Want to make a buck selling masks? Amazon warns sellers!

Recently, the domestic epidemic has begun to show signs of improvement, and many official forecasts have shown that the epidemic can be basically controlled by the end of April. However, there is now a new problem. The new coronavirus epidemic has a tendency to rage abroad.

According to the data so far, South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy are all facing increasingly serious and difficult to control epidemics. There has been a large-scale community transmission in northern Italy, and South Korea has become the world's second largest new crown epidemic area in the past two days. Confirmed cases have appeared in various regions of the country, and thousands of people have been quarantined.

China's production capacity of masks and other epidemic prevention materials accounts for more than half of the world's total. As the epidemic recovers, the production capacity will certainly increase. However, due to the worsening epidemic abroad, masks will be in short supply. The smart cross-border sellers must have thought, then I will sell masks on Amazon, it will definitely be easy to sell!

In fact, there are quite a few sellers who have had this idea recently and have even put it into practice. Many students have come to consult me ​​about the review and listing of related categories. Here I would like to remind everyone that it is good to have ideas, but it should be noted that Amazon has issued a warning to sellers who are selling masks and other epidemic prevention materials in the past two days.

Amazon’s warning

According to the information provided by Amazon to foreign media, Amazon has warned some mask sellers who "do not comply with the platform's pricing principles" and directly removed the listings with outrageous prices .

The official also directly stated that "pricing practices that undermine customer trust violate Amazon's fair pricing policy. If sellers set prices for products and services that are significantly higher than the prices recently offered, they may be asked to withdraw from Amazon at their discretion."

Due to the worsening overseas epidemic, the prices of masks on Amazon are skyrocketing. The price of 100 disposable masks has quadrupled from a few weeks ago; the price of N95 masks manufactured by 3M and Honeywell has increased even more, from US$12.4-17 at the end of January to US$64-70 now.

In addition to panic buying by consumers, some merchants who took advantage of the situation were also the driving force behind the rise. In Italy, where the epidemic is severe, relevant local government agencies have begun investigating the crazy online prices of medical supplies, and Amazon is the focus of monitoring.

That is to say, during the epidemic, both Amazon and the media will keep a close eye on the prices of masks sold by third-party sellers, and will remove the listings if the prices are obviously unreasonable. Sellers who want to develop epidemic prevention products now need to be more cautious when setting prices.

Despite very strict supervision, it has to be said that the current global mask shortage is quite serious. On Tuesday, a US CDC spokesperson publicly stated that the current demand for medical N95 masks in the United States is more than 300 million , while the existing N95 inventory in the United States is only about 30 million . The situation is not optimistic.

Currently, only 5% of medical masks in the United States are produced by local manufacturers, and the rest are mostly from China and Mexico. We still have to fill the gap in masks for the Americans.

So my suggestion is that you can wear masks, but you must be carefully prepared and consider the following points carefully based on your own situation.

1. Due to Amazon's strict control, price increases based on cost and other reasons are acceptable, but there may not be an outrageous profit margin.

2. Regarding the issue of market competition, it is foreseeable that in the next few months, large numbers of people will flock into the medical device industry.

3. Amazon is also screening listings with false descriptions about epidemic products. If the seller claims that the product is a "surgical mask" or "disinfectant" with certain functions and labels but lacks relevant proof, it will be removed from the shelves.

4. Possible logistics control in the future. During our epidemic, a large number of flights to and from the United States were terminated. Both bulk cargo and express delivery have to transit through Hong Kong. If the epidemic in overseas countries worsens in the future, strict logistics control cannot be ruled out.

Pay attention to the above problems. If there can be better solutions and corresponding plans, mask products still have considerable potential for development in the future.