REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A worker checks the temperature of a passenger arriving into Hong Kong International Airport with an infrared thermometer, following the coronavirus outbreak in Hong Kong, China, February 7, 2020.
Thermometers are selling for hundreds of dollars on Amazon as the online retailer tries to curb price-gouging during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Amazon did not respond to a request for comment, but said in a statement to customers on its website that it is actively monitoring its marketplace and removing offers that violate policies against price-gouging.
"We're also working to ensure that no one artificially raises prices on basic need products during this pandemic and have blocked or removed tens of thousands of items, in line with our long-standing policy," the company said.
Amazon said earlier this month that it has removed over 530,000 items and 2,500 sellers from its platform for price-gouging. The company also said it is assisting state attorneys general in prosecuting extreme cases of price-gouging.
A Tennessee man who hoarded over 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer before being blocked from selling them recently donated the supplies after Tennessee's attorney general investigated him for price-gouging, according to a report for The New York Times.
Do you work at Amazon and know more about the company's approach to preventing price-gouging? Contact the reporter of this piece, Bryan Pietsch, at bpietsch@businessinsider.com.