Amazon suspends 4,000 seller accounts over price gouging

The operator of the largest US online marketplace said it has pulled well over half a million offers and suspended more than 3,900 selling accounts in the U.S. for violating its fair pricing policies.

FILE - In this July 27, 2018 file photo, the logo for Amazon is displayed on a screen at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York. Amazon wants to depose President Donald Trump over the tech company's losing bid for a $10 billion military contract. The Pentagon awarded the cloud computing project to Microsoft in October. Amazon later sued, arguing that Trump's interference and bias against the company harmed Amazon's chances of winning the contract. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) (AP)

Amazon said it has suspended thousands of seller accounts for price gouging during the coronavirus pandemic.

The operator of the largest US online marketplace said it has pulled well over half a million offers and suspended more than 3,900 selling accounts in the US for violating its fair pricing policies.

Amazon said it deployed a dedicated team to identify and investigate "unfairly priced" products that are in high demand, such as protective masks and hand sanitizer.

"We are also proactively sharing information with state attorneys general and federal regulators about sellers we suspect have engaged in egregious price gouging of products related to the COVID-19 crisis," the company said in a statement Monday.

Since the coronavirus outbreak escalated in the U.S., there have been runs on hand sanitizer, toilet paper, bleach wipes, meat and canned soup, among other products. Some people have attempted to sell cleaning products and other supplies at inflated prices on Amazon, EBay Inc. and other sites.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to prevent hoarding and price increases of supplies.