eBay is not doing enough to stop price gouging during Covid-19

[gussharp68]

ebay is clearly not doing nearly enough during this global pandemic to prevent unethical sellers to take advantage of buying up essential items like toilet paper and paper towels, etc and selling them at outrageous prices on their platform.  Sure they have a report button but there is no option to clearly report PRICE GOUGING and even if you do manage to find a way to report it as illegal activity or whatever, literally nothing seems to happen.  I've reported the same listing for a $7,000 4-pack of charmin toilet paper multiple times over two days and it's still up.

Allowing this behavior is proof that ebay is complicit in this illegal behavior and should be shut down by our government.  I don't know about you but I've had it with eBay's completely unacceptable behavior when we are all suffering though this terrible crisis.  Enough is enough.

[roadrunneraz]

The despicable subhumans on eBay who are price-gouging on critical short-supply products are disgusting.  I'm working from home and have two missions in life:  1) get my work done; and 2) report as many of these neanderthals as possible.  If eBay continues to permit these sellers to operate on their site, whatever reputation eBay has will be destroyed.  And I don't care if it's an "auction" or not -- it's still price gouging because these sellers are attempting to take advantage of people.  They should have their accounts taken down - PERMANENTLY.  They they'll be stuck with the 900 rolls of toilet paper they cleaned out of the local stores.

[laidbacklarry]

I fully agree eBay is doing not enough along with Shill Bidding

they profit from it so little is being done to stop it 

Just do a search on sanitizer and the search results speak for them self

they seem ok with making profit of their own members fears

IT IS WRONG!

REPORT TO FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION AND YOU ATTORNEY GENERAL

[laidbacklarry]

I fully agree eBay is doing not enough along with Shill Bidding

they profit from it so little is being done to stop it

Just do a search on sanitizer and the search results speak for them self

they seem ok with making profit of their own members fears

IT IS WRONG!

REPORT TO FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION AND YOU ATTORNEY GENERAL

[msje9902]

Yes.  These sellers knew what they were doing when they stocked up.  This kind of behavior is intolerable in polite society.

[rich835]

Yep toilet paper especially Charmin is the main problem here. The other problem is that it seems that people are actually buying from these sellers. Ebay is not going to stop the sales because they want the money.  Ebay needs to ban the sale of toilet paper as they have done with the other items.

[le-5262]

It's a shame some idiot got away with something and all the other idiot lemmings followed/ are still following suit...

'cause this is, undoubtedly, inundating customer service...

ruining the day-to-day service that we deserve (people who are far removed from this particular outrage)

In my opinion...

Ebay is doing more than their share

[carolinmiramonte0]

I agree with you, I have made several reports, I was emailed with a response to contact sellers, I contacted one who responded sarcastically “ roll or get rolled over, it’s business “

[carolinmiramonte0]

I totally agree with you , maybe we should go to the media, news , make lots of noise to get heard. Hopefully these gouging sellers don’t find themselves in need of a medical necessity!!!

[carolinmiramonte0]

How about reporting to the media, news !!! We need to Get louder, heard .

[cindysue44]

Maybe if our government would slap them with a million dollar fine they would re think letting people price gouge.  Remember eBay gets a portion of the sales. At this point I dont even want to use ebay anymore. Macari doesn’t even let certain things get posted at this time.

[carolinmiramonte0]

I totally agree with you !!!! We should try the media, maybe we get heard, shame on eBay !!!

[purple-rain-store]

Just watch & wait The Gov. will be coming after Ebay for not reporting them. Ebay, Amazon & Etc. is on The Gov.s radar because of this Crisis and supply shortage. They won't tolerate Ebay or any other online selling platform enabling or protecting these individuals. 

[3eyedfishcatcher]

While the price gouging on basic house hold items that a few weeks ago anyone could get at a store locally for 10 to 20 times less than the listing price is annoying and offensive as a seller. The basic rule of supply and demand between two individuals as long as both are willing to accept those pricing and terms ultimately should be between those 2 individuals. However as some states are looking to start filing charges on individuals off profiting off of this and creating even more demand and stress to the supply chains It sounds like the short term profits will not be worth the long term consequences they will face from their home state or the state the buyer resides in.

The more disturbing thing is the generic unbranded toilet paper being sold in bulk with out any cardboard rolls, with what is clearly stock images coming from the sellers in California which usually are actually sellers in china using warehouses in the US to drop ship and fulfill orders. This means the drastic drop in supplies from china was anticipated and stock was placed in advance to take up the demand for basic essentials at a slightly higher price than normal. 

[gussharp68]

The media is useless, what excuse we have for a media these days would just try to blame it on Trump.  

The only solution since eBay is failing to put a stop to this (why would they? $$$$$) is to screen shot the seller ID, the item listing including listing ID# and file a complaint with the state attorney general in the state the seller ships from.

From what I’ve read and from the responses I’ve gotten back from several states attorney’s offices (surprisingly they’ve really responded) they are pursuing this abuse aggressively.  With luck eBay’s failure to ban these sellers will be countered with the state attorney prosecuting and levying big fines on these sellers.  Hopefully eBay as well as they are too complicit with this behavior.  

I also add these bad sellers to my watch list and check frequently and report any new items they try and list and the process starts again.  

Keep up the fight people, only our dedicated efforts can make a difference here.  I feel good knowing we are fighting back.

[gussharp68]

You have a great point, since eBay can’t seem to stop this and is likely not highly motivated to really try, shutting them down until the crisis is over would certainly help those in need get the supplies they need that have to date been stripped from shelves by greedy ebay sellers among others.

eBay banned me for three days for suggesting they get shut down and starting a community thread about it.  They know their reputation is taking a beating here because of this.  They’ll probably ban me again for saying this but the 2 best things we can do about this:

1) file complaints on the sellers with the state attorney general in the state the seller ships from;

2) write to your political representatives and demand eBay be temporarily shut down during the crisis because they are responsible for allowing sellers to price gouge critical items during a national emergency resulting in diminished supply that is costing lives and putting everyone at risk.