Market's visible hand must oversee pricing

On an e-commerce platform, a limited edition pair of Li-Ning shoes was priced at 49,999 yuan ($7,644), or 33 times its original price (1,499 yuan). The prices of many other shoes and fancy stuff were hiked manifold.

Speculators usually buy such products during special sales and hoard them to later sell them at much higher prices. This kind of over-pricing of products has reached such a stage that some online platforms even attest to the uniqueness of the products being sold at a premium.

The hyped-up products often have one thing in common: They are easy to store, their prices are higher than normal but still affordable, and they are fashionable enough to lure youngsters. Most importantly, these commodities often come in "limited editions". As a result, speculators, realizing their potential, buy them in bulk in order to sell them at much higher prices later.