On the other hand though, you don't want to get to the point of a well accepted opinion that if its around 1200 bucks it's good chit, but if it's 800 it has to be crap. From the way guys are talking, if that vendor had read threads earlier on other bumper options, pricing, and that guys were perfectly fine with the pricing and not pushing for better pricing, it sounds like if he said yep his is $1200 as well, then guys wouldn't be questioning the quality nearly as much.
Not saying thats totally the case, but if I was a vendor looking to start selling bumpers, I'd say heck I'm making my price 1200 too, these fools won't even question it, I'd be the dummy to sell it for any less, because either way while they may question quality for a new product, they certainly aren't questioning the 1200 price tags on these things.
And trust me, I'm WELL aware of the time it takes to custom fabricate things, I've spent a lot of time in a chassis shop the past year as my race truck was there for 6 months getting a 10 point roll cage done and I was by there at least 2 days a week every week, and somehow the last 6 months since it's been done I've been there at least once a week for other projects, and seen a lot of work in and out his doors, as well as done a significant amount of fabrication myself in the past building a Formula Hybrid SAE Racecar from the ground up during my undergrad. So save that gospel about paying for quality work and it takes more work than you'd think by 1st look, i'm well aware.
But on the flip side, coming from the Lightning/Harley Truck world where things weren't nearly as cheap as the Mustang world when it came to modifications and vehicle-specific parts, seeing what pricing is for mods in the Raptor world, I'm a bit surprised they're as jacked up as they are. They've made about twice as many Raptors each year as they have Lightnings each year, yet prices for mods are up there. $800 for a bumper sounds relatively fair, $1200 and up is up there. Same goes for costs of rear bumpers, tie rods, LED light bars, etc.
When the entire community just accepts prices flat out, vendors aren't going to drop them for nothing. And again not saying I'd like price cuts so much quality suffers, there's a balance point with everything.