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He Has 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer and Nowhere to Sell Them
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | March 14, 2020 | by Jack Nicas, New York Times

Posted on 03/15/2020 6:42:44 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

On March 1, the day after the first coronavirus death in the United States was announced, brothers Matt and Noah Colvin set out in a silver SUV to pick up some hand sanitizer. Driving around Chattanooga, Tennessee, they hit a Dollar Tree, then a Walmart, a Staples and a Home Depot. At each store, they cleaned out the shelves.

Over the next three days, Noah Colvin took a 1,300-mile road trip across Tennessee and into Kentucky, filling a U-Haul truck with thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer and thousands of packs of antibacterial wipes, mostly from “little hole-in-the-wall dollar stores in the backwoods,” his brother said. “The major metro areas were cleaned out.”

Matt Colvin stayed home near Chattanooga, preparing for pallets of even more wipes and sanitizer he had ordered, and starting to list them on Amazon. Colvin said he had posted 300 bottles of hand sanitizer and immediately sold them all for between $8 and $70 each, multiples higher than what he had bought them for. To him, “it was crazy money.” To many others, it was profiteering from a pandemic.

The next day, Amazon pulled his items and thousands of other listings for sanitizer, wipes and face masks. The company suspended some of the sellers behind the listings and warned many others that if they kept running up prices, they’d lose their accounts. EBay soon followed with even stricter measures, prohibiting any U.S. sales of masks or sanitizer.

Now, while millions of people search in vain for hand sanitizer to protect themselves from the spread of the coronavirus, Colvin is sitting on 17,700 bottles of the stuff with little idea where to sell them.

“It’s been a huge amount of whiplash,” he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:

Matt Colvin with his stock of hand sanitizer and other supplies in demand due to coronavirus concerns that he was selling online until Amazon and other sites started cracking down on price gouging, at his home

1 posted on 03/15/2020 6:42:44 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I have no sympathy for him. He wanted to cash in on a shortage he helped to create...


2 posted on 03/15/2020 6:44:09 AM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Matt....can you say ‘backfire’??


3 posted on 03/15/2020 6:45:12 AM PDT by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.cuase)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Craigslist will allow him sales I am sure


4 posted on 03/15/2020 6:46:37 AM PDT by CGASMIA68
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Amazon isn’t helping by taking them off the market


5 posted on 03/15/2020 6:46:53 AM PDT by for-q-clinton
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

There is always Craigslist.


6 posted on 03/15/2020 6:47:19 AM PDT by HypatiaTaught (Time to lock up "Let them eat Yellow Cake" Hillary)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Perhaps he can redeem himself by donating the items.


7 posted on 03/15/2020 6:47:45 AM PDT by Maudeen (http://ThereIsHopeinJesus.com/)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Dear Matt:

Open another Amazon account or use one from somebody you know. Sell your products at the current going rate that is acceptable to Amazon.

You will get your money back at the minimum. You won’t get rich. The world will be better off.


8 posted on 03/15/2020 6:47:53 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (Ted, you finally endorsed.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

He should open an auction on E-bay and see what he can get.


9 posted on 03/15/2020 6:48:59 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Park the truck on the side of the road in a big city with a banner sign on the side of it and you’ll sell out.


10 posted on 03/15/2020 6:49:05 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I think this was posted on another thread yesterday.


11 posted on 03/15/2020 6:50:14 AM PDT by TheConservativeBanker
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

What a scumbag...wearing a “Family Man - Family Business” t-shirt in a pathetic and craven attempt to garner sympathy.


12 posted on 03/15/2020 6:51:37 AM PDT by CASchack
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Take bags of it to swamped airports and sell to people who have been tied up in screening for hours. If they run you off, go to another airport. Hustle, get it sold. Just don’t charge so much.


13 posted on 03/15/2020 6:51:37 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Nothing like being a greedy bastard and exploiting people in need.

He could have made a lot profit by being a decent human being.

14 posted on 03/15/2020 6:51:58 AM PDT by Popman
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To: jeffc

I disagree with your comment “... that he helped create.” Maybe locally and maybe for a few days in some stores until they were restocked, but hardly a blip on the national scale. His problem was trying to sell an $8 bottle for $80. Selling an $8 bottle for $19.95 is an acceptable margin and is hardly worth Amazon shutting him down.


15 posted on 03/15/2020 6:52:13 AM PDT by ByteMercenary (Healthcare Insurance is *NOT* a Constitutional right.)
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

yep


16 posted on 03/15/2020 6:53:31 AM PDT by ealgeone
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
The amount of damage this POS has done is remarkable. Amazing he went public about it. His only way out would be to return it all to where he got it from or to the people who need it.
17 posted on 03/15/2020 6:54:36 AM PDT by Vision (Obama corrupted, sought to weaken and fundamentally change America; he didn't plan on being stopped.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Speculation: an act or instance of speculating: such as a : assumption of unusual business risk in hopes of obtaining commensurate gain
18 posted on 03/15/2020 6:55:21 AM PDT by Slainte
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