Parents Getting Gouged by Online Sellers of Formula

Resellers GOUGING Desperate Parents – Absolutely Insane

(UnitedHeadlines.com) – The baby formula shortage in the US is causing several issues for American families. Parents are finding it increasingly difficult to buy formula for their infants to feed them. Additionally, many individuals have fallen victim to vendors who are gouging them with outrageous price mark-ups.

As parents find it increasingly difficult to purchase formula from their local stores, they’re turning to online sales. While buying online has proven to be more an effective way of finding supplies, it also comes at a much higher cost.

Some people are taking advantage of the shortage and buying up existing formula supplies so they can resell it to parents at outrageous prices — sometimes two, three, or even four times as much as they paid. Unscrupulous individuals did the same thing with facemasks, toilet paper, and other necessities in the early months of the pandemic.

Parents and caregivers are struggling to find baby formula on the shelves, and when it does show up on shelves and online, sellers are price gouging.

The health and survival of our babies is not something to price gouge. We need the Ending Corporate Greed Act now. pic.twitter.com/ZijEc9UmjL

— Congressman Jamaal Bowman (@RepBowman) May 13, 2022

NBC News reported that parents are speaking out against online retailers like Amazon and eBay for not doing more to prevent the predatory practice of price gouging. For example, a 42-year-old woman named Lisa Davis claims she has flagged about 20 instances of price gouging on eBay. In one instance, she reported a vendor for selling a can of Enfamil Gentlease for $60 plus shipping and handling, a figure more than three times the price other sites like Walgreens charge when they have it in stock. Sadly, the online marketplace failed to take any action to correct the situation.

Several attorneys general and elected officials have raised concerns over the practice. Two Connecticut Democrats, Representative Rosa DeLauro and Senator Richard Blumenthal, sent a letter to Lina Khan, Chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission, warning of the price gouging practices across online retailers.

Are this just price fluctuations due to supply and demand and something parents will have to learn to deal with? Or are people being unreasonably selfish and greedy?