Nintendo battles scalpers looking to profit off Switch 2 resales

Nintendo is teaming up with three flea market sites to prevent fake listings of the game giant's products, specifically the soon-to-be-released Switch 2.

Nintendo has partnered with flea market sites to help prevent scalpers from reselling the company’s products at extortionate prices and to stop fraudulent listings.

Scalpers are sellers who resell products or tickets for quick profit. They often resell concert tickets and game consoles at exorbitant prices that are way above the market value.

On its official website, Nintendo Japan released a statement saying it’s collaborating with three flea market websites, Mercari, LINE Yahoo Japan Corporation, and Rakuten Group, to squash “fraudulent listings of Nintendo-related products, including the Nintendo Switch 2.”

“Nintendo and the three service providers will take measures to combat fraudulent listings…that violate each service provider's terms of use, Nintendo said.

The measures will include the flea market service providers proactively removing listings, all while “establishing a collaborative system for information sharing.”

The process of “scalping” is quite common in the gaming industry. People usually buy coveted and popular consoles in bulk and sell them for higher prices.

Scalpers may use bots, a form of automated software that allows users to buy multiple consoles at one time.

This was seen when the PlayStation 5 was released in 2020. According to IGN, scalpers were selling PS5s for close to $1700, almost $1000 over the market price.

However, scalping doesn’t always work, as many found that they had to sell the PS5 Pro for less than originally expected, the Metro reports.

The Nintendo Switch 2, which is set to be released on June 5th, 2025, sent gamers into a frenzy on pre-order day.

Nintendo issued a statement via X stating that over 2.2 million people had applied for the Switch 2 lottery sale in Japan alone.

古川です。みなさまのお手元に「Nintendo Switch 2」をお届けすべく、事前に多くの部材を調達し、生産を進めてきました。4月2日には「Nintendo Switch…

undefined 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) April 23, 2025

Nintendo’s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, even apologized, saying that a significant number of people wouldn’t be selected for the Switch 2 lottery in Japan due to the unexpected demand.

“Consequently, it is with great regret that we anticipate a significant number of customers will not be selected in tomorrow’s April 24th lottery announcement,” he said.