<story><title>eBay bans sales of face masks and hand sanitizers to combat price gouging</title><url>https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/06/ebay-bans-sales-of-all-face-masks-and-hand-sanitizers.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nitwit005</author><text>There&amp;#x27;s a shortage of masks because the production facilities for masks cannot be built and staffed instantly. If you tried to start one up now, the price will likely have collapsed by the time you have it running, leaving you with an unprofitable facility.</text></item><item><author>lend000</author><text>eBay is a somewhat unique case, because the goods are often resale items. However, the reaction of many social-economics-warrior types suggests they have failed to realize that this kind of behavior is exactly why there is such a shortage of masks in the first place, despite somewhat recent scares with SARS and Ebola.&lt;p&gt;Letting prices rise is one way to increase production in a hurry. If the mask producers only get to make the same profit margin regardless of demand, why bother fronting the money to increase stock or investing in extra storage space, if there is no guarantee they will be able to recoup those costs during black swans?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>londons_explore</author><text>I own equipment, have stock, and have staff that could start making masks this afternoon (I normally make decorative covers for custom car interiors).&lt;p&gt;It probably isn&amp;#x27;t as fast as other production lines, but I could probably make 2 masks per second, and if I brought in night workers, that works out to a million masks a week.  Not much, but profitable if I could sell them at inflated prices, but not at regular prices.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t though, because I don&amp;#x27;t have the contacts to be able to sell them.   And anyway, I&amp;#x27;m scared of liability if my masks don&amp;#x27;t work as expected.&lt;p&gt;That equipment will sit idle if coronavirus spreads to my bit of the world.</text></comment>
<story><title>eBay bans sales of face masks and hand sanitizers to combat price gouging</title><url>https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/06/ebay-bans-sales-of-all-face-masks-and-hand-sanitizers.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nitwit005</author><text>There&amp;#x27;s a shortage of masks because the production facilities for masks cannot be built and staffed instantly. If you tried to start one up now, the price will likely have collapsed by the time you have it running, leaving you with an unprofitable facility.</text></item><item><author>lend000</author><text>eBay is a somewhat unique case, because the goods are often resale items. However, the reaction of many social-economics-warrior types suggests they have failed to realize that this kind of behavior is exactly why there is such a shortage of masks in the first place, despite somewhat recent scares with SARS and Ebola.&lt;p&gt;Letting prices rise is one way to increase production in a hurry. If the mask producers only get to make the same profit margin regardless of demand, why bother fronting the money to increase stock or investing in extra storage space, if there is no guarantee they will be able to recoup those costs during black swans?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nullc</author><text>If it were possible to sell supplies like this at inflated prices during times of need there would be more incentive for parties to maintain stocks during low demand times.</text></comment>