GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Sixteen companies in Wisconsin received cease and desist letters for alleged price gouging last week, but what exactly constitutes gouging can be a bit muddy.
During a declared state of emergency, companies charging over 15% of the pre-emergency price could be hit for gouging prices. But that isn’t always a clear-cut line in the sand.
“I know that their prices are going up as well for transportation and things like that. What we’re asking the public to do is file a complaint,” says Susan Bach of the Better Business Bureau, “If they can prove that their costs have gone up, and that what they are charging is reasonable – then that’s a different story.”
Bach recommends filing complaints with the BBB and Department of Trade and Consumer Protection. Both agencies investigate complaints to determine whether a company is gouging.
“Be as specific as you possibly can. Include photos of any advertisements or displays, receipts,” Bach says, “A lot of people are going to want to report the person on Facebook Marketplace selling $100 bottles of hand sanitizer, and that’s really not what we’re looking for. It has to be a business, retailer, or wholesaler.”
Many recent cases of price gouging have come from online sources, where shoppers took to the web after learning local retailers were quickly running out of supplies.
“The people who I think fell victim to price gouging are the people who panicked,” Bach says.
Identifying whether a company is gouging prices on everyday items might take a savvy shopper in some cases – but in some reported incidents, it’s extremely obvious.
“If somebody is charging double, triple, quadruple what the normal price would be,” Bach tells WTAQ News, “Rolls of toilet paper for $10, paper towel for $40, which are both cases that we’ve seen. You can assume that that’s an unreasonable price.”
For more information, head to bbb.org/council/coronavirus/.
