Coronavirus fears have ecommerce platforms fighting fake face masks

Alibaba announced on Weibo that it removed 15 merchants for selling fake or inferior masks and reported five of them to the authorities. JD removed seven merchants, according to state media reports. Alibaba also said it removed 570,000 mask listings suspected to be problematic and is cooperating with the police to home in on shoddy mask manufacturers.

Local ecommerce platforms also vowed to prevent price spikes for medical equipment, including masks and disinfectant before the Lunar New Year. This problem extends beyond mainland China, too, even though it’s most affected by the epidemic. In Hong Kong, online demand for masks has overwhelmed shopping agents. One shipping agency said volumes of overseas shipments are bigger than during Black Friday. With many orders going unfulfilled, people have been seen waiting in lines in front of pharmacies that might jack up face mask prices two- or threefold.