False Positives and Legal Consequences of Price Gouging

by: Life During Wartime

There is a fair amount of price gouging on eBay.  But what are you supposed to do when all the stores in your area were stripped of products (like TP) weeks ago?  I did what any person with ample $$$ would do:  I paid about $25 (including shipping) for a 2 months supply of toilet paper.  And I will do that again, if I have to.

The vendors on the various platforms doing the scalping on household products can do it because the places where they purchased the items allowed them to empty the shelves.  If lawmakers and regulators want to go after platforms and online sellers, they also need to take a look at big box merchants and how they facilitate hoarding -- for imagined personal needs as well as retail arbitrage.  

The shelves at local stores have been empty of hand soap, cleaning products of all kinds, and paper products for nearly a month now.  And people having to do without these things is itself a disease vector.  Not for the coronavirus only, but many other nasties.  Now that their stock is gone, there are signs taped up at all the registers in the stores about ''limit of 2 per customer''.  Great idea, now that there is no stock to limit.    

by: FeelingFroggy

Was in a costco store yesterday and a buyer was buyer a FULL PALLET OF DISINFECTANT WIPES. Trying to figure out how to get them all in the truck. There was 360 canisters on the pallet that he paid about 3.00 each for. There was nothing left. I asked about it to the manager and she just blew me off with the I didn't see that crap. BIG BOX STORES ARE MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HOARDING THAN JOE BLOW. That same canister on Amazon cheapest is 12.00 and on greedbay its 13.50.

by: Life During Wartime

I just read an article from THE ATLANTIC on a newsfeed about how this problem is being handled in Denmark.  

The price for a single bottle of hand sanitizer there is 5.50 Euro.  The price for 2 or more bottles is over 130.00 Euro EACH.  That stops hoarding and retail arbitrage.  

On every level we suffer in the USA from poor leadership (or just total lack of it),  People who have the authority seem to be afraid to say NO.  This has to change.

by: flybuy

Well we have to be a part of the solution. If you see price gouging on Ebay or another site report it. If you see someone driving off with cases of hand sanitizer, paper towels, etc take a photo of the license plate and report it to both the store and law enforcement.
People with those ring doorbells are always chatting on community groups about seeing this or that. IF you see someone pull in a driveway with a truck stacked with items needed you should report it. Remember it is not just about allowing the average person to get sanitizing materials to decrease the risk of disease to their families and themselves. There are hospitals and clinics needing these things.
I talked to a friend in Norway and she said people there are donating the single use items (e.g.sanitizing wipes) to hospitals as they are running out. Also people are using their free time to sew masks for people who work in medicine and other areas with high risk of exposure.

by: purpleiris

I would go as far as recording it on my phone and reporting it. They are all a part of the problem and are committing a crime they well-deserve to pay handsomely for.

by: Whatever

People - hold to store accountable not the buyer - they have the ultimate control. It's called corporate greed.  I went to the grocery store yesterday on "senior" day. I need quite a few things. I got my 2 cases of water in the cart and wandered over to the meat counter which has been empty for days now and  managed to get a package of stew meat which would normally sell for around $3.69 #.  It was now $5.  Bought it anyway.  Then went to the TP department to find the shelves bare.
There was a woman there really mad that there was no tp on senior day - I don't think they even had any when the store opened.
Here's what she told me - "Remember these corporations when this is over."
She's right - there's plenty of tp - it's going somewhere else where they get more money.  I thought abut it and decided that if this store can't even sell me one single 4 pack of tp - well - I've been shopping there for over 30 years - I don't need to buy their over priced other goods either.  Took my water and stew meat and left.

by: Life During Wartime

Of course the stores are accountable!

If a neighbor of mine were to park in front of our condo building (we don't have driveways or garages) and start unloading a pallet's worth of hand sanitizer, why would I take pictures of him or her?  I am assuming that such a large quantity was purchased honestly at some store, rather than smuggled out hidden in clothing, shop-lifter style.  What's the reportable action this neighbor might have done?  

The concept of holding business blameless for stuff like this is wrong, IMO.  The first time the meme of shoppers emptying store shelves, hoarding TP etc., showed up in social media and the news back in February,  all merchants nationwide should have been on notice with (especially) the management of big box chains passing the word down to their stores that restrictions on quantities purchased by a single shopper needed to be in place right away.  That would have been the end of it.

I know the employees of local supermarkets here saw the hoard shoppers with their giant carts overflowing as amusing.  And that's okay because they don't get to make policies like ''2 whatevers per customer''.  This is a failure of leadership.

by: Chicago48

Etsy is selling face masks (non-N95) and I've bought several for myself and family.  I do wish the sellers would put in their listings that it's not N-95 certified, and give some info about how protective it is.
I don't see anything wrong with selling face masks, esp. if they are handcrafted.
I'm now on the hunt for protective gloves.

by: Chicago48

This story is for laughter only.  You can find it at iheart radio:
Quarantined Man Sends Dog To Store With Note For Cheetos, Dog Delivers

by: TexasTwister

I was one of those ''evil'' eBay sellers of surgical masks. I was pretty ticked that they took down my listing (and everyone else's for that matter). My price was below the average selling price on the platform (about $40 for a box of 50) so I certainly wasn't gouging. Today you would think that category would be empty on eBay, but it is not. It has 4 pages of masks described as ''face shields'', ''dust protection '', etc. Mostly Chinese sellers who are selling at or above my original listing price,  plus mine were name brand,  surgical quality, US seller. I'm going to donate my remaining stock to my local nonprofit hospital (about 3500 masks)

by: purpleiris

"What's the reportable action this neighbor might have done?"

Hoarding, for one, as it's a selfish practice. No family needs a pallet of sanitizer. If they're buying it to sell it as ridiculous prices, then you can add price gouging to the list.

During a time of crisis, it's all the hoarders and price gougers who cause shortages of supplies and necessities. There is absolutely no reason I should have ever walked into my grocery store to see all the meat, dairy, paper products and water completely gone. I still haven't gotten any paper products.

People need to be more responsible and a lot less self-serving during a time of crisis. If they're part of the problem, then they have done something worth reporting.

by: purpleiris

By the way, I do agree that businesses should also be held accountable for allowing it.

by: unsuck

"Was in a costco store yesterday and a buyer was buyer a FULL PALLET OF DISINFECTANT WIPES...I asked about it to the manager and she just blew me off with the I didn't see that crap. BIG BOX STORES ARE MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HOARDING THAN JOE BLOW..."

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Froggy agree 100%!

*Particularly* when consumers pay a membership for the privilege of shopping there, like at Costco!

My understanding is those sanitizing wipes were quantity restricted after thousands of members (like you and I) got ticked-off after not being able to purchase them.

Back on March 17th Costco CEO Craig Jelinek pushed an email (I received mine at 12:30pm ET) to members and issued a press release to announce changes Costco was making, including "Limits have been implemented on certain items" (like those sanitizing wipes).

https://www.costco.com/coronavirus.html

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Do you mind sharing which Coscto/what store number this occurred at and when? (If you'd rather reply privately feel free to email unsuckebay@gmail.com).

I would like to get this reported to corporate so additional coaching/training can be performed as needed. TIA