Writer and editor Sabrina Bovell, said it was like striking liquid gold, when she found the coronavirus-killing Lysol.
It's a rare commodity that hasn't been spotted on store shelves since the pandemic began.
Bovell says she would've paid $10, $15 -- even $20 for a can, but the price she saw the Lysol spray selling for made her angry.
Bovell went to two PPE pop-up vendors in her Brooklyn neighborhood. One vendor in Park Slope was selling face masks, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer and Lysol. The price for a can of the disinfectant was up to $50.
Both vendors said they were simply selling for another guy.
"He's profiting off our misery, basically off our necessity to have this thing," Bovell said.
Consumers have a choice.
"You don't have to buy it, but basically we don't have a choice because he's the only one available," Bovell said.
She says it's like a cable company who monopolizes.
Bovell called 311 to report the price gouging, but they said they don't research vendors. That's when Bovell called 7 On Your Side.
Our team called the NYC Department of Consumer Protection.
NYC Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Lorelei Salas, says that since mid-March, they have sent out over 10,000 gouging violations.
That's more than the agency usually sends out in an entire year.
The pharmacy we reported on back in March, for selling $50 Purell and $200 masks, has been fined $37,500.
"This is not the time to be taking advantage of people who need access to these products to protect themselves," Salas said.
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