Just a couple of weeks ago, Anne-Marie Mannil could buy a five-pack rapid antigen test (RAT) kit from her local pharmacy in north-west Sydney for $50. This week, she paid $25 for a single test in a zip-lock bag.
Ms Mannil, who has a legal background, said the tests had clearly been broken up from a bigger pack.
"As the stocks are becoming more sparse, some retailers are taking advantage of that situation," she said.
"And divvying-up the packs, that they obviously get from the wholesalers, into single packs, into resealable plastic bags not too dissimilar to a drug dealer, it’s unscrupulous gouging."
She ended up paying $100 for four tests.
Demand for the at-home testing kits has outstripped supply across Australia and it's set to get worse as they replace PCR tests as the requisite tool for the next phase of living with COVID-19.
International travellers flying into Sydney can now use RATs instead of PCR tests.
And following yesterday's national cabinet meeting, they now form part of the national "gear change", with COVID cases and close contacts required to return a negative RAT result before ending their seven-day isolation period.
NSW residents are set to get free kits from the end of January.
Ms Mannil, said she had never seen that type of behaviour before and likened it to last year's "toilet paper-gate".
"When I made the purchase it felt a little bit dodgy to me and when I said to the lady, 'Is there a reason why you're giving them out individually?' she said, 'Stocks are so low, that's what we've decided to do.'
"I said, 'You know you're marking them up at double their normal price?' She said, 'I don't set the prices; if you don't like it, go somewhere else.'"
Many of Ms Mannil's friends have had similar experiences, with some who are travelling to Queensland next week driving 50 kilometres to buy a test for $35.
All she wants is retailers to be "good humans", to act responsibly and to be monitored to stop the "berserk" price hikes.
A spokesperson for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said suppliers exploiting the shortage of rapid antigen tests can be publicly called out.
"Under the Competition and Consumer Act, excessive prices may, in certain circumstances, constitute unconscionable conduct," they said.
"Any such case would need to be ultimately decided by a court."
Phil Smith, who is currently in Goulburn en route to Adelaide, told the ABC he had been trying to get RATs for two days.
"We've tried calling chemists, service stations and various other places but there are no supplies," Mr Smith said.
"Tried Goulburn, Wagga, Hay and even tried chemists in Canberra and were tempted to go to Melbourne to see if we can find something there."
The state government has put those charging excessive prices on notice.
NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole said the government would be looking into how much retailers were charging.
He said anyone doing the wrong thing would be caught by Fair Trading.
"We will certainly monitor that. We don't want anyone — supermarkets, pharmacists— in anyway, taking advantage of rapid antigen testing," Mr Toole said.
"We will certainly make sure that the minister for fair trading is keeping an eye on this as well because we don't want to see gouging.
"We don't want to see people being hit in the bottom pocket because a chemist thinks they can make a quick buck at the end of the day."
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt also issued a warning to price gougers, saying the government would take action.
"We will have a discussion with the suppliers to make sure there is no price-gouging," Mr Hunt said.
"If there were, as we did last year, we would take strong, clear, swift action."
