NBC 10 I-Team: Hand sanitizer, toilet paper top price gouging complaints

The NBC 10 I-Team learned more than 400 Rhode Islanders have filed complaints with the Attorney General's Office about alleged price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic on items like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, masks and gloves.

One local seller was spotted hawking a two-pack of disinfecting wipes online for a whopping $74 plus shipping. But once the AG's Office reached out to the seller, the posting was removed.

So far, warnings like that one appear to be doing the trick.

"Our office investigates every single price gouging report we receive," said Kristy Dos Reis, Public Information Officer. "Although we have not had situations where we have had to take further formal legal action, there have been instances where retailers/sellers may have crossed the line and our Office has contacted the retailer/seller directly."

Rhode Island has also joined with 33 other states to formally ask online retailers, including Walmart, eBay, and Amazon to monitor their sites for price gouging.

Most of the 402 consumer complaints filed so far did not meet the legal threshold for price gouging, which is defined by Rhode Island law as an "unconscionably high" price during an emergency. In many cases, that was because retailers themselves were paying more for goods and passing the cost on to consumers.

"It's really a natural case of supply and demand," said Kristen Regine, professor of Marketing at Johnson and Wales University in Providence. "Where does this product come from? How far does it have to travel? Is it a product that we're used to getting say, at your local Target or Walmart, and now it has to come in from international waters?"

Regine said retailers may have higher shipping and delivery costs, which leads to high costs on store shelves. It's something the AG's office said investigators found when they looked into complaints.

"Many times we will seek records such as invoices from the retailer to verify their assertion that their own prices went up," Dos Reis said.

That's especially true of smaller stores. A majority of complaints filed with the AG were against small mini-markets, who told the AG's Office they were hit with higher costs. In some cases, that can lead to a closer look at the store’s supplier.

"The owners explained that their regular suppliers were out of merchandise, causing them to seek out other suppliers. The new suppliers charged more, resulting in the business owner having to raise their prices. While those businesses are responding to higher prices from their supplies and not price gouging, we often go on to investigate the supplier for price gouging," Dos Reis told NBC 10.

The AG's Office also received numerous complaints about Ocean State Job Lot charging customers a 2% surcharge for hazard pay for front-line employees. The charge is optional, and signs about it are posted throughout the stores as well as at check-out counters. So, the AG found no laws had been violated.