Good news: Nintendo has taken new steps to curb scalpers who take advantage of launches such as the Switch 2. The company wants to prevent its consoles from being resold at inflated prices due to lack of stock, and this is why it has reached an agreement with some of the main suppliers in Japan.
Unfortunately, this measure has only been adopted in Japan at the moment, although it would be great if it were also exported to the West to stop those who seek to take advantage of others. In fact, this measure not only affects speculators, but also fraudulent markets.
Nintendo makes it difficult for Switch 2 speculators
As they announced in an official statement on its website, Nintendo has agreed to "cooperate with three market operators in an effort to prevent fraudulent listings of Nintendo-related products, including Nintendo Switch 2".
The three markets are Mercari, Rakuten Rakuma and Yahoo! (Yahoo! Auctions and Yahoo! Flea Market). The idea is to prevent offers and products from fraudulent sellers from even appearing in these stores.
Both Nintendo and these three providers "will take steps to combat fraudulent listings of Nintendo products that violate their respective of use".
As you may have noticed, the statement refers to fraudulent sellers at all times. It does not specify who they are, but it does mention those who violate the of use. If we look at it from a broad perspective, scalpers would fall into this group.
Ultimately, we are talking about people who buy many units and then resell them above their price. They do so without any authorization, obtaining an economic profit through an activity that affects both Nintendo and consumers.
In fact, these are the most affected, because when these people act, what happens is that there are stock shortages. Nintendo has tried to prevent this from happening by making a relatively large first run. It is better prepared than with its first Nintendo Switch.
This, together with the measures they have adopted, should put a stop to speculation, at least in Japan. Personally, I would be delighted if they did the same in Europe, working with different buying and selling platforms to prevent speculators from taking over.
If you manage to negotiate with the most popular apps and search engines, you could put a stop to it. Of course, I'm not talking about anyone being able to sell their console. I'm talking about controlling those who sell one after another. It's easy to tell when it's someone who no longer wants their console and when it's someone who is speculating.