Is It Immoral to Increase the Price of Goods During a Crisis?

Yes. This behavior is taking advantage of someone else’s suffering. It might also indirectly lead to the deaths of others.

Some masks cost a few dollars more, this is because the factory needs to pay for overtime and other things because a lot more masks are needed. In this case, the rise in price is completely understandable. But the middleman trying to earn more price difference than normal is absolutely shameless. I’m not saying that their labor doesn’t have a value. They can earn what they normally earn, but not more than that.

How much responsibility do online retailers like Amazon and eBay have to prevent price gouging during a crisis? Do you think these companies did the right thing in restricting sales of any coronavirus-related products from certain sellers?

They should try their best to ensure that everyone has equal access to products that are essential for survival because lives are equal. Equal access means that the price of masks and hand sanitizers should not place a barrier between people in different economic status. We trusted those platforms to be holding justice. Otherwise, if there’s no trust, no one dares to buy things online. They are doing good. There’s a saying in Chinese “不患寡而患不均”, basically means unevenness is more harmful than lack. Our society has to be together. If we want to overcome this COVID-19 crisis, we have to work together.