BATON
ROUGE, LA – Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has joined with 32 of his
fellow state attorneys general in urging Amazon, Facebook, Ebay, Walmart, and
Craigslist to more rigorously monitor price gouging practices by online sellers
using their services.
“We want the business community
and American consumers to know that we endeavor to balance the twin imperatives
of commerce and consumer protection in the marketplace,” said General Landry
and his colleagues in letters to the retail giants. “And, while we appreciate
reports of the efforts made by platforms and online retailers to crack down on
price gouging as the American community faces an unprecedented public health
crisis, we are calling on you to do more at a time that requires national
unity.”
The letters list several examples of price-gouging on these marketplace
platforms, all of which took place only in March: on Craigslist, a two-liter
bottle of hand sanitizer was being sold for $250; on Facebook Marketplace, an
eight-ounce bottle was being sold for $40; and on Ebay, packs of face masks
were being sold for $40 and $50.
General Landry and the attorney general coalition recommended changes to
protect consumers from price gouging:
Set policies and
enforce restrictions on unconscionable price gouging during emergencies: Online retail platforms should prevent unconscionable price
increases from occurring by creating and enforcing strong policies that prevent
sellers from deviating in any significant way from the product’s price before
an emergency. Such policies should examine historical seller prices, and the
price offered by other sellers of the same or similar products, to identify and
eliminate price gouging.
Trigger price gouging protections prior to an emergency
declaration, such as when your systems
detect conditions like pending weather events or future possible health risks.
Implement a complaint portal for consumers to report potential price gouging.
General Landry continues to encourage consumers to report suspected price gouging to their local law enforcement as, in certain
situations, price gouging is a crime. Additionally, he asks that consumer
disputes be filed with his office as they may be able to seek a civil penalty
and civil restitution against an offender. In both, General Landry encourages
consumers to provide specific evidence supporting the complaint, including advertisements
and receipts of the product or service.
Joining the Louisiana AG on this effort were the attorneys
general from Connecticut, New Mexico, Pennsylvania,
Vermont, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho,
Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota,
Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming, and Puerto
Rico.
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Copies of the letters may be found below.