Coronavirus and price gouging in full swing on Amazon
I have some dear friends in Honk Kong and have learned there is a shortage of face masks as they are required by local law to wear them, not as a protection for themselves but in case a person is infected, the facemask protects the rest of the healthy ones from contracting the virus, as the wearer of the mask who might be infected and caughs or sneezes will not spread the virus as much since their mask will prevent the 95% of the virus from dispersing into air.
So I am about to buy 500 or so of those masks wanting to send it to them. Your normal retail for a surgical face mask pack of 50 is about 10 bucks, perhaps 20 with shipping.
Just search Amazon for surgical face mask. The real sellers are all sold out and what is left is prices that will quote $19.00 for pack of 50 masks With $150.00 shipping charge… Thousands of listings by the same seller on every imaginable brand with quite an interesting less than 50% feedback.
I am expecting prices to go up, what surprises me is that Amazon is letting one seller scam so many customers - I am sure Amazon’s algorithm is smart enough to catch this type of a scam.
Seller_NTDpmta8wJEe7
Are you located in USA?
Seller_RsxUZ4KjM1Cws
Seller_lYLz1roOGTQRE
Call some local safety equipment suppliers. The same type (or better) masks are commonly sold by them.
Seller_la6yWqhB9Jzwb
Masks are sold out everywhere for weeks now, well before February. Can’t even get painting masks at home depot. The whole country is like this.
Most of the items listed on amazon are showing ridiculous shipping times too, so I would not even bother trying - lots of fake sellers just popping up trying to fraud some money.
Seller_uIGXPpS2kOOX2
Chris_Amazon
Hello Sellers,
Just a friendly reminder to keep further post on-topic and related to price gouging.
We appreciate your cooperation,
Chris H
Seller_jw3HRo32wY2Hk
Price gouging. No such thing. That aside, Amazon may wish to suspend all sales of face masks at this time for a variety of reasons I can think of.
Seller_M04MjNuWAA1Xz
International sellers of face masks have reported a substantial increase in INR claims. These losses, plus the time wasted defending claims, is being built into the retail cost of masks. Unfortunately honest buyers pay for the actions of scamming buyers, and this is just retail as usual in many cases…
Seller_AevYmOVtgtKV2
#23 in face masks B07F62KS2V
Seller_uIGXPpS2kOOX2
An example is a 3M8200. Normally sold in boxes of 20, retail price about $18. I see some of those on Amz for $80. One seller has them for $50 with $350 for shipping.
Who is the price gouger? The seller for $80 and free shipping or the seller for $50 and $350 for shipping?
And if this is price gouging and Amz gets a 15% cut with each sale doesn’t that make Amz complicit?
