An American man has found himself up shit creek without a paddle after his plan to re-sell 17,700 bottles of hand sanitiser at a profit backfired in a sweet, sweet display of karma.
Noah Colvin drove over 2,000km across Tennessee to stockpile on hand sanitiser and sanitary wipes with the intention of selling them on Amazon at a profit.
Just one day after the first coronavirus fatality in the US, Noah and his brother Matt stockpiled the absolute shit out of every bottle of sanitiser they could get their hands on.
But in a gloriously ironic turn of events, Amazon has cracked down on price gouging amid the coronavirus pandemic. Colvin’s account has since been suspended, leaving him with 17,700 bottles of hand sanitiser and a whole lot of bad karma.
“It’s been a huge amount of whiplash,” Matt told the New York Times. “From being in a situation where what I’ve got coming and going could potentially put my family in a really good place financially to ‘What the heck am I going to do with all of this?’”
According to the NYT, the Colvin brothers don’t believe they are guilty of price gouging, justifying their $20 price tag for two bottle of sanitiser (RRP $1 each) by including the cost of labour, amazon fees and shipping. Surprisingly, shipping sanitiser is expensive as it’s considered a hazardous material. But does that constitute the extreme markup? You be the judge.
“I honestly feel like it’s a public service,” he said of his Amazon selling. “I’m being paid for my public service.”
Colvin’s listings were just a few of hundreds of thousands of now-deleted listings for much needed supplies like respiratory masks and sanitary items. To remind you all, stockpiling these items with the intention of profiting off people’s desperation makes you *kinda* an asshole.
“Price gouging is a clear violation of our policies, unethical, and in some areas, illegal,” Amazon said in a statement. “In addition to terminating these third party accounts, we welcome the opportunity to work directly with states attorneys general to prosecute bad actors.”
If you thought Amazon’s rules were strict, eBay has one-upped them by completely banning any sale of masks or sanitiser in the US. They simply are not here for anyone trying to profiteer off the back of this pandemic.
In what seems to be a silver lining to this otherwise grey cloud of capitalism, Noah Colvin has since told the NYT that he’s “exploring ways to donate all the supplies.”
