(Replied to the wrong Kirkland post previously, maybe this is a better place.)
They may be wholesalers but they're otherwise still no different from any business. What might be happening is some means of a tried-and-true bait-and-switch.
Test the waters during an introductory period... discount product heavily... conservatively limit availability... get customers hooked and generate viral publicity... then release a statement saying the product might be discontinued... then listen to the shock and frustration from the consumers... then reconsider notion to discontinue product, but with the caveat that future orders, although still geared to be significantly lower in price than similar named-brand products, will require price increases to increase production to satisfy demand.
They could double the price to $29.99/doz and they would probably still make a significant dent in the mid-range golf ball market, and an even bigger dent in the premium market.
Maybe Costco knows exactly what they're doing.
Or perhaps the company manufacturing these balls decided to test the waters themselves with a short-term deal with a wholesaler, hoping to get precisely the rave reviews they were aiming for... so they can have some means of leverage to either take off on their own or sell the patent outright to a recognizable name already embedded within the industry.
