£65k loo roll: the prices paid before eBay's Covid crackdown

And here's why: these eye-watering prices for ordinary household goods were all recorded on auctions marked 'sold' in recent weeks as desperate customers faced bare supermarket shelves.

• £1,300 for 4 500g boxes of spaghetti

• £21,300 for a tub of follow-on baby milk

• £24,300 for two 118ml bottles of hand sanitiser

• £30,500 for a can of Dettol antibacterial spray

• £49,700 for a bottle of 'luxurious' scented handwash

• £65,100 for just 8 rolls of Andrex 3-ply toilet roll

It's prices like these that have led eBay to restrict the sales of certain items to a small 'whitelist' of business sellers only, including:

• Face masks
• Hand sanitisers
• Toilet roll
• Baby formula
• Nappies
• Baby wipes
• Tampons

Rob Hattrell, eBay UK Vice-President, said: “We do not tolerate price gouging on eBay. For almost two months we have been introducing increasingly tougher measures to tackle this deplorable practice and will continue to suspend the accounts of those who try to exploit other users. The team that is monitoring and enforcing our policies has been more than doubled and we will continue to implement our zero-tolerance stance.

“eBay is a marketplace that depends on our seller community, so we hope that these measures will deter the instances of poor behaviour we have seen."

He added: “The wellbeing of our users in the UK has always and will always be eBay’s priority, and we are absolutely dedicated to ensuring everyone can find the products they need at reasonable prices during this difficult time.”

But even since the new restrictions came in, some eyebrow-raising prices are still being paid for items that are still unrestricted, including:

• £7,300 for a 500g bag of Napolina penne pasta

• £102 for a bag of Tesco plain flour

• £57.90 for a tub of Allinson's yeast

Mr Hattrell added: "We will continue to review our policies in this area, and if necessary, will take even further action to ensure customers only see fairly priced items."