Attorney General Josh Shapiro last week joined colleagues from other states requesting that Amazon, Facebook, Ebay, Walmart, and Craigslist more rigorously monitor price gouging practices by online sellers using their services.

“Ripping off consumers by jacking up prices in the middle of a public emergency is against the law and online resellers like Amazon must join in this fight,” said Attorney General Josh Shapiro in his letter. “These companies form the backbone of online retail and have an obligation to stop illegal price gouging now and put strong practices into place to stop it from happening in the future.”

“Americans are already worried about their health and the health of their loved ones during this pandemic. They shouldn’t also have to worry about being ripped off on the critical supplies they need to get through it,” said Adam Garber, U.S. PIRG Education Fund Consumer Watchdog.

The letter lists several examples of price-gouging on these marketplace platforms, all of which took place only in March: on Craigslist, a 2-liter bottle of hand sanitizer was being sold for $250; on Facebook Marketplace, an 8-ounce bottle was being sold for $40; and on Ebay, packs of face masks were being sold for $40 and $50.

Officials recommend several changes to protect consumers from price gouging:

Set policies and enforce restrictions on 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.