Thank you for your interest in becoming a member of Mountain Equipment Co-op.
MEC is a retail co-operative that sells exclusively to members.
Lifetime individual memberships are only $5.
Thank you for getting in touch with us regarding memberships. I am sorry about the confusion, but you are right when thinking that MEC only sells to members.
This person might be confusing us with REI in the states (where you don't have to be a member) or he might be purchasing on someone else's membership number (which shouldn't be) or using his phone number, not realizing that it traces his membership number...
We only have one selling price that is for our dear members.
I hope this answers your question. Please let us know if we can be of anymore assistance and thank you for shopping at Mountain Equipment Co-op.