Wow, I did not expect the plastic for this to be so expensive. Nearly $100 for a lb of plastic?! Is that cost really in line with their costs, or is this selling razors without giving away the handle?
The price of FDM machine filament is mostly labor-- there's usually a solid 50-80% markup over the cost of the raw plastic.
This is because it has to be extruded. Turning a kilo of ABS pellets into a kilo of 1.75mm filament takes a surprisingly long time, and monopolizes a fairly large machine for the duration.
http://store.makerbot.com/filament