Shippers buy them for around $100 bucks a pop then sell them for $150 to stores, then the store can sell them for $200-250 for their profit, minus the trucking costs which are not much when they order such large shipments.
Cheapest I've seen them in stores was $200.00 at wholesale sports (where I got mine, mint condition, never fired), an the most expensive was in my local GOUGING oil town for $270.00, on average they go for $250 at mom & pop shops in small towns. Sadly wholesale sells their SKS right out of the crate, an you usually don't get your pick (no fun), I got my pick sorta, the guy picked a bunch an I chose one based on the markings (know your markings) which showed it was new/un-furbished. Naturally I had to clean the cosmoline off myself. Make sure that when you buy it that it comes with the "kit" which is
Oil bottle
Oil Bottle pouch
1 to 2 ammo pouches
Cleaning kit for rifle butt
Sling
Manual/which can be downloaded online in pdf format, so no biggie.
Online dealers are the WORST way to buy a surplus firearm period! You do not know what you are getting until you get it and the extra cost of shipping makes it a bad idea. Unless it's a rare model or hard to find type of thing like say a sniper variant Mosin Nagant, don't buy online. Example: Many SVT-40 buyers got a rifle that had the magazine literally cut in half, but still had the full sized magazine spring thus making it a total disaster to load.
Gun shows are the cheapest place you'll find them, an you get your pick of the litter. Usually they are after all the aftermarket accessories & parts sales that go with it, like firing pin upgrades, Tapco mags, stocks, etc. Once you are done upgrading/modernizing a SKS it can reach upwards of $1200.00. Don't worry, most of those bits can be put on other rifles (eg, red dots, lights, etc)
So Russia is liquidating them for around $70 each. However one should always ask, how much these things would cost if they were made NEW an being sold at the time they were made in a time of peace in a capitalist system with patents n stuff, probably for around $1K plus easy.
In fact the SKS is the primary reason I went out an got my PAL, I was planning to do it anyway after the long gun registry was toast but it was the SKS that really got me in gear, took 4 months from start to finish. Also a heads up for AHEA, never give your money to those crooks at those safety course businesses.
Remember, Sergei Siminov never made a penny off his work, neither did Mikail an his AK-47. How funny that all the commie haters like myself love the DIRT CHEAP, HIGH QUALITY firearms & ammo being sold in the millions of tons by Motha-Russia.
I love SKS, I want to buy 100 of them. If only the SVT-40 had so much abundant surplus ammo & aftermarket accessories/parts to play with. As a farmer I love to "tinker" with things an a cheap SKS is a good firearm to do so, I would never dare experiment with say a $2K plus rifle like an AR-15