Coronavirus face masks: Sellers on eBay and Facebook are profiting from the outbreak by selling masks for 10 times their value

Nov 01, 2023

Online marketplaces are full of people selling face masks at much higher prices in the wake of growing global anxiety over the coronavirus.

Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Instagram and Amazon are inundated with sellers profiteering from these face masks, with many including inaccurate claims about what the products can do.

Sebastian is a seller on Facebook Marketplace and tells i that he bought his stock from online retailers AliExpress and Wish.

"I sell whatever's high on the stock market if I’m low on money to make some easy [cash]," he wrote.

He only started selling on the platform two days ago, but also has a shop on eBay. He explained that he bought the masks for £4 each, but he now advertises for ‘Face Mask with Activated Carbon Filter for Virus's or Bacteria’ for £10 each.

Many of the listings also contain false information.

Another Facebook Market seller was seen to be charging nearly £10,000 for a box of 500 face masks on Facebook Marketplace, and claimed the FFP3 style mask – the third class of masks in Europe which offers the most protection – was the only effective one against Covid-19, and that FFP1 or FFP2 are "useless".

However, FFP2 masks are currently used as protection against the virus and offer a minimum of 94 per cent filtration, according to Medical Expo. Moreover, the product description detailed alarming claims, such as Chinese manufacturers shutting down and making the masks hard to obtain.

A listing on Amazon for 10 FFP2 masks was seen marked up at £210. This compares to a UK medical supplies website selling 25 for £74.99, and a UK tools website selling a pack of 10 for £20.69.

In fact, Amazon itself announced this week that it had banned more than 1million products from its website with "suspect or misleading claims" on coronavirus.

Face masks are commonly used by health professionals during medical procedures, but have been adopted by many for everyday use recently. The World Health Organisation (WHO) have said that anyone healthy does not need to wear a mask unless they are taking care of a person suspected of having Covid-19, or if they themselves are coughing or sneezing.

For Sebastion, selling face masks is only a side job as he's a music producer full-time. While the masks get a fair bit of interest, this has only translated to roughly two sales a day so far.

When asked about criticism against the business venture and whether he felt it profited from public health anxiety, he agreed that there was some truth in it.

"But then at the same time if people don't sell masks then no-one is protected," he added.

Platforms reiterated that profiteering on items by making inaccurate claims was against guidelines.

Facebook highlighted it was cracking down on false products descriptions.

"We’re prohibiting people from making health or medical claims related to the coronavirus on Marketplace including those that guarantee a product will prevent someone from contracting it," a Facebook Company spokesperson said.

"In addition, if we receive reports from authorities that someone is violating local laws against price gouging, we will review it and take the appropriate action."

When asked about profiteering on its site, Amazon said it was "disappointed".

"There is no place for price gouging on Amazon," a spokesperson said. "We are disappointed that bad actors are attempting to artificially raise prices on basic need products during a global health crisis and, in line with our long-standing policy, have recently blocked or removed tens of thousands of offers. We proactively remove offers that violate our policies."

eBay said it had a ‘Disaster and Tragedy’ policy in place which prevent sellers from attempting to profit significantly from the corornavirus outbreak, or any other emergency.

"Sellers are not allowed to make health claims or list items that could help to prevent the spread of the virus at unreasonably inflated prices. We will remove listings and action sellers that breach our policies," a spokesperson said.