Here is my take:

Here in the US at least, Roland has two branches - Musical Instruments, and Contemporaro Keyboards. The MI division sells the "pro" gear, advertises its product line in the RUG literature, which is available from the professional music stores, such as Guitar Center, and allows its products to be quoted on line. This latter point is the reason for the retailers to lower the prices, to provide a 20-25% (or even more) discount. In addition, promotion over Internet allows people in more remote areas, without a dedicated dealer, to order an instrument from anywhere, thus making them more available.

The CK division is dedicated to "home" keyboards. The dealers are not allowed (by Roland) to advertise prices over the Internet, are for the most part restricted to their sales territories (no outside mail orders here), and there are no published list prices. This leads to extensive price gouging by many dealers.

The VA-7 is marketed by the CK division. Having looked into the pricing of the instrument, I can attest to the ridiculous price gouging going on. I live in a major metropolitan area, and there is only one store (with 3 branches) that would quote me prices. The price quoted by the two branches was almost $1500 apart - one $5000, the other $3500. I suppose if I was serious about buying one, I could probably negotiate a bit on the price (e.g. they'd throw in power chord and pin striping for free). Though I did not think it provided enough improvement over my G1000 to justify buying one for myself, I am sure this pricing scheme turns off many potential buyers, especially since the competition (e.g. PSR9000, GEM WK8, Solton) can be had for well under $3000, and PA80 is advertised for $2000 (after discounts) by the major on-line stores.

While I will be the first to argue that there is not so much difference between the "home" and "pro" instruments, especially in the arranger market (e.g. speakers and ease of use are as important for the pros as for the amateurs), IMHO, it is the marketing and pricing scheme which impacts the availability and popularity of the VA-7.

Regards