Glow Beauty knew it was holding solid gold, and it was not afraid to charge for it. On Amazon this week it was asking $348 for four plastic bottles of Purell hand sanitizer. That included free shipping, mind you. And the bottles were 40.5 ounces each. Still, buyers were not impressed. After questions from The Washington Post, the seller said it was removing the listing.
Widespread fears about coronavirus have caused acute shortages of hand sanitizer, creating a cottage industry online: Purell speculation. Amazon has been awash with sanitizer arbitrage, as third-party sellers hawk their remaining supply at premium prices. (Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
On Wednesday, a seller called Pure Products Direct was asking $79.99 for two eight-ounce bottles — a relative steal considering another vendor wanted $54.99 for one bottle. A day earlier, Village Pharmacy and Boutique was asking $400 for a case of 24 two-ounce bottles. "Collectible — Very Good," it said of the cargo's condition.
Amazon last week said it was cracking down on third-party vendors that are trying to profit from the coronavirus frenzy. But some sky-high listings continued through Wednesday afternoon.
"There is no place for price gouging on Amazon," spokeswoman Cecilia Fan said by email last week. "We are disappointed that bad actors are attempting to artificially raise prices on basic need products during a global health crisis and, in line with our long-standing policy, have recently blocked or removed tens of thousands of offers. We continue to actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policies."
CVS and Target stores in Washington, D.C., have been sold out of Purell and other sanitizers in recent days. A Bed Bath & Beyond was cleaned out Saturday, after one woman bought $86 worth of purse-sized bottles, according to a cashier who would give only her first name, Shanee.
A Target employee who fulfills online orders at a store in Richmond said it was "dead out of hand sanitizer."
"One customer ordered 60 three-ounce bottles," the employee said. "That was literally all they wanted." Local media and Twitter users in other parts of the country also reported empty shelves.
Target, Bed Bath & Beyond and CVS did not respond to requests for comment.
Gojo Industries, the Akron, Ohio-based company that makes Purell... said it became aware of the coronavirus in December and began increasing production in January, before there were any reported cases of the illness in the United States. The company's factories — two in Ohio, one in France have been running at full capacity since.
More at the link. Sell me 48oz of used Purell if old.
