Ouch You Have Been Grouched

Once again Amazon finds a way to make money off of misery. This time it is and continues to be off of Covid-19.

Did you know that Amazon set prices during the covid-19 pandemic to levels that would be considered violations of price gouging laws in many states, yet we still buy from them?

Did you know that Amazon mislead the public, law enforcement and policy makers about price increases during the pandemic, yet we still buy from them?

Did you know that examples of price increases were found on essential products on Amazon some as much as 1000% over the expected price, yet we still buy from them?

Did you know Amazon publicly blamed third party sellers for price increases while continuing to allow third party sellers to increase their prices, yet we still buy from them?

Do you know that your prime membership cost will be increasing from $99.00 to $119.00, yet we still buy from them?

Do you know that Amazon will price shift as often as every ten minutes, sometimes the same item 300 times per day, yet you still buy from them? Worse yet, you expect local dealers to quote you prices found off Amazon. Oh please!!! The report published in “Public Citizen” details that at least 15 essential products sold by Amazon during covid-19 had mark-ups over the recent Amazon prices from 76% to more than 1,000% and 10 products sold on amazon third party sellers during the same period with mark-ups from 225% to 941%. In case you did not know, price gouging laws prohibit price increases as little as 10%. Holy bowl of macaroni Batman!! Where are the superheroes when you need them? The bottom-line is that Amazon has put so much effort into blaming third party sellers, but so little effort was made to stop the increases – including products sold by Amazon directly. Amazon is not merely a victim in the price gouging marketplace, it is the perpetrator. During emergencies, people are scared, desperate and in need. Price gouging is an insidious exploitation of the vulnerable, yet we still buy from them.