Michael Kan
GUEST WRITER
Reporter
March 9, 2020 2 min read
This story originally appeared on PC Mag
EBay is now banning sales of surgical masks, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes in response to price gouging from sellers taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak.
Merchants on the site have been offering Purell hand sanitizer and Lysol wipes for three or four times their normal prices. But on Thursday, eBay began removing items.
Affected items include sales for N95 and N100 mouth masks, as well as products that mention coronavirus, COVID-19, or 2019nCOV in their titles or descriptions. “These listings may violate applicable US laws or regulations, eBay policies, and exhibit unfair pricing behavior for our buyers,” the e-commerce provider said in a notice, which also cites a company rule that forbids sellers from profiting from “human tragedy, or suffering.”
Image credit: via PC Mag
The company made the announcement after Amazon also began combating price gouging amid more confirmed coronavirus cases. According to Reuters, Amazon took down more than 1 million products from sale in recent weeks over inflated prices and inaccurate claims the items could defend against the illness.
However, both companies are having trouble completely stamping out the problem. On eBay, you can still find Purell hand sanitizer, Lysol wipes, and N95 masks being sold at exorbitant prices, ranging from $35 to $100 per pack.
On Amazon, many of the same items are out of stock. However, third-party merchants on the site have been offering the items at a steep markup. For instance, one seller is offering a 3-pack of 1 fluid ounce Purell hand sanitizer for $59 when the original cost was at $7.99.
The price gouging prompted US Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) on Wednesday to call on Amazon to do more to address the problem. “No one should be allowed to reap a windfall from fear and human suffering,” he wrote in a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
In a statement to PCMag, Amazon said: "There is no place for price gouging on Amazon. We are disappointed that bad actors are attempting to artificially raise prices on basic need products during a global health crisis and, in line with our long-standing policy, have recently blocked or removed tens of thousands of offers. We continue to actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policies."
EBAY UPDATE
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/UPDATE-Important-information-about-listings-associated-w...
[UPDATE] Important information about listings associated with COVID-19
seller_news_team
Verified Blogger seller_news_team
Verified Blogger
03-05-2020 01:34:19 PM
Last Edited 03-05-2020 02:58:00 PM
Due to regulatory restrictions across the United States, we have chosen to ban certain items listed on our site.
Effective immediately, eBay will block new listings and start to remove listings that sell:
Masks including N95/N100 and surgical masks
Hand Sanitizer/Gel
Disinfecting Wipes
We will continue to monitor the evolving situation and quickly remove any listing that mentions COVID-19, coronavirus, 2019nCoV (except books) in the title or description.
These listings may violate applicable US laws or regulations, eBay policies, and exhibit unfair pricing behavior for our buyers.
To learn more about the eBay policies, we invite you to read our three most relevant policies on this topic: Prescription and over-the-counter drugs policy, Disaster and Tragedy policy, Search manipulation policy.
We will continue to communicate updates through this announcement board, so please stay informed here.
Our thoughts are with all those affected by Coronavirus.
As always, thanks for selling on eBay.
