Accused of price gouging

[bigcomicbookguy]

Hello folks

Given covid19 circumstances I was selling hand sanitizer at cost price,, as I know people are price gouging upwards of $30 for a small bottle. Unfortunately the postage came in to cost more than the actual item pretty much, and my item was removed.

Is there anyway to get approval around this? I can't even get face masks (irrespective of price) for my work.

Has eBay gone a little overboard?

Any clarification appreciated
-B

[excalipurr]

A medical supply company in australia has now literally trippled the price of hand sanister you can buy online.

Was initially $4.95 for a 70ml pack it is now $14.25 plus postage $30.85.

I was selling mine for $8 for a 70ml pack pickup only.

Nice to see the govt not going after the bigger price gougers 

[digital*ghost]

The government are probably doing other things than looking at the retail prices of hand sanitiser online - this sort of thing needs to be reported to the relevant authorities.

Just keep in mind that we can't put all price increases down to price gouging ( the following is not an attempt to support or defend anyone who's actually price gouging) - rushed production and shipping tends to increase costs quite a bit. The Australian dollar has been in freefall, so the price of an import (raw materials or otherwise) is higher than it was a month ago. One of my shipping carriers has introduced two new surcharges - one to cover the costs of falling exchange rates, and one because demand for cargo space is increasing but flights are decreasing, so it's costing more to get packages on planes - getting things from one place to another is getting very pricey.

I've never bought hand sanitiser before and only looked at prices for the first time a couple of days ago, so I have no baseline for comparison, or what certain brands / bottle sizes sell for, but just wanted to point out that this situation has a lot of knock-on effects, and one of them is unavoidable price increases across a lot of in-demand products. 

[lyndal1838]

Digi, if you are near a Chemist Warehouse they still have hand sanitiser....albeit under the counter and you have to ask for it.

And it was still selling for the usual price last Saturday.

I was not too fussed whether I got some earlier on as we have plenty of soap in the house but decided that it would be handy as I am currently having great difficulty walking to a tap.

OH asked but was told no supplies.  He then went to get our scripts filled and when the chemist handed them over she quietly advised him to ask when he paid for them......a one litre bottle was $14.99 I believe.

[digital*ghost]

I stopped by a Chemist Warehouse yesterday as there's one right where the nearest red street box is and I'm using those wherever possible to avoid public transport and traveling to a post office, but they had signs everywhere saying hand sanitiser and a couple of other things were out of stock until further notice. I did manage to get a thermometer, though, which was sold out at other places I tried (on line and in stores). I just want to be able to monitor my temperature as in some cases that's the only symptom someone will present.

On my way home, I stopped in at an On The Run service station, and right there at the counter they had a tray of travel-size hand sanitisers (50ml bottles with a carabiner attached), which was unexpected but not surprising. They were $6 each, and I kinda impulse-bought 2.  At least I'll have them on hand when I do need to go to the supermarket and handle things like shopping baskets etc. 

One of my suppliers sent me an email the other day spruiking a new line they're carrying - PPE, basically. They have everything; hand sanitiser, full body plastic coverings, masks, face shields etc. Was half tempted (for personal use, not resale), so if things get bad I could end up walking around looking like a lost astronaut.