Now, black market in pollution masks

Corner stores are apparently doing bulk orders from online sites and then selectively reselling at a substantial profit

Online marketplaces are facing a peculiar problem. With a large part of north India literally gasping for breath, this city in particular, a huge black market in anti-pollution masks has arisen, which they're trying to fight off.

General and corner stores are apparently making money by selling anti-pollution masks bought in bulk from online marketplaces at a discounted price and selling them at the list price. Some are even illegally breaking down packs of masks and selling these loose.

All online marketplaces for these masks have, over recent days, seen surge in demand. However they also noticed anomalies in the order patterns. "We saw that certain orders were inflated, as some ordered eight to 10 units of the same mask at a time. This became a pattern and we realised that some people were buying at discounted rates and selling at higher prices. A little more check revealed these were general stores and mom & pop stores placing these orders," said a senior executive of one of the biggest online marketplaces.

 

So, Amazon, Snapdeal and Flipkart have all put in automated restrictions that stop a customer from buying more than a stipulated number at a time.

"On higher priced masks there might not be any restriction but on masks which are less that Rs 500, we are restricting the sale to two to three," added the executive.

Most of the orders in question had come from smaller towns in Punjab, Haryana and places in and around Delhi, where demand suddenly spiked and medical stores were not able to meet it.

"Considering the growing bulk orders from commercial establishments, offices and others, online face mask sellers are struggling to meet demand. Many general stores across the National Capital Region have made bulk purchases from online portals and are hoarding the same, which is likely to jack up their prices significantly. There is a need for authorities to keep a check on this aspect," said D S Rawat, secretary general of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

However, some trader bodies say it is not black marketing but a shortage masks that is causing a problem. "Because of the rise in demand, there is a scarcity of masks. The market did not anticipate that the demand would suddenly rise," said Confederation of All India Traders secretary general Praveen Khandelwal.
 

India masking for safer breath

1. Anti-pollution masks have been top sellers at all online marketplaces. Amazon.in has seen a six-fold rise in sales of pollution masks over recent days, and a 13-fold rise over last year.

2. The highest number of orders were placed by customers on November 1. Demand continues to be high from northern India, the largest number coming from Delhi.

3. Over the past month, 'masks' has emerged as the largest searched query within the automotive category on Snapdeal.

4. In the past five days, air masks has been among the top three most sold items on Paytm. On Shopclues, there has been a 98 percent increase in the search for pollution masks and air purifiers from the earlier week.