Supermarkets are gaining a competitive advantage selling vaping products on Uber Eats, as the delivery firm has been preventing independent convenience stores from listing the category following the Elfbar recall in February.

Messages sent to stores by the delivery firm, seen by Better Retailing, confirmed it was not allowing independent convenience stores with decentralised listings to sell vapes on its service.

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The communication warned there was a risk to stores being allowed to list vaping products independently following last month’s recall of Elfbar 600 lines found with illegal levels of nicotine. Independent retailers found to be listing any vapes will have the products removed by Uber Eats.

Meanwhile, Better Retailing found a number of supermarkets being allowed to sell vaping lines through the service.

The withdrawals come as major supermarkets and Booker removed Elfbar 600 disposable vaping products from store shelves last month. This was due to an investigation by the Daily Mail, which found the affected lines were over the 2ml legal e-liquid limit.

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