When people charge 10-20X more for something that could have been purchased in a local store before the “arbitrage” businesses purchased all the inventory, that is clearly price gouging.
"He quickly sold all 2,000 of the 50-packs of masks on eBay, pricing them from $40 to $50 each, and sometimes higher. He declined to disclose his profit on the record but said it was substantial."
$100,000 gross revenue ($50 each), let's say shipping, fees, and price variance were 25%. That's still $75,000 for a $7,000 investment. 10x returns.
When I sold on Amazon, every so often I'd be able to 10X my money on a product, but it was rare and balanced out by the many more times that I would lose money on a product or have to write off completely because it didn't sell.
I think if there'd be no price gouging laws and everyone expected to be allowed to sell on Amazon, people would end up pricing lower and there'd be more supply and competition.
There's also uncertainty because when Amazon was banning for price gouging they never made it clear what price level counted as gouging. Wholesale prices shot up, and it was unclear whether selling at a reasonable margin, but based on a higher cost, would be considered gouging.
Also, Amazon this week banned all offers, not just ones that were deemed to be price gouging. eBay did the same already more than a week ago.