Overzealous price gouging policy

[ribro_7881]

I am getting caught up in ebay's price gouging policy. I am selling items for a very very reasonable price and getting flagged. Ridiculous! There's people that needs these supplies and now a good source of getting it is cut off. Because of this over aggressive policy, I am literally sitting on hundreds of N95/R95 masks, hand sanitizers, clorox wipes, surgical masks, etc. Unable to get them out to people in need. Also, yes I have donated much of it!

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, it’s not just the price gouging restrictions, eBay has banned those things. Here is the announcement:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/UPDATE-Important-information-about-listings-associated-w...

[ss.store]

eBay does whatever they want at this point.
I listed cleaning wipes that remove dirt/grease (NOT disinfectants) as an auction and my listing still got removed because of "price gouging". I didn't break any of the rules they listed. It's important to not charge people ridiculous prices for necessities during a pandemic, however this is just absurd.

[go-bad-chicken]

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@ribro_7881 wrote:

I am getting caught up in ebay's price gouging policy. I am selling items for a very very reasonable price and getting flagged. Ridiculous! There's people that needs these supplies and now a good source of getting it is cut off. Because of this over aggressive policy, I am literally sitting on hundreds of N95/R95 masks, hand sanitizers, clorox wipes, surgical masks, etc. Unable to get them out to people in need. Also, yes I have donated much of it!

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In my opinion at this point in time I think that you are probably going to have a hard time convincing others here on the community seller boards.

Unfortunately for you eBay has never implemented thorough seller on boarding procedures and therefore every Tom, Dick, and Harry out there was able to sign up, get an account, and start selling right away with no real over sight so to speak. And that is how a hand full of individuals were able to ruin it for the rest of the sellers such as yourself who are selling their wares for a reasonable price. But in the end this is really eBay's fault.

[computeraidllc]

It doesn't matter what the price is: eBay banned those items over a month ago. YOU CANNOT LIST N95 MASKS, HAND SANITIZERS AND MANY OTHER ITEMS THAT ARE PART OF THIS PANDEMIC. Do not relist them PERIOD.

[coolections]

So it sounds like you took advantage of people needing those items and bought them up for profit. I cannot see anyone who happens to have masks , sanitizers and wipes. Give them to those in need and take your loss since it is a time of extreme crisis and people need them. I am sure there are plenty of places you can check who wants/needs them.

[mam98031]

I think your opinion of price gouging and mine might be very different.  As I think your also may be very different than Ebays.  

IMHO charging someone $8.75 for a single roll of toilet paper or $14.60 for two rolls of paper towels [prices include shipping] is price gouging.

Now if you are really serious about selling this stuff and are confident you are doing it responsibly while we are in a National State of Emergency, then contact Ebay, plead your case and request to get approval to sell what you have.  Ebay will preapprove some sellers to sell items in the banned products but you need to understand you have to adhere to the rules they set forth for you and I'm not so sure your definition of price gouging will fall into that.  Just an observation from what I can see on your account.

[coolections]

@mam98031WOW... good catch.

[mam98031]

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@coolections wrote:
@mam98031WOW... good catch.

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Thanks.

[cynthealee2]

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@ribro_7881 wrote:

I am getting caught up in ebay's price gouging policy. I am selling items for a very very reasonable price and getting flagged. Ridiculous! There's people that needs these supplies and now a good source of getting it is cut off. Because of this over aggressive policy, I am literally sitting on hundreds of N95/R95 masks, hand sanitizers, clorox wipes, surgical masks, etc. Unable to get them out to people in need. Also, yes I have donated much of it!

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Call the NY Gov office... they'll buy em off you.  https://esd.ny.gov/sourcing-covid-19-products-nys

[voguevintage]

By not allowing these things to be sold at prices people voluntarily pay than all eBay is doing it keeping it from getting in the hands of those who need it.

Someone said "your definition of price gouging may be different than mine." That's the problem. There should be no definition of price gouging because people are CHOOSING to pay these prices

But the larger problem is eBay won't tell us what it considers price gouging. What's the amount of increase before they consider it "gouging"? How do they determine what they believe the price to be? If those numbers they give you when you list for "comparable items" are their indication than they have a problem because those are always WAY off.

All eBay says is price gouging is anything that is "unfair or unreasonable." What does that mean? That is extremely vague.

I'd also be interested in knowing if whatever algorithm or taken down method they're using takes into account lots, because if you're selling two bottles of cleaning product for example obviously you're going to charge more than you would if it was just one but if eBay is flagging it based on the price for one that's a problem.

My buddy was selling lots of a disinfectant on here with no issues. He sold dozens of the same lot. No complains from buyers. He was selling it for way below what others were and are still selling it for. But suddenly he gets his listing taken down due to "price gouging." He says "okay, I'll do an auction and let people name their price." Logical, right? So he does this and it ends up getting as high as THREE TIMES what he was selling it for as a BIN in a 1 day auction. Two hours before it's set to end they take it down. For what? You guessed it: "price gouging"!

Now how the heck does that make sense? How can an AUCTION listing, where people are deciding what they want to pay, "gouging"? He's not setting the price, THE BUYERS ARE. That is the point of an auction: highest bidder wins. If you have a baseball card worth $100,000 and you put it up for auction and it sells for a million dollar no one says "oh no, can't do that! That's way more than it should be! Price gouging!" No, that would be stupid, and so is eBay's approach to these other products too.

Anyway, my advice to the OP is to go sell those things on Bonanza. They won't sell as fast but they will sell. You're be able to give the stuff to people who need it and will be happy to get it without any of eBay's **bleep**.