The short answer is we don't have to be successful in selling kit as such our own mining activities with these products will make us much more than making and selling hardware. Bitcoin is also not our main business so also a reason not to offer silly prices. No point doing it if we don't make money or worse make a loss. Kit like this does cost more to make than simple small boards and you have the choice to go with what you think works best. What we are doing is simply opening what we are doing it up to other people.

You might disagree but there trends from both Avalon and BFL towards dearer hardware I might suggest that they don't make money making the hardware at the what I will call the silly prices they have been offering. On the surface they are both starting to look more like semiconductor manufacturers than equipment producers. The newer entrants to the market I might suggest that they have not costed things properly and will end up making a loss and ultimate will probably go out of business. It is easy to get caught in the glitz of Bitcoin and not base what you are doing as a business on hard logic and analysis.

You might also ask why Avalon is supposedly mining with equipment before shipping. I would suggest that is so they actual make money and not lose money on equipment sales. Same comment has been made about BFL in the past.