How to Report Price Gouging During the Coronavirus Outbreak
So you’ve decided it’s time to quietly purchase a few extra containers of tissue or hand sanitizer the next time you shop. But when you get there, you find that the prices of these common goods seem unusually high. What gives?
This is price gouging: the practice of raising the price of what is in demand to an unreasonable level.
Of course, prices are constantly rising and falling in line with demand. But price gouging remains painful. If you normally pay $ 2 to $ 3 per gallon of gas, for example, and suddenly the price hits $ 6 without any explanation, there may be an overpricing. It’s the same with face masks , which sell for 20 times the regular price per box.
When you see price gouging, you know it right away.
While some states have laws against price gouging, not all have them. In Florida, for example, price gouging occurs every time a hurricane approaches the state and people want to stock up on gas and bottled water. Florida law states that it is illegal to charge “unfair” prices for goods or services during a declared state of emergency. Whether the price has been overpriced is determined by comparing the current price of the product with the average price over the past 30 days.
And while you may only suspect overpricing at your local gas station or independent store, you might want to think twice before adding items to your online shopping cart. A US public interest research group has compared the prices of hand sanitizer and surgical masks since January 30 and found that the prices of both items on Amazon rose at least 50%. And it’s not just third-party sellers trying to make money: one in six products sold by Amazon grew 50% in February.
An Amazon spokesman said in an email last week that the site “recently blocked or removed tens of thousands of offers” that violate its fair pricing policy . “We continue to actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policy,” a spokesperson said.
If you see an unusually high price on the Internet, you can help others by reporting it. On the Amazon. The best practice is to use the “report incorrect product information” issue on the product page. You will need to be logged in to see this option.
If you are not sure if the price is off the mark, you can check the price on a site like CamelCamelCamel to see how much it has fluctuated over the past few weeks. Even for products listed on sites outside of the Amazon universe, comparison to Amazon listings can give you an idea of what’s appropriate and what’s outrageous.
If you are in a store, take a picture of the product and its price tag with your phone and contact the state attorney general’s office. To quickly determine the best way to file a complaint, you can search for “[your state] undercharging” or “[your state’s] attorney general + underpricing.”
After you file your complaint, you probably won’t hear anything else from your state’s attorney general’s office. Rather than addressing individual complaints, these offices usually focus on curbing illegal activity and tracking trends that can help educate consumers.