Price controls call to stop online profiteers
However, Which? said it has found hundreds more cases on platforms such as Amazon and eBay.
Despite many listings being removed by both firms, the consumer group said it had found new listings, including bottles of Carex handwash priced at £40 and Dettol cleaner priced at £59.99.
Researchers for Which? also said they found what appeared to be listings which had been previously removed by Amazon back on the site with inflated prices.
Which? said it was now time for the Government to step in with emergency legislation to cap prices on essential products to stop the practice from continuing.
Sue Davies, head of consumer protection at Which?, said: “Amazon and eBay seem unable to stop coronavirus profiteering, leaving some unscrupulous sellers to have a field day exploiting people by selling essential items at appallingly high prices.
“It is time for the Government, working with the CMA, to step in with strong action to stamp out price gouging and keep the price of vital goods reasonable.”
In a statement given to Which?, eBay said: “We have extremely effective measures in place to combat price gouging, with heavy restrictions on the listing of some in-demand products at unreasonable prices, resulting in five million automatically blocked attempts to price gouge, an additional 600,000 removed, and thousands of seller accounts suspended.”
Amazon told Which?:
“There is no place for price gouging on Amazon. We continue to actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policies.”
Meanwhile, pension savers are being warned to watch out for investment scams promising too-good-to-betrue returns as criminals cash in on people’s money worries.
The Association of British Insurers said scam attempts may increase during an economic downturn as fraudsters look to exploit people’s anxieties and fears.
People and business owners may receive emails, calls or texts from criminals impersonating claims management companies, insurers, pensions providers and other organisations to trick them into providing personal or financialinformationormoney.