Unfortunately for me most of the garage sellers are almost as much as the online stores. They do "raffles" to get people that don't want to pay $300 for a coral but will throw down $40 for a chance to win a $300 coral. They even have gone to the "mini" raffle where the mini raffle wins you a spot at the actual raffle for the coral. They also do auctions where it is out of control. I watched one where the guy had posting a couple of nice gold torches for $99 and they hadn't sold. He then put them on an auction and each one went for around $140!I hear ya. The bigger the store, the more overhead they have to pay for though. Also, Reefing is still very much a hobby for the wealthy, unfortunately. I got lucky and found a lot of Reefers in my area to trade with. I don't buy from the big box stores, and I sell at about 25-50% of what they charge. But I only sell locally. There are "basement sellers" everywhere, so I would look for local groups online.
Personally I have a couple of online stores I will buy from because I've dealt with them since their frag swap days. I also do most of my buying at our local frag swaps. I can usually pick up some great deals though frag swaps may have run their course around here. We had a nice one 2 weeks ago and I don't think 50 people showed up for it.