Used face masks still in demand, but lawyers warn of risks

As reported recently on this blog, one of the unexpected outcomes of the coronavirus pandemic has been how the ubiquity of face masks has merged with an existing fetish for used underwear to beget a whole new brand of the adult market: used face masks.

However, though schoolgirls and housewives are apparently benefitting financially from the demand, some have warned that used face masks carry serious hygiene risks.

Japanese social media, especially Twitter, offers plenty of examples of used masks for sale, sometimes with “kiss marks.” Posters tend to include photos of the stains from makeup, sweat, saliva, and so on. The masks tend to be sold on the Japanese e-commerce site Mercari.

Is this any different from selling other forms of used clothing? Well, obviously the buyer doesn’t want the mask to be washed and clean, like they would want if they were buying a sweater or dress, so there are indeed hygiene issues, especially considering such face masks are ostensibly designed to prevent transmission of airborne viruses.

One company employee in her thirties, reports the Mainichi Shimbun on May 4, stumbled upon tweets offering masks for sale in the summer of 2021. Since she was already selling clothes and accessories online, it felt like a natural extension of that.

She pretended to be in her twenties and, though unsure if she would actually find buyers, put her face masks up for sale. In less than a day, she had around 10 potential buyers. She sold four masks a month at ¥500 each. She then got offers to also sell her used underwear and tights. She now makes around ¥20,000 a month selling these worn items and her masks.

It’s not all positive for the seller, however. The unnamed woman has also had to deal with requests to meet directly or abusive messages.

But the boom may well be peaking. There are apparently now so many such individual sellers that prices remain low and you have to come up with extra gimmicks (like kiss marks) to boost the price of your wares.

It’s a different story if you are a Japanese junior high school student, who can sell their used masks for higher prices and, according to one third grader that the Mainichi interviewed, include pictures of her tongue.

Because Mercari nominally bans the sale of personal hygiene items that have been opened, the female seller and buyer will negotiate the price on Twitter and then create a fake Mercari page for selling the mask disguised as a T-shirt or some such innocent item.

Mercari is threatening to crack down on such sales that break their rules by deleting product pages. Their rules also forbid disguising products as another product, but seem to have no way of dealing with the issue. And of course, they are making money thanks to the boom.

What about the legality of all this? Local prefectural ordinances prohibit buying used underwear from minors (defined as under 18). As noted in our previous post about the topic, though, masks may not qualify as underwear. A police investigator who spoke with the Mainichi said that it is unlikely such sales would be prosecutable as a criminal offense.

But a lawyer noted that masks with lots of saliva or such body fluids may violate other ordinances. More importantly, he warned sellers of requests that take want more than you are expecting to sell, such as wanting to meet directly or for them to send obscene photos. The lawyer said that social media platforms should put mechanisms in place to prevent users from selling their used masks. Which means Elon Musk may have another task on his to-do list.