Price Gouging

[ninjajoe.123]

Do these sellers realize that price gouging is illegal? I mean, $1,000.00 for 1 ounce of USED hand sanitizer while our nation is facing virus that is killing people is not just wrong, it's illegal. Then there is the fact that as fast as eBay is taking them down they are slipping by, by relisting them time & time again. With the above mentioned item being used, it is potentially not safe anyways. I just don't get how these people are going out buying up as much as they can, keeping it out of the hands of those who fall in the at risk groups & then thinking they will get rich while people are at risk of dying! I just find it really sad that some go that low in our nation. I just really want to know why are these items still for sell on eBay & still being allowed to be posted?

[quinger86]

There's a seller who has a bulk listing with 50 $98 lots of twenty-four 1-oz bottles of name-brand hand sanitizer bundled with a couple of cans of spray disinfectant. S/he has sold 48 of them in about six hours, and no doubt the other two will sell tonight for a cool $4,900 in sales in roughly six hours. I reported this item nearly five hours ago, when there were sixteen sold.

S/he spelled the brand name wrong, by leaving off the final letter of the brand name. And apparently that is good enough for eBay to overlook the reported item.

I would think that eBay might appreciate my linking the item here, since they're also risking both their reputation and potential legal action for allowing this to go on, especially when a user has reported the item (I have done so three times in six hours thus far), but when I (helpfully, I thought) linked hand sanitizer listings that had been misspelled and eBay was ignoring my reports of before, I was written up by the board moderator for doing so.

I'm completely underwhelmed by eBay's efforts in this. Completely.

[quinger86]

Coincidentally, as I was clicking the "reply" button, the local TV news sent out an appeal from one of our region's hospitals soliciting donations of hand sanitizer, which they're unable to get.

[rayvyn27]

They need to add chlorine bleach and rubbing alcohol to the list of gouged items. Right now they're selling $4 gallons of chlorine bleach for $26. They're selling $2 16oz bottles of rubbing alcohol for $32. It's obvious some of the rubbing alcohol is Walmart's store brand. So this means Walmart employees are probably hoarding it and selling it on Ebay.

[quinger86]

My post above looks odd as somehow the post I had just written that I was referring to got lost.

[rayvyn27]

I think Ebay needs to be shut down to prevent more gouging on items like bleach, hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol. Because they are using Ebay to sell the stuff they horde, there is a shortage for the rest of us. Many of us can't afford the prices on stuff that has been jacked up 40 times what it's worth. Gouging is illegal and Ebay has the addresses of all who are doing it so there should be some prosecutions coming if they are serious about the crackdown. I'm getting a group together to lobby my congress members to take action against gouging on Ebay and Craig's list. I see there is no gouging on Amazon, they nipped it in the bud.

[bentleyisthebest]

Over 4,000 listing on 3/26 for N95 masks.  My sisters, both nurses in large cities with many hospitalized Covid patients, were alerted by some of those patients able to still use their phones to the huge supply of masks here.  They were horrified when they saw the numbers and the prices.  One of my sisters offered to provide a seller w/ 20 boxes with proof that she was a nurse and would offer him 200.00 per box instead of the 425.00 per box.  She tried to appeal to his humanity -- he told her to F off.  Nice, huh? Can't believe they can't block the sale of a banned item.  The listing has been up for over a week and nothing is done.

[mam98031]

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@rayvyn27 wrote:

I think Ebay needs to be shut down to prevent more gouging on items like bleach, hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol. Because they are using Ebay to sell the stuff they horde, there is a shortage for the rest of us. Many of us can't afford the prices on stuff that has been jacked up 40 times what it's worth. Gouging is illegal and Ebay has the addresses of all who are doing it so there should be some prosecutions coming if they are serious about the crackdown. I'm getting a group together to lobby my congress members to take action against gouging on Ebay and Craig's list. I see there is no gouging on Amazon, they nipped it in the bud.

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Do you realize how many MILLIONS of sellers that would affect that aren't price gouging on other products???  You want Ebay to shut down.  How are those MILLIONS of sellers going to feed their families.  They can't get unemployment.  What is your solution for the devastating financial impact that would have on so many?

@rayvyn27 

[quinger86]

They also need to pay attention to misspelled or improperly described items. I reported a seller who had a listing for a popular brand of hand sanitizer (bundled with a bit of disinfectant spray), but had left off the final letter of the brand name, presumably to avoid detection. That seller had 50 $100 lots in one listing, and I reported it when 16 of them were sold, but for whatever reason, the person reviewing the report let it stay up. I reported it again a few hours later, but by the end of last night, all 50 of them had sold. Now, about 20 hours after my first report, the listing is finally down (I didn't check first thing this AM, so perhaps it was down in 12 hours or so), but if the seller was smart enough to misspell it to avoid detection, they were also likely smart enough to print out the shipping labels immediately.

The same seller now has a large quantity of individual cans of the disinfectant spray listed (single listing, one can per purchase) at five or more times the retail price.

Besides eBay reviewers not picking up spelling, they often seem to gloss over reported items if the seller has described them wrong. Thus if someone refers to it as "hand gel" or "moisturizer", and I report it, it's much, much more likely to not be deleted quickly (if at all) than if they use the phrase "hand sanitizer", even though the picture is clearly of sanitizer.

[quinger86]

Also listings that say "hand san" instead of "Hand sanitizer" seem to get a pass. There's one that I reported days ago (and a couple times since) that is still up.

[hammonds5866]

**bleep** THERE IS OVER 16,000 LISTING OF JUST LYSOL SELLS AS WE SPEAK. I SPENT HOURS TURNING SELLER IN TO EBAY. ONLY TO FIND THE LISTING STILL UP AND RUNNING OR SOLD
EBAY WANTS THAT MONEY AS BAD AS THE SELLERS.
THE PRESIDENT NEEDS TO FINE EBAY $1000 FOR EACH SALE SOLD. WATCH HOW FAST EBAY JERKS THOSE SELLS OFF THEN

[hammonds5866]

**bleep** I HAVE!!! EBAY DOES NOTHING

[hammonds5866]

DONT BOTHER. I SPENT HOURS THE OTHER NIGHT REPORTING SELLERS. ONLY TO FIND SALE STILL UP OR ITEM SOLD.. EBAY WANTS THAT MONEY AS MUCH AS THE SELLERS DO.
IF THE PRESIDENT WOULD FINE EBAY $1000 EACH SELL SOLD. WATCH HOW FAST EBAY & AMAZON WOULF JERK THOSE SELLS OFF THEN

[hammonds5866]

By golly it is when your PRESIDENT SAYS IT IS

[hammonds5866]

THATS **bleep**.. THATS WHY OVER 17 000 SALES R UP AS WE SPEAK. LET THE PRESIDENT FINE EBAY $1000 PER SOLD SALE OF THESE PRODUCTS AND SEE HOW FAST EBAY HAS THEM ALL OFF!!!! AND OR SHUTS EBAY DOWN IN THEIR SPOT.

[hammonds5866]

UMMM IM THINKING THE PRESIDENT HIM SELF SAID, THERE WILL BE NO PRICE GOUGING CONCERNING ANY SAFETY PRODUCTS OUT THERE
AND IM ALSO THINKING, THE PRESIDENT CAN SHUT EBAY DOWN SO QUICK ITS NOT FUNNY