The time period you reference was when Rio cancelled the empeg and was having a blowout sale trying to get rid of the remaining stock. Many of us paid well over $1000 for ours. So it's still real cheap. And most of the used ones aren't really used. More often than not, they were extras that people bought during the blowout and have hardly been touched. You can ask the seller before you buy, though, if you're of a mind that an untouched one is better than a well-used one. Keep in mind that most of those being sold were of a batch that had a few common (though not-too-difficult to repair) problems, and one that's really used might have already had those problems fixed. Or maybe not.

I don't think you'll find prices much better than what you see on eBay, but there's also a For Sale forum here.