By Charlotte Webster-
The British government has been called to intervene in the continuous inflated prices of Prices of hand sanitiser, cleaning products and toilet roll are still on online marketplaces.
It follows the discovery by consumer group Which? after discovering hundreds of listings for essential items at inflated prices on sites including Amazon Marketplace and eBay, as well as evidence that thousands have actually been purchased.
The consumer group revealed that profiteering sellers taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic are exploiting customers by pricing some products at least double the typical supermarket price.
Which? believe sites are not doing enough to prevent the extortionate pricing and believe it is time for the Government to intervene.
EBay accused the consumer group of repeatedly misrepresenting “the reality of price gouging as part of its ongoing campaign against online marketplaces”, but was unable to say it had done anything to address the problem.
Researchers found household brand names such as Andrex, Carex, Dettol and Kleenex being exploited by unscrupulous traders.
Carex on Amazon Marketplace was found to have more than half (56 per cent) being sold for five times the typical supermarket price or more on the first page alone, while one in 10 (9 per cent) were on sale for 10 times the standard price.
Shamefully, one case revealed a pack of two 50ml bottles of Carex antibacterial hand gel priced at £24.99, about 12 times its usual cost of £2.
The demand for hand sanitisers will inevitably go up after Covid-19 because of the increased awareness of hand hygiene, increased online sales of hand sanitisers, and widespread product commercialisation.
Image: Tomguides.com