it sounds like your looking at the wrong thing. scrubbies are normally WAY under that price. The 10 for a buck sounds about right unless you can pick up boxes of them and then its even cheaper...
the walmart by me sells then for that price. i acutally found some in michigan while i was up there. the store was called dollar daze i got a pack of 20 for 2 bucks
They come 8/pack for a $1 each (although you have to order in sets of 12 = $12). I've ordered a couple of times for both of my sumps, works great. My last order was for ~400 (ie: ~$50), filled by DIY 55 gal sump to the brim.
No shipping, no taxes, buy in bulk, order online, and pick up locally.
dollar store 6 for a dollar in v.a. or go to lowes and get the big bio filter pads for ponds they are 10$ but it's a big bio pad 9" x 11" 2" thick and 2 different pore sizes to work with.