✨ Don't pay more than you have to. Cash out on evil merchants by suing them for illegal price gouging.

What is price gouging?

Price gouging is when merchants take unfair advantage of consumers during an emergency or disaster by significantly increasing the prices for essential consumer goods and services. They try to profit from vulnerable consumers who have no choice but to pay these absurdly high prices.

Examples of essential goods and services include:

• water

• ice

• food

• generators

• batteries

• home repair services

• tree removal services

• motor fuels

And price gouging is completely illegal.

While there are no federal laws that regulate price gouging, the majority of states have anti-price gouging laws. Even if a state doesn't have an explicit anti-price gouging law, most state governments can issue an executive order to prohibit such practices during a state of emergency.

How to spot price gouging:

While there's no single way to identify price gouging, here are some things to look out for:

1. A significant increase in prices. If the prices of essential goods significantly increase (especially during an emergency or pandemic), this is a major sign of price gouging.
   

2. When a product is priced much higher than similar products. If one brand's oatmeal is priced twice as high as another brand's oatmeal, this can be considered price gouging.