Seller Describes Experience Listing Face Masks on eBay

by: FeelingFroggy

We had 4 boxes of face masks stuck away in a cabinet we didn't even realize that were there. The price we payed was 3.95 for a box of 50. These were purchased according to the date on the label last April. Now if you add a 10 per cent inflation cost those same masks might sell for 4.50 a box. ANYTHING ABOVE THAT IS PRICE GOUGING. And selling something with a starting price of .99 with 40.00 shipping is STILL PRICE GOUGING. By the way these masks were donated to our local small town hospital that needed them. One can use any excuse for the above selling but anyway you cut it ITS PRICE GOUGING.

by: FeelingFroggy

And the excuse that the buyers are the ones that are running the price up doesn't hold a drop of water. A lot of first responders can't get enough of these items and need them to be effective in treating patients. They don't care what price it is. THEY NEED THEM. Only a heartless person would be making money off of this and claiming the buyer bought em. Anyone with just a tad of feelings for the sick and dying would be donating these to their hospitals and doctors who really need them. I would hope that Ebay permanently bans any of these scalpers.

by: unsuck

Frustrated eBay Seller, I have a *lot* of empathy for you.

After watching this 'ban' fiasco fairly closely since eBay's March 5 announcement, I could write many paragraphs on what I've witnessed but here's a few bullet points:

- eBay's 'ban' seems to have been inconsistently enforced since March 5

- eBay *did* appear to action 'price-gouging' reports buyers (and sellers) manually reported (and even those reported via Twitter)

- eBay's social team encouraged users to go on the site and search and report violations. Of course, many outraged consumers were happy to do so with some spending hours on the site (all the while being served-up ads and promoted listings)

- This free 'crowdsourcing' rewarded angry users' behavior (as listings were, in fact, removed) and gave them an outlet and a sense of accomplishment. Many encouraged others to also do the same to 'report the bad price gougers' (it's still going on, but to a much lesser degree).

It was certainly clever of eBay, if of questionable ethics.

- However, despite eBay's press releases boasting of their ''Amazing'' Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and their ''block filter algorithms'' which were supposed to prevent 'banned' items from being listed in the 1st place, they continued to get listed and sold (during yesterday's earnings eBay stated they ''removed or blocked over 15 million listings to date globally that make false health claims or offer products at inflated prices'')

- We primarily checked masks with an ''N95 search. Most the the 'banned' N95 masks were simply listed in other categories (obviously other items have ''N95'' in the title, so not every item is a 'banned' mask (live 'sold' listings) 👉https://ebay.to/2yhvuNl

- We also saw *many* reports of buyers purchasing masks and sanitizer who reported their orders cancelled by eBay but without receiving a timely refund. This made us wonder if there might be revenue recognition and GMV sleight-of-hand games being played by eBay in order to report financials to the Street in the way most advantageous to EBAY.

- It seemed very easy for any zero-feedback account to 'auction bomb' any listing for price gouging, sometimes resulting in 'sold' auctions in for tens of thousands of dollars (which of course just further fed the frenzy of angry consumers - it appears eBay may have taken away the 'price gouging' item reporting reason for items other than banned categories)

- Etsy has made a killing on masks. It's truly unfortunate eBay couldn't figure out how to manage states' requirements (and their AG's) without the spurious 'ban'.

by: pace306

"It's truly unfortunate eBay couldn't figure out how to manage states' requirements (and their AG's) without the spurious 'ban'."

Im suprised too

Both Etsy & Amazon did just fine during this epidemic ... I guess eBay already spent/hid the money from Stubhub and didnt have any left to bribe anymore officials (like they did in San Jose)

by: toolguy

How can a "AUCTION" be price gouging?

That is IMPOSSIBLE!

@Feeling Froggy

Where did the OP mention $40 shipping?

He mentioned he was selling them for $40 a box BEFORE the pandemic and was halted by eBay so he listed them at auction starting at .99 cents,

The ONLY mention of $40 shipping came from you not the OP. . . . .

by: iheartjacksparrow

@toolguy - I believe what FeelingFroggy was attempting to state was that 50 masks for $40 was price gouging. I bought a box of 25 surgical masks a couple of years ago (had a bad cold) and I only paid a few dollars for the box.

by: RL15

I just did a fleecebay search for n95 masks

almost all of them are price gouging

fleecebay really don't care..they want the fvf

by: lancecorp

I bought 50 surgical masks on Amazon for $26.99 a month ago - even those were inflated but when checking Ebay - the sellers there were asking $40 - $60 - extreme price gouging. People are still price gouging and Ebay allowing homemade face masks is going to be out of control. They have no structure and no way to monitor anything. Sellers are stating location as US and making them in Belarus and other overseas countries. Due to the how fast these masks are selling - you are going to have a lot of upset buyers when these sellers get over whelmed.

Yes $40 was price gouging unless you were selling a case with free shipping,

by: Shanna

We need to ask, who are these approved sellers. If you search for face masks and look at the ones sold, you will find half of them are Chinese sellers, and a large portion of the others are the giant 100K item sellers, who just mirror their stores to Amazon and use Amazon as a drop shipper. Who could believe that these 2 groups of sellers could get such special treatment from eBay.

by: Snapped

“ Most the the 'banned' N95 masks were simply listed in other categories (obviously other items have ''N95'' in the title, so not every item is a 'banned' mask (live 'sold' listings)”

And yet...lots of ‘ivory’ COLORED items (and nowhere near enough composed of) were shot dead by eBay with the indiscriminate abandonment of a 19th century elephant safari. Next level irony, there. And that’s just one example of a mine in that minefield that is eBay ‘policy’ enforcement designed to rebut what to them is just bad publicity.

It’s an unsurprising facade of enforcement of a facade of policy applied by a facade of an eCom ‘retailer’.

But hey, it’s something, right?

Sure. It’s the least they can do. They always do the least they can do.

by: COVID-19

Gots to agree with the Froggyman here.  IT IS PRICE GOUGING.  Find something else to price gouge on, like Nintendo Switch!  OK?

by: Marie

Many if not most posters are trying to make this about price gouging when it really isn't.  That is largely Ebay's fault as they keep using those words instead of what they actually did.  

On March 5th Ebay BANNED certain items from being listed.  This was in an effort to curtail price gouging and hoarding.  As in many things Ebay takes on, their execution leaves a lot to be desired.

However it could never be as clean as it was on Amazon.  The way listings are handled on Amazon have not similarity to how they are on Ebay.  Ebay's system is much more individualized and complex.  Still Ebay could have and should have done better.

Etsy is in the middle of their own horror story with sellers not meeting deliveries on fabric face masks and Etsy starting to penalize sellers of fabric face masks significantly by holding money, even on sellers that are shipping.

But back to Ebay.  Some sellers were very persistent and got very creative trying to hide their listings in incorrect categories, mis-spelling words on purpose and the such.  Anything in an effort to hide their listings from Ebay long enough to generate some sales.  And tons of new sellers everywhere.

At least now Ebay has started to allow the fabric face masks to be sold on Ebay.  I personally think that was a good move.  However some sellers that are complaining that they can't get their fabric face masks listed, Ebay still blocks them.  Much of that is due to the seller not adhering to the instructions Ebay gave in the announcement for these products.  So they just need to read the announcement and adhere to the do's and don'ts.

by: RL15

price gouging when it really isn't?

ok

by: iheartjacksparrow

Marie writes: "Many if not most posters are trying to make this about price gouging when it really isn't."

If you will re-read the first sentence of the OPs post, he states: "[eBay] promptly shut me down, with a notification that I was subject to their arbitrary 'price gouging' policy."

The message from eBay is then provided with their subject line "Your account has been restricted: Price gouging policy."

So "this" is about price gouging, at least in the eyes of eBay.

by: Marie

Oh Jack.  I get it.  If you had only read my first paragraph, you might have realized that.  "Many if not most posters are trying to make this about price gouging when it really isn't.  That is largely Ebay's fault as they keep using those words instead of what they actually did."

Ebay has never been know for well worded emails.  And these are no different.  The words "price gouging" are being used by Ebay as a catch all term and that is extremely confusing for most of us.

When listings for N95 masks being sold for realistic or low prices still get shut down, that is NOT price gouging even though the Ebay email says that.  It is getting shut down due to that item being banned on Ebay as of March 5th.

Why Ebay does this I do not know.  If they would just take a little more time and give their emails a little more though they could save us all a great deal of confusion.

by: lancecorp

Marie - these posters are responding to the OP who himself admitted that he was selling a box of masks for $40 plus shipping. I purchased a box last month for $26.99 - which in itself was gouging as these masks before Covid sold for around $10 for a box of 50.You are making this into what you believe is being said - the rest of us are all on the same page - the OP admitted he had marked up the item and was caught price gouging.

by: cillianred

On the subject of price gouging, do a search for ''disinfectant wipes'' on ebay.  Sold and current listing BIN prices are beyond ridiculous. And check the sold auction prices. Though it's debatable whether an auction can be termed price gouging, some auctions for what is essentially a small amount of wipes have ended at prices between $1,000 - $5,000.

by: SalesBoy

This seems all the more strange when you visit Etsy and see face masks for sale at prices that range from almost cheap to stupid expensive!  eBay sucks.  That's an over-simplification, yet quite accurate.

by: KaraT

" This free 'crowdsourcing' rewarded angry users' behavior (as listings were, in fact, removed) and gave them an outlet and a sense of accomplishment. Many encouraged others to also do the same to 'report the bad price gougers' (it's still going on, but to a much lesser degree). "

This strategy is not actually working or enforced. I have come to the conclusion ebay is giving true gougers preferential treatment. Take a look at seller CHOPretail
This account has been selling Germ X which is $5 for $99 PLUS shipping. Listings and seller have been reported yet the item is still there and selling.
Out of curiousity I checked out their other listings and it is appalling. Baby formula for $270 down from $375 and shampoo/body wash for $200

I began selling a few things recently and was surprised my listings would get removed/ended within 20 mins to 1 hr when I was selling (not germX) items for WAY below what had been sold recently. Something else is going on it's like certain accounts are targetted but when you report actual gougers ebay does not send the email in the 1st comment above nor do they restrict those accounts. In what world is it not price gouging to sell baby formula for 375 and sanitizer for 100 PLUS shipping!!!

Here is one of the offending items:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Germ-X-Hand-Sanitizer-Original-32oz
-2-Pack-Moisturizing-Kills-Germs-CHOP/264724968232?hash=item3da2d67328:g:EukAAOSweQFetYrc

or ebay item number: 264724968232

Someone try to explain this to me please.

by: KaraT

"And the excuse that the buyers are the ones that are running the price up doesn't hold a drop of water. A lot of first responders can't get enough of these items and need them to be effective in treating patients. They don't care what price it is. THEY NEED THEM. Only a heartless person would be making money off of this and claiming the buyer bought em. Anyone with just a tad of feelings for the sick and dying would be donating these to their hospitals and doctors who really need them. I would hope that Ebay permanently bans any of these scalpers. "

Ebay isn't banning them at all. Check out seller CHOPRETAIL for sanitizers.

One interesting thing I noticed early on in April was I had listed an item (cant remember the details) at low auction starting bid with a buy it now price of say....9.99. The odd thing was one day I hear all these beeps. What seemed like a bidding war by buyers bidding up the price OVER my buy it now. I thought that incredibly odd. Why would 2 buyers bid to something over $30 when they could just as easily purchase it at 9.99? I think it was ebay testing something out because shortly after this I got the "your listing isnt following policy...your account is restricted" and I get that for anything I list now.

I had to pay over $100/$120 for masks I needed because none were available anywhere. Why were those listings not removed? Yet something I list for $9.99 or 29.99 gets removed almost immediately. (no I am not trying to sell masks on ebay, I need those for my family and myself as we have to work).