Main image via Pop Sugar , Gulf News
The COVID-19 pandemic left many people panic buying items like hand-sanitizers and tissues, leaving the shelves empty. Many people took the opportunity to profit off the pandemic by hiking up the price for sanitary items, but it backfires.
Take Matt Colvin from Tennessee as an example. Matt and his brother Noah swept the shelves clean of hand sanitizers when the virus first hit the United States and spent three days buying thousands of bottles of hand sanitizers with his truck.
His plan was simple, to hike up the price as the demand for sanitary items increases on online selling sites and gain what he describes as “crazy money”.
The plan worked in the first day and he managed to sell 300 bottles of hand sanitizers with prices that were a few times higher than what he bought them for.
But his nightmare came the next day when online sites like Amazon pulled his listings and even suspended the accounts of some seller trying to profit off the pandemic and warned to ban their account if they keep selling the items at a higher price and eBay completely prohibiting the sales of masks and sanitizer in the U.S.
“It’s been a huge amount of whiplash,” Matt said. “From being in a situation where what I’ve got coming and going could potentially put my family in a really good place financially to ‘What am I going to do with all of this?’”
Now with the online-commerce sites stopping the sellers from making a profit, sellers are stuck with all the items they hoarded while the public can no longer buy the necessary items for them to protect themselves from the virus.
“Price gouging is a clear violation of our policies, unethical, and in some areas, illegal,” Amazon said in a statement. “In addition to terminating these third-party accounts, we welcome the opportunity to work directly with states attorneys general to prosecute bad actors.”
Matt now has over 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizers sitting at his house and has no idea where to sell them.
A nurse that recently gave birth said that she was trying to buy the sanitizers, but it was all sold out at the stores and prices were hiked up on online-commerce sites.
“You’re being selfish, hoarding resources for your own personal gain,” she said of the sellers.
Many other sellers did the same too, with one selling a 10-pack face mask that he bought at $20 for $80 to $125 and another selling antibacterial wipes he bought for $15 each at $40 to $50.
When asked about the morality of hoarding the products for profit, Matt said, “I honestly feel like it’s a public service. I’m being paid for my public service.”
There are thousands and millions of people of there that are desperately in need of the sanitary products. Don’t be that person that hoards everything just for it to sit at your home with no use, waiting to expire.
Be considerate and keep yourself and everyone else safe! Remember if the people in your area get the virus, chances of you getting the virus is higher too!
Stay updated with the latest COVID-19 news here: https://en.syok.my/covid-19
Info via Yahoo News