It's always best to compare apples with oranges. The discussion is about aluminum tanks. The AL80 is often used as a loss leader to get people in the door. Compare the prices on those. They aren't that far off.
That makes sense. I didn't compare AL80s because Leisurepro doesn't list the brands my LDS says they "carry" (they don't actually keep any in stock, usually) so I didn't want to be disengenuous about comparing different brands and assuming they would all be the same. It didn't occur to me there would be that much difference in profit margin between steel tanks and aluminum tanks. Looks like the AL80s are all about the same price (roughly) whether buying online or at the LDS. Thanks for the clarification.