When the UK Kindle store first came out I was pleasantly surprised at the UK ebook prices - many of the books I like are between £3-5 which I don't consider to be pricey for a novel but then I'm not comparing with prices in the US, just with UK prices. There are so many books I want to read that, if I think a book is too expensive I'll just move on to the next book I'm interested in. So really I vote with my wallet and publishers who are being "greedy" in my opinion don't get a penny from me.
When ebooks are newly released they do tend to be very expensive - some I've seen for £16 which I personally would not pay. I just wait until the paperback version comes out and then the price of the ebook version also drops.
Luckily for you, there are members here who have methods of obtaining US ebooks while actually residing in other countries. Not something I do so hopefully someone else can fill you in
