I wonder if we could put together a group purchase and save a few bucks.

I could stand to have a couple more laying around.

Edit: These Sparkfun Arduino Pro's look pretty cool. Not so good for prototyping, but cheaper and more flexible for permanent integration into a project.

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc ... ts_id=8783

I'll throw down for 2!

Sort of along the lines w/ buying Arduinos. What the heck is up with MakerShed's shipping rates? I wanted to spend $75 there for some electronics, including an Arduino, but balked when the shipping came out to almost $30. Do you guys just bite the bullet, or is there someplace better to get equipment?

That seems excessive for shipping, I guess there were shipping discounts the one time I ordered from them.

For arduino's, etc:
http://adafruit.com/
http://www.sparkfun.com/

and of course for components:
http://octopart.com/

I find it kind of strange that a search for arduino comes up dry on Octopart.

You can also go straight to the source for many of the things that Make sells, for example:

http://www.solarbotics.com/

I've never ordered anything from them, but unless they've got enough volume to warrant a whole shipping department (which I doubt; they're hardly DigiKey or NewEgg), they probably box everything onesie-twosie by hand & then maybe call in a UPS pickup.
That said, it does sound a bit spendy, especially if the weight & size were relatively low & you weren't requesting express shipping. Might want to check out Noise's links.

I got my arduinos from Adafruit. She's got a good community forum at http://www.ladyada.net/forums/