Found what appears to be a reputable dealer offering at that price, and free shipping, plus payment secured via PayPal.
Is that extremely competitive, below average or is it higher than average.
Am looking for opinions based on what people have paid, not what they saw advertised or heard about.

That's cheaper than any price on the 'net.

Though if the dealer's initials are AM then run away....

Not AM.
The initials of the place I found correlate to SportOptics.com.

After some additional research, I decided that the model 517 was a better choice than the 516.
Batteries for the 516 are about $7 each and requires 2, but the model 517 uses AA's which can be had in Lithium and standard varieties. The 516 is touted as having longer battery life due to use of Lithium. Since the 517 can use Lithium AA's, they become equal in battery life and it comes down to battery cost and availability. The 517 is also about $30 less costly at SportOptics.

Bought several scopes from Sports Optic (AKA) Opic spot. Good service and pretty good prices. Real good optics hard to find "Deal" on. Have a 516 just bought the 3X magnifyier.

They generaly send out second day air.