Worldwide panic has led many to flock to the supermarkets, fighting over goods and emptying all shelves. Some sellers on Souq.com are gauging prices of disinfectants and sanitizers due to high demand on such products amidst COVID-19 outbreak.

The price of one Dettol surface disinfectant reached EGP 800 ($50), almost five times higher than its original price EGP 150 ($10).

Earlier this week, Amazon, which owns Souq.com took measures to fight coronavirus related price gouging on its platform. It removed “530,000 high-priced offers from its market place and suspended 2500 of seller accounts. The platform restricted sales of face masks, hand sanitizer and other sanitation products only to its existing sellers who have not violated its fair pricing policy. According to the Verge, the company has also “removed millions of products for making false coronavirus claims.”

On the other hand, Souq.com, which was acquired by Amazon for $580 million, has yet to make a statement or reveal its plans to fight price gouging on its platform.

Sanitation to Fight COVID-19

In an attempt to combat the coronavirus outbreak, the WHO and governments around the world have instructed citizens to wash their hands and disinfect surfaces regularly. This led to the quick disappearance of sanitation products from hypermarkets around the world.

The virus has quickly spread and around the world and infected around 173,285 people and taken 6,668 lives so far.

Update: Souq.com revealed in a statement to WAYA that its response to coronavirus-related price gauging is the same as Amazon’s. Adding “We’re also working to ensure that no one artificially raises prices on basic need products during this pandemic and have blocked or removed tens of thousands of items, in line with our long-standing policy. We actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policy.”