Matt and Noah Colvin of Hixson, who hoarded a lot of hand sanitizer and start selling them for as much as $70 each amid the coronavirus outbreak, say they have ‘nothing to hide,’ in response to a state investigation that’s now underway.
The attorney general stepped in after the brothers spent $10,000 to $15,000 stocking up hand sanitizer and other items.
Colvin told The New York Times that he started listing some of the products on Amazon – and was selling them at a considerable markup. He said that’s insane amount of money.
A bottle of Purell hand sanitizer normally sells for $1 each. On Amazon, he charged $20 for a two-pack set.
Colvin says that the cost of delivering it to customers as well as Amazon’s commission eat into profits.
Just because it cost me $2 in the store doesn’t mean it’s not going to cost me $16 to get it to your door.
Amazon shut them down as well as thousands of other listings for hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and antibacterial wipes.
Colvin was then left with nearly 18,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and thousands of packages of wipes and nowhere to sell them.
After the Times posted its report on the Colvin brothers:
Colvin brothers deleted their social media accounts.
Matt Colvin told the Chattanooga Times Free Press they’ll donate the inventory to “a local church and first responders.”
I’m trying to figure out where to donate it to. I didn’t anticipate the magnitude of what was going to be happening now. If donating the product stops the death threats, it’s worth it.
Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III told WRCB:
We will not tolerate price gouging in this time of need, and we will take aggressive action to stop it.
A cease-and-desist notice is issued.