I'm pretty sure the price has gone up because Amazon charges a huge markup/fees.

If you buy it from the source, it's now $9.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003302259707.html

Models targeting the SDR market (e.g. from RTL-SDR Blog or NooElec) do have some improvements compared to models sold as TV tuners. Most importantly, they often include a more accurate crystal oscillator, which is useful when receiving narrow-band signals.

I was ready to say you've made my day but unfortunately those rtlsdr dongles use the mostly unwanted Fitipower FC0012 tuner and not any of the better Raphael tuners (R820T2/etc) that are most common and expected for rtl-sdr dongles. The frequency range supported and the rtl-sdr software ecosystem for FC0012 are minimal.

    Elonics E4000 (E4K) 54 - 2200 MHz (1100 MHz-1250 MHz gap)
    Rafael Micro R820T 24 - 1766 MHz (>1500 MHz is bad w/o tuner cooling)
    Rafael Micro R820T2 24 - 1766 MHz (>1500 MHz is bad w/o tuner cooling)
    Rafael Micro R820T2  13 - 1864 MHz (mutability's driver)
    Fitipower FC0012 22 - 948 MHz
    Fitipower FC0013 22 - 1100 MHz (FC0013B/C, FC0013G has seperate L band input)
    FCI FC2580  146 - 308 MHz and 438 - 924 MHz

Looking around on aliexpress most at that price at FC0012 tuner based (even if they say R820T). There are a couple actual R828D dongles but the price shown seems to be one time thing "welcome deal"/75% off and the actual price is more like $25. Dang. Still, I'll keep my eyes on aliexpress now as well as ebay, so thanks.