Jason I looked on Craiglist in Atlanta (where I had lots of success with Canon glass) for months before I bit the bullet and bought a few ZE's new. In about 6 months all I ever saw was maybe 1 50mm f/1.4 and a set of CP.2's for $12k. They just don't come up for sale very often. Granted they haven't been available very long and people seem to really like them, which I think has something to do with the scarcity.
In terms of being on sale new, no I've never seen that, no rebates or anything, ever. Lensrentals.com has very reasonable used prices but some of their stuff gets pretty worn, but that's about as cheap as they get. I love the Zeiss stuff, requires so much less color correction it's not even funny. The 50mm f/1.4 is great (and cheapest, although it doesn't do very well below f/2) to get started and I'd also recommend the 35mm f/2, both stellar lenses and cheaper of the bunch. Honestly the 50mm f/1.4 is as sharp as my 50L and costs much less. The 21mm, 50 f/2 and 100 f/2 are amazing, the 21mm is one of the most awesome WA's I've ever used. The only one I wasn't that impressed with compared to the Canon equivalent was the 85mm f/1.4, then again the 85L II is a pretty incredible lens and costs almost $1k more.
If you want to try them out Aperturent.com is off Roswell road and has very, very reasonable rates. They don't have the complete set, but they do have the 21, 28, 35, 50(1.4), and 85. They also have the 35, 50 and 85 CP.2's (but they are about $180/week per lens). The ZE's are essentially identical optically to the CP.2's (CP.2's have more iris blades for more circular bokeh) just minus the whole cinema housing/aperture ring.
A lot of people suggest buying the ZF.2's with the EF adapter so you can have manual iris control, plus there are companies that will de-click them so you can make smooth iris changes. Good luck finding some either way!
