Their supply chain constraints are mostly gone in Europe - I can buy 4s and Zero 2Ws with overnight delivery.

I hope not.

It only feels like recently that you can pick up a RPi 4 used for the price they should've been new. Otherwise, scalped listings on eBay or Amazon have took over. I still want my first RPi but I already have associated them with being hard to buy and way more expensive than makes sense.

sounds like it's designed to be that way, yes.