Half the price ? Why would a shaper sell himself out so cheap ? A custom should be heaps more expensive than a production, Quatro customs are. Cheap boards to buy like the Stone boards don't seem to hold their value when you try and move them on, check out how cheap they are second hand in the Perth shops, not sure about the resale up in Gero but.
Those big companies, put hours and hours of research into their boards, they get feed back from all of their team riders from all over the world. So surely they must be putting out a great product. They've got a lot of overheads to cover, transport, workers, team riders, marketing/advertising, cover a percentage of warranties, etc etc. Then the importers and shops have to make their cut as well. No shops = No products to buy.
You shouldn't be buying a board because it's cheap, you should be buying one because it performs well for you at your particular standard of sailing.
Yeah sure the workers overseas are not being paid much and the products might not have much "soul" but that's the way of the world we live in. Lucky were living here, might as well enjoy the benifits.

Half price? What the fugk!