Is it permissible to make a profit out of fear of the Corona epidemic? US online retailers who offered masks at a massive overprice have now been punished by Amazon. What's behind this?

Corona-Virus, Price Gouging and Amazon

/in /by

Is it permissible to make a profit out of fear of the Corona epidemic? In the USA, online retailers have massively increased the prices for the currently highly demanded respiratory masks. According to a report by the news magazine Spiegel, Amazon is currently punishing overly audacious retailers and even banning them from its online platform. The company justifies this with a violation of price guidelines.

Pricing expert Prof. Hans-Christian Riekhof points out an essential aspect: “Anyone who regularly reads our Pricing Newsletter knows the concept of good and bad profits: bad profits are those that come at the expense of the customer relationship. A very sensible and plausible definition, but it is not used in this form in many companies.”

Interestingly, Amazon is different in its approach to such retailers on its platform who have multiplied the prices for the protective masks in the face of the Corona crisis, sometimes by four to five times the regular price. “It seems that bad profits are feared here. After all, in this case, it is not the Amazon profits that are to be waived, but the contribution margins of the retailers on the Amazon platform”, says Riekhof.

According to the US magazine “Wired”, which the Spiegel report refers to, the online retailer has warned several sellers and deleted some overpriced offers from its platform.

Read the US original message that the Spiegel refers to:
https://www.wired.com/story/covid-19-amazon-curb-face-mask-price-gouging/

Photo: Sunyu Kim/Pexels

You might also like
The German Craftsmanship Newspaper discusses in a current article the question of how craftsmen can enforce higher prices. The editorial team found professional advice from Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof of UnicConsult, pricing expert at the Private University of Göttingen (PFH). Michael Otto on the digital transformation of the Otto Group
Transaktionskosten Pricing-Newsletter No. 99 (2025): Make Transaction Costs a Component of Your Pricing Strategy
In its current newsletter "Grone Digi-News", the educational institute picks up the lecture "Digitization of our lives" by Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof, which he held as a guest speaker at the Grobe Education Center in Hamburg-Hammerbrook. Grone Digi-News picks up lecture by Pricing Expert Riekhof
The German Craftsmanship Newspaper discusses in a current article the question of how craftsmen can enforce higher prices. The editorial team found professional advice from Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof of UnicConsult, pricing expert at the Private University of Göttingen (PFH). Why Roßmann is demanding a special tax for Amazon – and why this idea is risky
The German Craftsmanship Newspaper discusses in a current article the question of how craftsmen can enforce higher prices. The editorial team found professional advice from Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof of UnicConsult, pricing expert at the Private University of Göttingen (PFH). Zalando Co-CEO Rubin Ritter on the Online Presence of Brands
Mehr-Preise Pricing-Newsletter No. 97 (2025): Do You Need More Prices?
Rarely have companies faced such challenges in pricing as they do now. The next two-day intensive pricing seminar with pricing expert Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof will take place in Hamburg on 30.09./01.10.2022. Pricing Seminar on 30.09/01.10.2022 in Hamburg
The German Craftsmanship Newspaper discusses in a current article the question of how craftsmen can enforce higher prices. The editorial team found professional advice from Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof of UnicConsult, pricing expert at the Private University of Göttingen (PFH). German Craftsmanship Newspaper quotes Pricing Expert Riekhof