AMAZON is facing a lawsuit in California over its alleged price gouging of health products during the coronavirus.

In documents filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Amazon.com Inc is accused of "unlawful price increases during the COVID-19 pandemic".

3 Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City Credit: AFP or licensors

California’s Unfair Competition Law prohibits raising the price of some consumer goods and services by more than 10 per cent after an emergency has been declared.

Goods include food and drink, cleaning products, personal hygiene products - such as toilet paper - medical supplies, and emergency supplies, such as water, candles and batteries.





Face masks

Amazon is accused of selling face masks at a 500 per cent price hike, increasing from less than $20 to $120;

Pain reliever

Amazon is accused of hiking prices of pain reliever from $18.75 to $62.40, an increase of 233 per cent.

Flour

Flour allegedly increased up to 400 per cent, from $22 to $110, according to the suit.

Black beans

The price rose from $4.65 up to $35.99, an increase of up to 674 per cent, the suit alleges.

Disinfectants

Amazon is accused of hiking prices by 100 per cent, from $14.99 to $29.99.

Consumers who believe they may have paid unfair prices can sign up for potential compensation.

The suit says the unlawful increases occurred on third party sales, as well as Amazon's own product sales, and Amazon is responsible for sets of both alleged violations.

"Some of the unlawful increases were on sales of products supplied by third parties, sales which Amazon controls and reaps huge profits from," the suit alleges.

3 Amazon is responsible for its third party sellers' prices, the lawsuit claims Credit: PA:Press Association

"Perhaps most troublingly, Amazon has maintained its unlawfully high prices on many essential items while publicly trumpeting its efforts to prevent price gouging by third-party suppliers."

On March 23, Amazon posted a blog on its site titled "price gouging has no place in our stores".

"Amazon has zero tolerance for price gouging and longstanding policies and systems to prevent this harmful practice. We’re working vigorously to combat price gouging," the post read.

Amazon subsequently suspended thousands of seller accounts.

The suit, filed by Mary McQueen and Victoria Ballinger, notes the "unprecedented times" Americans have faced.

"[Many] consumers have experienced their first taste of scarcity and financial distress, and for vulnerable Americans who already live on the precipice, things have gotten demonstrably worse.

"In the wake of the outbreak," the suit continues, "essential consumer goods have disappeared (or appear unpredictably) on retails shelves, and shoppers must often wait hours to enter popular brick-and-mortar retail outlets in the hopes that supplies have been restocked."

The plaintiffs note that many consumers have turned to online purchasing "and Amazon in particular" to fulfill their essential needs, adding "Amazon's sales have never been higher".

"Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, its sales in some categories are up more than 1,000 per cent."

Hagens Berman, the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, says customers who paid above usual price may be eligible for compensation.

3 Amazon is accused of price gouging on essential goods Credit: AFP or licensors

The legal team launched an independent investigation and say it found some online retailers had "unfairly increased prices", causing California consumers to pay "artificially increased prices".

The law suit cites a study by the United States Public Interest Research Group Education Fund (PIRG) that showed prices for half of certain public health products sold on Amazon, and particularly those in high demand during the COVID-19 crisis, had increased by more than 50 per cent in February above their 90-day average.

Hand sanitizer prices were found to cost at least 50 per cent more, while surgical masks cost on average 166 per cent more than the usual average price.

At times, some products spike 2.3 times higher than their average cost.

"Our findings are conservative," PIRG noted, "because the 90-day average included the time period after the WHO [coronavirus] declaration."

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In March, items found to have dramatically increased in price included hand wash bottles selling for $43, a bottle of V8 Splash Mango Juice going for $81 and a 12-pack of soap that cost $264.

The lawsuit seeks repayment to consumers for Amazon’s price-gouging, as well as injunctive relief from the court to prohibit Amazon’s overpricing.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment to The Sun on the lawsuit, but shared a statement on price gouging.

"Our teams are monitoring our store 24/7 and have already removed tens of thousands of offers for attempted price gouging," the spokesperson told The Sun.

"We are disappointed that bad actors are attempting to take advantage of this global health crisis and, in addition to removing these offers, we are terminating accounts and working

"We continue to actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policies."

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