price gouging

Price gouging is a frequently pejorative reference to a seller's asking a price that is much higher than what is seen as 'fair' under the circumstances. In precise, legal usage, it is the name of a felony that applies in some of the United States only during civil emergencies. In less precise usage, it can refer either to prices obtained by practices inconsistent with a competitive free market, or to windfall profits. In colloquial usage, it means simply that the speaker thinks the price is too high. Non-pejorative uses are generally in reaction to what the writer believes is an unjustified restraint on the market.
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Noun
1. pricing above the market when no alternative retailer is available
(hypernym) pricing

a monopolistic pricing technique in which the seller takes advantage of the lack of competition by charging unusually high prices relative to a product's cost.