OP, eBay have laid out their price gouging policy quite clearly. It’s nothing to do with sellers setting a high price for items which they sell - except where those items are considered essential. Although some people may really want an item (or even if a relatively small number of people have an issue that is aided by a particular item), that does not in itself make the item “essential” in eBay’s view.
We really saw the Price Gouging Policy in action during the first and second years of the COVID pandemic, when some sellers had clearly swooped onto all of the remaining hand sanitiser or toilet paper or P2 masks available at the time with the clear intention of stockpiling and then selling at huge profit when the need was desperate for the average Australian.
I’ll quote from the Policy:
❝Sellers offering essential items must offer them at reasonable prices, and may not attempt to unreasonably profit from increased demand or decreased supply caused by emergencies or disasters.
[Bolding is mine.]
What is the policy?
- Items that are considered essential must be offered at a reasonable price
- Inflating the price of goods in response to an emergency or disaster is not allowed
- eBay may restrict the sale of items that are susceptible to price gouging behaviour – for example, by only allowing items to be sold by authorised sellers
- Sellers must follow all applicable laws and regulations that apply to the sale of their items❞
Outside of these fairly narrow conditions, sellers can list their items at whatever price they wish. Normal market forces will come into play and if the items are too highly priced and they’re available from Chemist Warehouse, for instance, at a much better price, clearly people will buy from CW.
Souvenaid is not an essential item. It’s not price gouging.
Quite apart from that, I would not recommend that anyone buy a health supplement of any sort from just anyone on eBay (or any other online marketplace). You have no guarantee that what’s in the tin is what’s stated in the tin. Believe a random Chinese seller on something of this nature at your own risk and to your own peril; ditto for any Australian seller dropshipping this stuff or importing it ftom China or other countries without Australian safety/pharmaceutical standards.
