EBay seller cashing in on coronavirus is charging £995 for a tiny bottle of hand sanitiser - with the option to pay it up monthly

Sellers on eBay are cashing in on coronavirus fears by charging over-the-top prices for small bottles of hand sanitiser.

A single bottle of the gel usually costs between £1 and £2, but most high street stores have sold out as panic-byers stock up due to the rising number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 .

We previously reported how a search on Amazon found a host of bottles of the germ-killing gel being flogged by third party sellers at exorbitant prices with one pack of three 50ml Carex bottles on offer for £50.

Another two-pack of 'Love Hearts' anti-bacterial liquid came in at a staggering £35 while a slightly larger pair of 140ml containers are priced at £50.99.

And now sellers on eBay are jumping on the lucrative bandwagon with one offering a single bottle of Carex Bubble Gum Hand Gel, 50ml, for £995 - plus free delivery.

And if you’re thinking the 99,400 per cent price hike is a tad steep - the seller, obrien71jo , is also accepting payment in 24 monthly installments of £47.

We can't work out if the eBay seller is cashing in on the coronavirus or just having a laugh (eBay)

The eBay user has a 100 per cent feedback rating and is also offering a 50ml bottle of Carex Sensitive Hand Gel for the same price and payment options.

There are a few more on offer from other sellers too with slightly lower prices at £600, £700 and £850.

People hoping to protect themselves and their families are being forced to look online for hand sanitisers, but many sellers are taking advantage of the situation to pocket huge profits.

Even popular retailers' own brand hand sanitisers are being sold online for up to 5000% more than their original price thanks to the coronavirus outbreak.

The seller has two 50ml bottles of hand gel on offer for £995 (eBay)

Liberty Marketing analysed the UK's biggest supermarkets and health stores to see how much more own brand hand sanitisers are being sold for on eBay than in store.

Here are the results of their findings:

Lidl

Normal price - 49p

EBay price - £24.99

Price Increase - 5000%

Asda

Normal price - 59p

EBay price - £22.99

Price Increase - 3629%

Morrisons

Normal price - £2

EBay price - £29.99

Price Increase - 1400%

Tesco

Normal price - 75p

EBay price - £9

Price Increase - 1100%

Savers

Normal price - 99p

EBay price - £25.99

Price Increase - 2525%

Boots

Normal price - £1

EBay price - £19.99

Price Increase - 1899%

Superdrug

Normal price - 61p

EBay price - £9.99

Price Increase - 1538%

Emily Webb, HR Manager at Liberty Marketing said: "We, as a business, have been supplying extra anti-bacterial gels and tissues to all members of staff and ordering more than our standard batch, so it is no surprise that eBay sellers are seizing this opportunity to make some more money.

Every business and individual should be taking extra measures to tackle personal hygiene and prevention of illnesses in the office and elsewhere."