The Columbus Dispatch | George Shillcock
A southeast Ohio couple is being sued by the state for hoarding hand sanitizer and selling it for 11 times the price to profit off of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marcus and Ellen Fultz of Athens are accused of using an Amazon account to resell hundreds of bottles of hand sanitizer, which are in high demand because of the pandemic. According to the lawsuit, they stocked up on bulk quantities of the sanitizer and listed them for sale, jacking up the price by as much as 1,017.3%.
“This is appalling behavior and should be answered in a court of law,” Attorney General Dave Yost said in a release. “Even more, it points out the need for a specific price-gouging law.”
The attorney general’s office obtained Amazon records that show the couple made over $26,700 from the sale of 600 bottles of Purell hand sanitizer in February and March. Prior to the pandemic the price of these same products was significantly less.
For example, the duo charged $39.44 for 8-ounce bottles of Purell Advanced Hand Sanitizer Refreshing Gel, which cost $3.53 on Amazon prior to the pandemic, Yost’s office said.