A man who had stockpiled 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer in the hopes of re-selling the bottles on Amazon has donated his inventory, The New York Times reports.
On Saturday, Matt Colvin of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was the subject of a Times piece about Amazon sellers who had stockpiled hand sanitizers and disinfectants in the hopes of selling the products for profit. The Times reported that in the days after the first coronavirus-related death was reported in the United States, Colvin and his brother Noah drove 1,300 miles across Tennessee and into Kentucky to stockpile the products.
Soon after, Matt Colvin began re-selling the products on Amazon, charging as much as $70 a bottle. He ended up selling about 300 bottles, but soon after, the online retailer pulled his listings for disinfectants and face masks.
The Times report showed the Covin and other independent sellers were charging many multiples more for the same products that Amazon was selling directly to consumers.
The New York Times' piece prompted outrage from hundreds on social media. Colvin told The Times he received death threats after the piece about him was published.
On Sunday, The Times reported that Colvin would not sell the rest of his stockpile. Instead, he donated two-thirds of the products to a local church and donated the rest to the Tennesse attorney general's office.
There remains a shortage of hand sanitizer and respirator masks throughout the country. Earlier this month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state would begin producing its own hand sanitizer, which would be manufactured by state prisoners.
While Trump administration officials have declined to specify how much supply of face masks and respiratiors there is in the United States, reports indicate there may be a
shortage.