[derefr]

That's an effect, not a cause. You can "afford" contact-us pricing, once you've got a monopoly stranglehold on an industry. You can't afford it when you're a scrappy newcomer fighting for mindshare.

[closewith]

That doesn't track, at least in my experience. Custom Enterprise pricing is prevalent and advantageous at all levels.

Honestly, it seems to me that you just don't like the practice and so are rationalising.