Prices fluctuate hour by hour. This kit went down .25 soon after I purchased it earlier today. A few hours ago it had gone up to $15.67 and as we speak it is $19.09, all within a single day! Amazon has algorithms determining pricing. If we could figure out how to manipulate (are you listening APU?), perhaps we can get the kits down to under $10! I also have had issues searching the stock, sometimes things they have for sale don't come up and have to be searched directly by name. Lots of game playing on Amazon's part.
I will be brewing the Snowflake Porter kit tomorrow and everything about it looks A-OK. Hops smell intoxicating and all the grains were vacuum packed. LME is in a large barrier bag. It was most likely packaged for sale this winter. I certainly would not have paid $40.99 for it, but for $17.57 shipped to my door, why not?