Purell Price Gougers

Vox  posted an article yesterday highlighting the price gouging taking place on Amazon, as third party resellers took advantage of widespread fear of a coronavirus pandemic. A 1L bottle of Purell that should retail for $21.99 was being sold in a two-pack for as much as $350 on Amazon. According to e-commerce software firm CommerceIQ, internet searches for items like hand sanitizer are up over 270 times in the last month. While Amazon’s marketplace largely benefits consumers who enjoy lower prices due to competition, situations do arise where bad actors disadvantage good ones. The price gouging taking place has highlighted amazon’s struggle to police this behavior on such a large scale, complex platform. It also brings to light an ethical issue, where Amazon is the medium in which people are profiting on the fear of others. What responsibility does Amazon have to protect its customers?