State AGs call on Amazon, Facebook and others to crack down on coronavirus price gouging

ronjor · Mar 25, 2020

Lauren Feiner@lauren_feiner Scott Zamost@scottzamost Published Wed, Mar 25 2020

A group of 33 attorneys general from U.S. states and territories called on Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Walmart and Craigslist to prevent price gouging on coronavirus-related products.
The attorneys general urged the companies to take proactive measures to prevent price gouging on their sites, ”[r]ather than playing whack-a-mole.”
Amazon previously said it removed more than half a million “high-priced offers” from its marketplace for violating price gouging policies.
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guest · Mar 26, 2020

Amazon suspends 3,900 sellers for coronavirus-related price gouging
March 24, 2020
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-price-gouging-amazon-suspends-3900-sellers/

Amazon has booted nearly 4,000 sellers for what the ecommerce company called "seeking to profit off the COVID-19 crisis." More than half a million offers were pulled from the biggest U.S. online marketplace and more than 3,900 accounts suspended for violating Amazon's fair pricing policies, the retailer said.

"Amazon strictly prohibits sellers from exploiting an emergency by charging excessively high prices on products and shipping," the company said Monday in a blog post.
The company is "proactively sharing information with state attorneys general and federal regulators about sellers we suspect have engaged in egregious price gouging of products related to the COVID-19 crisis," the retailer said.
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Amazon: Price gouging has no place in our stores

guest · Apr 9, 2020

U.S. Attorney seeks help from hospitals to report hoarding and price-gouging of medical supplies
April 8, 2020
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/p...t-hoarding-and-price-gouging-medical-supplies

U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman sent a letter to Northeast Ohio hospitals today encouraging employees and medical professionals to report individuals and companies that may be acquiring or selling medical supplies for the purpose of price-gouging or hoarding.

“Our office is prioritizing the deterrence, investigation, and prosecution of wrongdoing related to the COVID-19 pandemic—including those engaged in hoarding and/or price-gouging critical medical supplies,” said U.S. Attorney Herdman. “
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guest · Apr 18, 2020

mood said: ↑

Amazon suspends 3,900 sellers for coronavirus-related price gouging
March 24, 2020
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-price-gouging-amazon-suspends-3900-sellers/

Amazon: Price gouging has no place in our stores
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Amazon has suspended more than 6,000 sellers for price gouging amid coronavirus crisis
April 17, 2020
https://thehill.com/policy/technolo...more-than-6000-sellers-for-price-gouging-amid

Amazon has suspended more than 6,000 vendors, totaling more than 500,000 listings, from its website for price gouging during the coronavirus pandemic, CEO and founder Jeff Bezos told investors Thursday.
This comes after Amazon in a blog post last month said it had suspended over 3,900 vendors on its U.S. site.

"Amazon turned over information about sellers we suspect engaged in price gouging of products related to COVID-19 to 42 state attorneys general offices," Bezos wrote in the letter to investors.
"To accelerate our response to price-gouging incidents, we created a special communication channel for state attorneys general to quickly and easily escalate consumer complaints to us," he added.
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guest · May 13, 2020

Top Amazon exec calls for federal price gouging law amid coronavirus scams
May 13, 2020
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/13/top...price-gouging-law-amid-coronavirus-scams.html

A top Amazon executive is calling on Congress to establish a federal price gouging law so that the U.S. can more effectively combat the kinds of unfair pricing of face masks and sanitizer witnessed on its site during the pandemic.

In a blog post Wednesday, Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, said the company “stands ready” to work with officials on developing comprehensive price gouging legislation.
Price gouging legislation would help “protect consumers” from bad actors who have sought to profit off of the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as any other national crises in the future, Huseman added.

“Put simply, we want to avoid the $400 bottle of Purell for sale right after an emergency goes into effect, while not punishing unavoidable price increases that emergencies can cause, especially as supply chains are disrupted,” Huseman said.
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Amazon: It's time for Congress to establish a federal price gouging law

While each state is unique and has the ability to enact individual legislative price gouging triggers and remedies, a federal price gouging law would ensure that there are no gaps in protection for consumers.

First and foremost, it should kick in immediately when the federal government declares a public health crisis or national emergency, which will leave no room for doubt for businesses and enforcement agencies. It should also establish clear pricing standards, define who and what are covered by the law, and ensure strong enforcement authority.
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guest · May 30, 2020

The sneaky trick Amazon sellers are using to charge you more
May 30, 2020
https://www.komando.com/money/sneaky-amazon-price-gouging-trick/740405/

Unfortunately, bad actors are aware of Amazon’s place in the pandemic hierarchy and are using the platform to their advantage. They’re bringing out all the stops, from price-gouging to fake reviews, even as Amazon tries to put out the fires.
Even though Amazon has policies and measures put into place to fight price gouging, shady sellers have figured out a new way to rip people off
Collect them all?
Amazon shoppers have noticed a curious issue when filling their shopping carts.
But looking closely, you can see these kinds of listings are being marked with an unusual label: collectible.

This is usually reserved for mint-condition items of a rare or vintage pedigree, but scammers on Amazon are applying the label to ordinary goods as a loophole for price gouging.
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This loophole isn’t anything new, by the way. In fact, many mass-produced items like toys, games and electronics are often marked with a “collectible” label as an extra way for a shady third-party seller to squeeze some extra dollars out of hapless buyers.
Several of these listings discovered by The Verge were deleted after they contacted Amazon.
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guest · Jun 9, 2020

3M files suit over third-party price gouging of N95 masks on Amazon
June 9, 2020
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/09/3...d-party-price-gouging-of-n95-masks-on-amazon/

Amazon has promised vigilance against third-party price gouging since COVID-19 achieved global pandemic status. The company’s efforts have had mixed success, however, due in part to the sheer volume of vendors that utilize the company’s massive commerce platform. In a suit filed in California this week, 3M claims the seller was charging massively inflated prices for either damaged or counterfeit products.

“3M alleges that the defendants charged prices for the fraudulent respirators that exceeded as much as 20 times 3M’s N95 respirator list prices,” the company writes.
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guest · Jun 18, 2020

Three months into the pandemic, price gouging is still a real problem
June 18, 2020
https://www.cnet.com/news/three-months-into-the-pandemic-price-gouging-is-still-a-real-problem/

We're three months into the pandemic, but it's still easy to find examples of price gouging on Amazon. Last Friday, within five minutes, CNET found Cottonelle toilet paper listed on Amazon for $57.42 (price for the same item on Target: $21.49), and a two-pack of 28-ounce jars of Rao's marinara sauce for $29.04 (an adjacent listing of 24-ounce jars from Amazon-owned Whole Foods would cost you $10.78).
The problem isn't confined to Amazon's massive digital storefront. It's pretty much everywhere.

Consumers, meanwhile, will have to stay vigilant, since price gougers keep changing their tactics to follow surges in demand during the pandemic.

"While there's been a lot of progress, it was so egregious early on -- like in the end of February, March, April -- that while it's better now it's still really disappointing," said Ryan Stark, co-founder and chief product officer of Popcart, which provides a price tracking tool for consumers.
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guest · Sep 11, 2020

Amazon accused of price gouging on essential items in early days of pandemic
Company disputes claims by consumer advocacy group that some items were marked up by 1,000%
September 10, 2020
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/amazon-price-gouging-1.5719050

An American consumer advocacy group is accusing Amazon of price gouging on items such as soap, face masks and toilet paper in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the e-commerce giant claimed to be cracking down on third-party sellers on its platform who were doing the same thing.

A report by Washington-based Public Citizen claims that Amazon hiked prices on many essential items in March and April, adding mark-ups of up to 1,000 per cent on some basic items.

"Amazon has fundamentally misled the public, law enforcement and policymakers about price increases during the pandemic," said Alex Harman, the consumer policy advocate for the group which says it lobbies lawmakers for legislative changes to protect consumers.
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In a statement to CBC News, Amazon strongly refutes the claims and says it is in favour of legislation that would forbid price gouging in all forms.
"There is no place for price gouging on Amazon and that includes products offered directly by Amazon," the company said Thursday. "Our systems are designed to offer customers the best available online price and if we see an error, we work quickly to fix it."

But another retail expert thinks Amazon may have taken a hit to its reputation with consumers. Doug Stephens, founder and CEO of The Retail Prophet, says the secret weapon in Amazon's growth as a retailer is the trust that consumers have in its prices and reliability.
"You felt pretty confident that you weren't going to be gouged, so something like this is really damaging," Stephens said in an interview.
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Public Citizen: Prime Gouging - How Amazon Raised Prices to Profit from the Pandemic

guest · Nov 18, 2020

Price Gougers Caught by Amazon are Prosecuted by New York Attorney General
November 17, 2020
https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-...aught-amazon-are-prosecuted-new-york-attorney

Amazon has zero tolerance for bad actors. Amazon caught three bad actors attempting to sell products at egregious prices, immediately closed their accounts and referred them to the New York Attorney General’s office. In partnership with Amazon, the New York Attorney General’s office picked up the investigation and pursued the bad actors. Today, the New York Attorney General announced that she has reached a settlement that protects customers and holds the bad actors accountable.

You can see the indictment and press release here: https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/202...e-amazon-sellers-price-gouging-hand-sanitizer
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guest · Jul 14, 2021

UK's biggest trade union takes aim at Amazon over 'price gouging' allegations
Nothing to see here, says gargantuan online retailer, thrilled as ever to chat with a union
July 14, 2021
https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/14/uks_largest_trade_union_takes/

Unite – the UK's largest trade union, with some 1.4 million members – has accused Amazon of inflating prices for items such as hand sanitiser and other health products during the pandemic.

Unite claims that the price hikes hit vulnerable and older people, who had no choice but to stay at home and minimise their risk of infection. It has called on Amazon to "repay the overcharges."

"For example," said the Union in a statement, "Carex antibacterial hand lotion usually costs around £1. In March 2020, the price on Amazon increased to £26.41. The price of a Braun Thermoscan 7 digital thermometer shot up over £100 – going from £39.99 to £149.99."
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For its part, Amazon has sought to play down the matter insisting that it has been working with the CMA about price gouging for over a year.
A spokesperson for the etail giant told us:

There is no place for price gouging on Amazon. We worked with the CMA more than a year ago to stop attempts by some sellers to take advantage of the global health crisis. Our action at the time was clear and decisive – we removed the offers referenced in this complaint and terminated seller accounts. We continue to monitor our store 24/7 to remove offers that violate our policies.
A spokesperson said: "We have received the letter from Unite The Union and will be considering it carefully."
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State AGs call on Amazon, Facebook and others to crack down on coronavirus price gouging

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