Amazon accused of price gouging during coronavirus outbreak

Amazon.com sold essential items like toilet paper and antibacterial soap at inflated prices during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report by consumer rights group Public Citizen.

This analysed 15 products, including those sold by third-parties and items listed as “sold by Amazon.”

Between May and August, some of these more than quadrupled in price, seemingly breaking the e-commerce giant’s own Fair Pricing Policy. Public Citizen is calling for a federal price gouging law, and for Amazon to reform pricing and product listing practices.

“The company is trying to have the best of both worlds by enabling third-party sellers to exploit the crisis (and benefiting from facilitating those sales), but also seeking to immunise itself from responsibility for directly engaging in price gouging by shifting the focus on to the unscrupulous actions of third-party sellers, not only in the eye of the public but also in the eye of the law,” the report states.

An Amazon spokesperson said there was “no place for price gouging” on its platform.

“Our systems are designed to offers customers the best available online price and if we see an error, we work quickly to fix it,” they commented.

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