SPOKANE, Wash.- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) secured a proposed court order on Feb. 26 which would ban an online business from selling personal protective equipment (PPE) after the retailer failed to deliver supplies within a promised 24-hour window.
SuperGoodDeals, a website owned by Kevin Lipsitz, promised customers that they would receive masks and other protective equipment the day after it was ordered.
This “next day shipping” promise was not fulfilled and occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when supplies were the most sought after by consumers. The FTC argues that this failure to efficiently deliver on-deadline endangered healthcare workers and immunocompromised people.
Lipsitz agreed to the court order which would compel him to turn over nearly $150,000 in profits and would bar his company from ever selling PPEs.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused irregular fluctuations of the supply chain which made it difficult to obtain PPEs, and to distribute them effectively.
On the same day the FTC announced the proposed court order barring Lipsitz, the Washington State Department of Health said that it had to dispose of $1.5 million of pandemic supplies. This follows a trend of other states disposing of COVID-19 era protective stockpiles.
