to $700 for used or new 981HD's. I have no idea who would be buying at those prices. Amazon had the original retail price set at $299, though, so I offered mine for that and sold it in two days. It's likely to taper off once the new lower-cost BLu-ray player arrives in the next week or two.

I suspect that whatever stock of 980H's and 981HD's they have left are held back for warranty support.