A report by consumer rights group Public Citizen accuses Amazon of gaining prices on essentials such as toilet paper and antibacterial soaps. The report analyzed more than a dozen products, including products sold by third-party vendors and items listed as “sold by Amazon.” It found that prices of some items more than quadrupled between May and August last month, largely breaking Amazon’s own fair pricing policy.
Responding to the report, Amazon said that on its service, “on the products it sells directly,” there is no room for price increases. A spokesperson said, If we see an error, we act quickly to correct it, ”a spokesman said.
But the report challenges Amazon’s claims that only third-party listings by “bad actors” have seen an increase in the price of items such as face masks and hand sanitizers during the epidemic. Amazon has taken a hard line on vendors who exploit the demand for hygiene products and household supplies in public and says thousands of vendors are banned based on this practice.
According to the public, items listed as “sold by Amazon” saw a ટકા 1000 increase in the price of a pack of disposable face masks in Hand Sanitizer (a product category banned by Amazon in March). . In the case of toilet paper, for example, the for-profit group said it sold a pack of eight rolls for $ 36.39 in June, while other retailers charged only 6. 89.689 for the same product. One bottle of antibacterial soap was listed at a low of $ 749, compared to a low of 1. 1.49, an increase of 470 percent.
In addition to examining the ten essential items listed by Amazon, the report also analyzed eight items sold by third-party sellers. Such sellers account for a quarter of Amazon’s retail online retail revenue, in its most recent revenue report. Here the public has seen an increase of 274 per cent for antibacterial soaps and up to 941 per cent in flour.
However, the report found numerous examples where third-party price trackers found large disparities between the highest and lowest prices charged for items, in other cases showing how difficult it is to see how many items have been sold historically. Is, and so he gets the idea of what their price really should be Prices fluctuate rapidly, which makes it harder to understand what normal prices are, and what prices are errors or outlays.
Take a face mask for example. However, the public’s report highlighted an alarming 1,000 percent increase in the price of Amazon 4 to 39.99 dollars sold, now for a pack of 50 masks listed as “sold by Amazon”, noting that the new listing amount for face masks is “difficult to make apples.” Makes-to-apple comparisons. The references to this original $ 4 price for a face mask come from A Wired The report, published in February, points to a now-defunct list for packs of 50, 100, not masks.
Public citizens are calling for new federal laws that clearly establish the issue of what price increases and what items they apply to (Amazon itself calls for a new federal regulation in May), but Amazon is also revising its own inventory. Prices to make more transparent. The advocacy group wants Amazon to link to the price history next to each product listing, and, among other improvements, to end its practice of allowing new product pages to be created for items already listed on its service.
In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said a low number of pricing errors have been identified in the public report. They said Amazon had “turned over more than a million offers to try to gain price” and had suspended more than 10,000 sales accounts.
“We have cited the most obscure offenders for federal and state law enforcement across the country to hold them accountable,” the spokesman said. “We continue to actively inspect our store and remove offers that violate our policies.”
