I don't know why Stern doesn't just set pricing for each model of a given game at release and then stick to it. They should be good enough to forecast what they expect to pay for parts, and if they need to set the price a bit higher initially then so be it. And this doesn't completely lock them into pricing, because they could always come out with a super limited edition and charge more for that if the demand is there. Each game released would have its own pricing based on the market at the time of release, parts required, etc. and ideally would have some order guarantee that you will get a game at that price eventually. If the orders they receive exceeds what they want to commit to building then they could at least tell people at the end of the order list right away that they are out of luck instead of making them wait months.
I don't have any issue with them setting the MSRP at whatever they want. I do have a big problem with them taking orders at once price, not delivering after months of waiting, and then forcing people to chose to either pay more or cancel.