Yes I can imagine.geoff wooff wrote: Some years ago (during a really mad phase) several of my sets changed hands for 150% of the then new price... when people are selling a set (at a huge profit) that I made during my hungry years, that sticks in my craw.
Thing is, pipe prices generally have continued to rise over the years. I don't know when your lean years were, but an example of the price-rise is the fact that I bought a new full set, bespoke, directly from the maker, in 1986 for $1,000 US. I sold it a few years ago for $3,000 not because I was trying to cheat anybody, or because pipe buying and selling was a business venture, but because I was offered that amount, a fair and reasonable price at the time I sold them. The buyer was over the moon. (BTW $1,000 1986 dollars is $2,250 2017 dollars so my profit wasn't all that much.)
A contrast to your situation is the highly regarded pipe-maker (not uilleann pipes) who goes through this cycle:
1) take orders and make some sets (charging 3 times what other makers charge)
2) suddenly announce his retirement from pipe-making
3) start complaining that existing sets of his pipes are selling for too much
4) a year or two later let word leak out that he's not really retired from pipe-making, and is taking orders here and there
5) repeat cycle.