Greedy brothers’ plan backfired big time after buying nearly 18,000 pieces of hand sanitizers in an attempt to resell them for up to 70 times their original price during coronavirus outbreak.
Tennessee-based Matthew and Noah Colvin got involved in what the people have dubbed a profiteering scheme as they spent some $10,000 to $15,000 on 17,700 hand sanitizers.
As the Hixson brothers had hoped, emptying local stores of products such as rubbing alcohol would allow them to make a massive profit by reselling the purchased items for up to 70 times more amid incredibly high demand caused by coronavirus outbreak.
“The bulk of it was purchased just driving around to retail stores in the Chattanooga area,” Matt said in an interview with WRCB-TV as he opened up about the pair’s business idea initiated by the global pandemic.
As The New York Times reported, the brothers have opened an Amazon account and started reselling stockpiled hand sanitizers for “crazy money.”
While the brothers were widely slammed and accused of profiteering, Colvin insisted they were simply fixing “inefficiencies in the marketplace.”
“I honestly feel like it’s a public service. I’m being paid for my public service,” he added.
After a while, however, Amazon pulled the plug and suspended the brothers’ account along with accounts of other sellers involved in price gouging.
Being left with nearly 18,000 sanitizing products and no one to sell them to online, the brothers decided to shift their focus to meet the local demands.
“If I can make a slight profit, that’s fine. But I’m not looking to be in a situation where I make the front page of the news for being that guy who hoarded 20,000 bottles of sanitizer that I’m selling for 20 times what they cost me,” he added.
Following a severe backlash on social media after the names of the brothers went viral, however, the Colvins apparently had a change of heart and decided to look into donating the hoarded products instead.
“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,” Matt said in an interview with Chattanooga Times Free Press.
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Replaced!