I ran into similar problems trying to order HeliBars direct. Heli made me exceptionally mad by adding a $12 service charge on top of charging me retail + shipping.
Canceled the order in a heartbeat. I ended up with ConvertiBars and my wife loves them on her SV.
As for AltRider, they are trying to point you to their vendors. AltRider wants to be a part supply company not an online retailer or a customer service/support company. Their core business is to make parts. Running a website and handling online sales issues are not directly related to their core business. It takes time and money to do those things. There is a finite budget. A dollar spent on staffing the phones or streaming lining their retail sales process is a dollar NOT spent on product development.
Jaxon/Tabasco has free shipping on all AltRider parts and he supports this community unlike RevZilla. Twisted throttle also supports this community. I have only heard good things about RevZilla but I'd rather spend my dollars with a company that supports things I care about. If I can't find what I want with Jaxon or TT, then I'll look at other vendors.