Now is a great time to buy gear at cheap prices because a lot of people left/quit/stopped playing for whatever reasons.
However, not many are playing compared to the past years. It is a difficult time finding public groups. Organized private runs still happen, but those are not as easy to get into.
The days where I saw 50-75+ people online at one time are long gone, usually it's 10-20 at most times of the day, sometimes peaking into the 30s.
A few are holding out for a mysterious big update and hoping that brings people back, others are hoping for a reset as that usually causes an influx, and a few more blame D3 and think that people will come back once they realize what they are missing.
Then again, this is all just my opinion, and whether or not I am entitled to one on here is debatable.
I am sorry but items are just a bit cheaper. Most of our items won't be ever sold untill we get a decent price. Sure you see a lot of threads with items for sale but none will sell when people expect to buy items that worth 5k for 200 fgs.