Here’s Why Bottled Water Is So Expensive on Amazon Right Now.
Expensive water is on sale at Amazon.com, prompting accusations that the e-commerce giant is gouging prices to capitalize on back-to-back catastrophic hurricanes afflicting Florida and Texas.
Another Amazon seller, "BestSource OfficeSupplies," posted a 35-pack of Crystal Geyser water for $31.50.
That’s compared to less than $10 at Staples for the same Poland Spring water and $5.63 for the same Crystal Geyser from OfficeDirectSupply.com.
Amazon has suspended 12 merchants for high prices, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday night.
One complaint was from a customer who ordered a case of water from Amazon and was charged $100 for delivery.
People don’t normally buy cases of water stored far away in Amazon warehouses because it is expensive to ship a heavy, low-cost item over a long distance.
Ordinarily, Amazon sells most bottled water through services like Prime Now and Amazon Fresh, which store commonly purchased goods close to shoppers to enable quick delivery.
Amazon’s contention that water prices didn’t go up – just that lower-priced items sold out—didn’t sit well with shoppers, who only saw expensive water during a time of need.
Vague laws about gouging make legal action difficult, said Geoffrey Rapp, a law professor at the University of Toledo who has studied such cases.