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| During a pandemic ... Amazon is selling merchandise at high prices |
A report by the American Consumer Rights Organization (Public Citizen) said that during the pandemic, Amazon was accused of manipulating the prices of basic products such as toilet paper and antibacterial soap.
The report analyzed more than a dozen products, including third-party products and products from Amazon.
The organization found that prices for some products more than quadrupled between May and August, which clearly conflicts with Amazon's fair pricing policy.
In response to the report, Amazon said: There is no place to manipulate the prices of its services, including the products it sells directly.
A company spokesperson said: Our system should offer customers the best rates online. If any errors are found, we will fix them ASAP.
However, the report questions Amazon's claims that during the pandemic, prices for third-party offerings have skyrocketed for items such as masks and hand sanitizers.
Amazon has taken a tough public stance toward sellers who are profiting from demand for plumbing and household products, saying: Because of this practice, Amazon has banned thousands of sellers.
According to Public Citizen, the price of hand sanitizer listed as products sold by Amazon has increased 48% and is in the category of products that Amazon said it placed restrictions on in March.
Disposable masks increased by 1000%,
Using toilet paper as an example, the nonprofit said it found an eight-reel package for $ 36.39 in June, while other retailers sold the product for $ 6.89.
The highest price for an antibacterial soap bottle was $ 7 while the lowest price was $ 1.49, up 470%.
In addition to the survey, which lists ten major products that have been sold on Amazon, the report also analyzed eight products that were sold by outside sellers during the pandemic.
These sellers account for a quarter of Amazon's online retail sales, according to Amazon's latest earnings report.
The public found that the use of antibacterial soap increased by a maximum of 274% and flour by a maximum of 941%.
While the report contains many examples, in others it shows how difficult it is to understand the prices of previously sold items, which means that it is difficult to understand their actual prices.
The public has called for a new federal law that clearly defines points of price fraud to increase prices and the elements that apply to those factors. At the same time, Amazon reformed the list to make the pricing more transparent.
The organization hopes that Amazon will tie a record price to each product listing and end its practice by allowing changes to be made, among other things, to create new product pages for products already listed in its service.
A spokesperson for Amazon said in a statement: The (Citizens) report found a small number of pricing errors. The company removed more than a million offers that attempted to manipulate prices and suspended more than 10,000 sales accounts.
"We have referred perpetrators to federal and state law enforcement agencies across the country to hold them accountable. We will continue to actively monitor our actions and remove offers that violate our offerings," the spokesperson added. The guidelines. "