Malicious sales during COVID-19 Pandemic

[MedicBank]

As the world is in a constant battle to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease, all forms of social media are showing pictures of people wearing protective masks while doing their outdoor activities, making city streets and all public places that are still open look more like hospitals. Because of that, some countries are now suffering from mask shortages, and suppliers are working around the clock to keep up with the demand. On any e-commerce website you will go to, prices for the protective gear have sharply increased recently, and the website’s owners have warned sellers not to raise them to unreasonable levels—or risk getting kicked off the market.

Amazon, for example, has warned merchants about face masks that are “not in compliance” with its pricing policies, according to an email provided to source. A consultant working with Amazon sellers said that posts containing overpriced face masks had been removed from the site. The topic of “coronavirus and price gouging” has been a constant subject of debate among users on Amazon’s official selling forum. In a statement sent after publication, a spokesperson for Amazon said the company was “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.”

Ref: https://www.wired.com/story/covid-19-amazon-curb-face-mask-price-gouging/

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