Let me start by saying that I reside in the US as that does matter. I grew up in Germany though so I know about that side, but not with ebooks. I came to the US before ebooks.
I also think it depends on genre. In the genres I like to read, the majority of books don't come out on hardcover, but straight to paperback or at the most to trade paperback, the larger soft ones.
The majority of what I read is published by publishers, from Harpercollins to Random House to Kensington. I do read some self published, but there isn't as much new coming out in the genres I like to read, other than backlist titles which I can often get for free or cheap.
The most I paid for a ebook is 9.99 and I usually don't pay more now then 7.99. As that is the paperback price, even with agency it would still be 7.99. But overall I paid under $5 for all my publisher books in the last 2 years or so. They have plenty of sales, and some of the publisher even have new releases for 2.99-4.99. Montlake, Randomhouse, HQN, etc, they all have lines that are new at that price. So it gets harder to pay 7.99 for a new one.
Even Harper Collins has had pretty much everything on up to 4.99 for some time now, new and older. I do notice that those prices have gone up a bit. But a preorder for a new release in October is 6.99 listed. The paperback is 7.99.
I go and check the library first, put myself on wait list if needed, I check Scribd and I sign up for ereaderiq or the books to come down.
I am currently waiting on a urban fantasy. A series I would always read right away. But this time the book is not in the library yet, its still 7.99, down from 9.18 and I'll wait until it gets to 5.99.
I read a lot and I have a limited budget. So I have to make my money stretch. Indies mostly don't write what I like to read, so its not really an option. Often publisher published books cost the same than self published in my favorite genres anyway.
And the older I get, the easier it gets to be patient.
Its not like I don't already own a pile of kindle books yet to be read. Not that this keeps me from buying more.