MANILA – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will run after sellers who overprice hygiene products, such as alcohol and sanitizer, amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
In a radio interview on Thursday, DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said the department had an arrangement with big online selling platforms to refuse sellers that offer expensive hygiene products.
“They will not accept it if they are overpriced,” Castelo said.
In the United States, an online merchant who had 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer can no longer sell his products online after e-commerce company Amazon suspended his account and other online sellers who are overpricing their products.
Castelo said DTI employees who are working from home amid the enhanced community quarantine can run after online sellers of high-priced hygiene products.
They can send the link of the online seller accounts to e-commerce companies, such as Shopee and Lazada, so they can remove the accounts from the platform, she added.
She said the DTI will also pursue online sellers outside big e-commerce platforms.
“We have an agreement with NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) and DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) to help us find these online sellers,” Castelo said.
She said consumers can report their complaints to the DTI Consumer Care hotline at 1-384, or by sending an e-mail through [email protected]. (PNA)
