After 12 months or so of steady decline on prices of the Rigol DS1052E scope on eBay (and other places), with them being around the US$400 mark or less for some time now from countless ebay sellers, the price has suddenly jumped up to US$550 or more from all sellers. There has also been a sudden and drastic reduction in the number of sellers for this scope.
I've heard that one ebay seller has been acused of "dumping" the scope at low prices by another seller and has had their listings removed.
and a quote from a cancelled ebay listing: "We'd like to let you know that eBay has ended an item you were bidding on for breaching of one or more of our policies. As it's important that eBay maintains member privacy, we can't tell you exactly why the listing was removed."
Dealextreme still have them for US$400 though, better get in quick...
Dave.