That does not necessarily indicate that the shop never had to hand over any money to the bike company/distributor. The shop I work for is a family business that has grown and expanded over 80 odd years, and is now the biggest shop in Australia and one of the largest importers/distributes. If someone rings us to buy a bike (another shop), it usually ships same day, and we consider it theirs as soon as it is invoiced. If they were to ring up 20 minutes later we would legally be entitled to charge them a re-stocking fee-although we don't.

Now, if the distributor in this scenario charged the LBS a re-stocking fee, should they have to absorb that as a "cost of doing business", or should the customer absorb that for screwing around the merchant?

I'm just getting at the idea that there is every chance this wasn't a case of the bike shop just charging the guy for the hell of it.

EDIT:
Also consider that some small shops are on "cash only" terms with their suppliers. I.E. they aren't making enough money to pay their bills, and when the suppliers realise they won't see money for a long time they put you on "stop". I see both the lbs and wholesale side of this business, not only do we at times need to special order things in, we see small stores owing 6 figures or more..

There's a chance this lbs was one of those too.